Category: Uncategorized
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Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelekh
The Songs of our Lives It was really an extraordinary sight!!! A totally unexpected, amazing and startling scene!! During our congregational trip to Israel this summer, we visited Masada, King Herod’s mountain fortress in the Judean desert, the site of the last stand of the Zealots against the Roman Legions in 72 CE. Our group…
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Parasha Ki Tavo
Regaining our Sense of Purpose The year was 1936. The Olympics were being held in Germany, and two Jewish men, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, were in Berlin to compete as part of the US Track and Field Team. Glickman was eighteen years old at the time, and scheduled to complete on the 4×100 meter…
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Parasha Ki Tetze
Enlarging our Tent Last week I attended a fascinating Webinar hosted by an organization called “Jumpstart.” This was a webinar held exclusively for rabbis across the United States to share the findings of a comprehensive survey done this past year on Jewish giving to charitable causes. Previous surveys have found that people in the United…
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Parasha Shofetim
We The People For me, one of the most significant things about our first congregational trip to Israel this June was seeing Israel through fresh, bright and clear eyes. Although I have traveled to Israel many times by now, there is, of course much I have not seen. Yet it was quite amazing to me…
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Parasha Re-eh
Justice and Trayvon Martin This summer I had the opportunity to do some readings that I had put off for too long. One of these readings was a book entitled The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, writes about one of the great untold stories of the twentieth…
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Parasha Shalch Lecha
What Makes a Person? It happened again last week, as it has happened countless times every year , in every synagogue, in every country of the world, in every era. We gathered for mincha/havdalah services last Shabbat hoping to have a minyan so we can call up a person to the Torah for the very…
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Parasha Be-Ha-a-lotecha
How should one address the spiritual leader of a synagogue? When I was a seminarian at the Academy for Jewish Religion, I had a student pulpit at a small synagogue in Holyoke, Massachusetts. One of the first questions the President of the congregation asked me was, “How should we call you?” This is a crisis…
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Thoughts on Mothers for Mothers Day
In a few days it will be Mothers Day. Of course,we should not need a special day in the year to honor our mothers — every day should be “Mothers Day”. The idea that we should respect and honor our mothers each and every day is part of the Ten Commandments. Caring for and honoring…
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Parasha Be-Har Be-Chukotai
Rewards and Punishment The story is told of one Rabbi Samuel, who, on a visit to Rome, found a bracelet. The next day the Empress announced that she had lost a precious bracelet. If the person who found the bracelet returned it within thirty days, he would be richly rewarded. If, however, it was found…
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Acharei Mot — Kedoshim
Faith in the Face of Terror in Boston Once again our nation, our world, witnessed an act of unspeakable violence, cruelty and cowardice on Monday, April 15th. Amidst the celebration of the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, tragedy and horror was experienced by our American community. An eight year old boy, waiting to cheer…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 