Tag: faith
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Praying Together or Alone?
The emphasis in Judaism tends to be on communal prayer. We need a “minyan”, a gathering of ten adults, in order to recite the mourner’s kaddish and other prayers in our liturgy. Jewish law states that one should make every attempt to pray in a synagogue with the community. The rabbis even maintain that one’s…
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The Days of Our Lives
Chesed is an important word in Jewish life. It means love, but a particular kind of love –generosity of spirit, kindness, compassion and open heartedness. Abraham is said to be the embodiment of this kind of love. Every day that Abraham lived, he did acts of Chesed. The Slonimer Rebbe (1911-2000) takes this further. He says…
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Broken Vessels
Our holy Torah knows of no unflawed or perfect people. Despite the high esteem that we hold for Abraham, the Bible does not present him as without faults. When a famine drives him and his wife to Egypt, the Torah tells us that Abraham is concerned for his own safety. (Genesis 12:10-20) What if the…
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God’s Business
“Excellence I can reach for. Perfection is God’s business” – Michael J. Fox In this week’s Torah portion (Genesis 16:2) we find Sarah and Abraham childless at an advanced age. Sarah has a maidservant named Hagar. She suggests that Abraham might have a child with her, who Sarah and Abraham could then adopt and raise…
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Paying Attention
According to Jewish law, one must hear the blasts of the Shofar with the proper intent in order to fulfill the mitzvah of “listening to the blast of the Shofar” on Rosh Hashanah. “Listening” implies concentrating on the sounds of the Shofar so that they can awaken us from our spiritual slumber and spur us…
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A Season of Change
This week we entered the Hebrew month of Elul. It means that Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the New Year, is fast approaching. As we look forward to the High Holidays, we also look backward to the past year and review our lives. The month of Elul is a time of cheshbon hanefesh – of…
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Do you Believe in Miracles?
In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses assembles the Israelites on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Land promised to our ancestors. In a series of three speeches, Moses recounts the history of the past forty years, reviews old laws and imparts new ones, exhorts the people to follow the commandments and castigates them…
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Measure for Measure
Our Torah reading this week (Numbers 16) concerns the most serious rebellion confronted by Moses in all of the forty years in the desert. A man named Korach leads an uprising of 250 Israelites, “chieftains of the community …. men of repute” against Moses, saying, “All of the community is holy, all of them, and…
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Rahab and the Spies
In this week’s prophetic portion, (Joshua 2: 1-24) or Haftarah, Joshua sends two spies to Jericho in anticipation of attacking and conquering the city. The two spies take up lodging with a woman named Rahab, who is described as a harlot. The King of Jericho hears of the infiltration of the spies. He seeks out…
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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…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 