Category: Uncategorized
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One People, One Mission
Our Parasha this week opens with G-d commanding Aaron to light the seven branched Menorah daily. Aaron lights the wicks of the Menorah in a certain order. He starts with the outermost branch on the right and lights toward the center, then moves from the outermost branch on the left and moves toward the center.…
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God Cares
In this week’s Torah reading we find the Priestly BlessingMay God Bless you and watch over youMay God shine His light upon you and be gracious to youMay God turn His face toward you and grant you peace. In English, the word “you” is both singular and plural – it can refer to an individual…
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Into the Wilderness
There is a cartoon by the artist Mari Andrew showing two identical drawings of a woman holding a suitcase, staring at the road in front of her. On one side, she stares at an empty road ahead, and the caption reads: “I’m leaving.” On the other side, there is a road leading to a city,…
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When your fellow comes to ruin….
Woe to the person who falls on hard times! In ancient Rome, a creditor could legally imprison a person who owed him money in his own private dungeon. He could chain him to a block; sell him into slavery, or even worse. England had an infamous London prison called the Marshalsea, where debtors were sent.…
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An Audacious Choice
The Menorah is one of the oldest Jewish symbols. In the Book of Exodus, G-d shows Moses the design of the Menorah, which is then executed by the artisan Bezalel. It is made out of one block of pure gold. In this week’s Torah portion, (Leviticus 24:1-4) Aaron is commanded to light the Menorah in…
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A Mother’s Day Story
Chaim Weitzman, who was to become the first President of the State of Israel, once used Mother’s Day to advance the argument for a Jewish State in what was then Palestine. The story goes that a British gentleman said to him: “Dr. Weitzman, what do you need to start a Jewish country for in that…
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Happy Birthday Israel
When Theodore Herzl conceived of the idea of a Jewish State, he hoped that it would solve the “Jewish problem” — that antisemitism would be eradicated if Jews could become a normal people in a normal nation state. Yet here we are, 77 years after the founding of the State of Israel, and antisemitism is…
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Out of Egypt Part V
On our tour of Egypt I had eagerly anticipated our visit to the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, which was recently re-opened as a tourist site by the Egyptian government. The Ben Ezra Synagogue is the place where the Cairo Geniza was discovered, a treasure trove of Jewish manuscript fragments from the 6th to the…
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Next Year in Jerusalem
Toward the conclusion of our Seders we recite the words, “Bashannah Habahah Birushalayim Habenuya” — “Next year in Jerusalem rebuilt”. Thus, we begin our seder (“Now we are here, next year may we be in the Land of Israel) and end it remembering our ancestral homeland. This year I thought about my ancestors, having their…
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New Beginnings
Passover is a time of new beginnings. The egg which we place on our seder plates represents the cycle of life and the chance for a new beginning. The parsley represents Spring. One of the names of Passover is “Chag Ha-aviv” — the Festival of Spring. Spring is also a time of renewal. The Talmud…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 