Parshat VaYetzeh - Pillow Talk?
12/03/2024 11:14:07 AM
Jacob set out from Be’er Sheva on his way to Haran.
He lit upon a certain place in the wilderness and slept there, for the sun was setting.
Taking of the stones of the place for a headrest, he dreamt.
Behold- a ladder stretched up to heaven from the earth. Angels...Read more...
Torah with Rabbi Rudin: Check out Rabbi Rudin's Hebrew and Torah classes!
11/26/2024 01:30:50 PM
Thanksgiving, 2024 Giving Thanks, Being Thanks
11/26/2024 01:30:43 PM
Take a look at Rabbi Paul Kipnes’ ideas for adding Jewish inspiration to your Thanksgiving Celebration!
Among the Twelve Tribes of Israel is the tribe of Judah- our...Read more...
Parshat Chayei Sarah, 5785
11/18/2024 09:19:09 AM
G-d is Close..
Eliezer’s Adventure in Haran
This week’s Torah portion contains one of the longest and maybe strangest...Read more...
Failed Worlds- The Abraham Revolution - Parshat Lech L’cha
11/08/2024 10:50:11 AM
In the opening stories of Genesis, we are taken to two failed worlds: the world of the Flood and the World of the...Read more...
Parshat Ki Tavo, 5784 - I Can’t Do all the Mitzvahs
09/16/2024 12:20:23 PM
This week’s Parsha is most famous for the list of 98 curses/consequences that will follow abandoning the Torah.
It’s not pleasant reading. War, famine, starvation, exile… and that’s just the beginning!
I won’t detail the...Read more...
Our Hearts are Broken...
09/03/2024 11:19:57 AM
Dear Rabbi Rafi, Danit, Daniel and the other great hearts of Ofakim, the Beautiful City of Heroes-
Our hearts are torn into pieces with the tragic and awful news of the death of six of our hostages, including our fellow American Hersh Goldberg Polin as well as Carmel, Eden,...Read more...
Parshat Re’eh - Look at This
08/26/2024 09:32:42 AM
Our Parsha this week continues Moses’ month-long seminar as he bids farewell to his beloved, maddening, exasperating, loving, funny and always amazing nation, the People...Read more...
Parshat Ekev: You Have to Climb the Mountain- Over and Over…
08/20/2024 09:15:59 AM
In this week’s Parsha, we learn the answer to the question: Just how many times did Moses go up Mount Sinai?
We know that the first ascent was on the Sixth of Sivan, the Festival of Shavuot. That’s when we all heard G-d’s Voice giving the Covenant of the Ten Commandments. ...Read more...
VaEtchanan Torah Portion 5784
08/13/2024 08:40:22 AM
See Rabbi Rudin’s NEW Torah Study Spiritual Uplift Moment-
How to Shema
This week’s Torah portion contains the eternal declaration of the Jewish people:
שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל...Read more...
Deuteronomy- The Book of Criticism: and how to make it work to bring happiness, growth and blessing
08/07/2024 11:41:21 AM
Ah, constructive criticism….how we say we love you! And in reality - maybe not so much…
After all, how can we improve ourselves without frank and truthful feedback? Who of us can truly be aware of our shortcomings? We are hard-wired it seems to...Read more...
Parshat Matot-Masei - On Journeys, On Reaching Out, On Liberation- The Ana Ba’Koach Prayer: a Treasure of the Friday Night Service
07/29/2024 09:13:05 AM
Dedicated to the families of Majdal Shams in empathy, solidarity and heartbreak.
As the Torah’s narrative draws to a close, we are given a list of the forty-two encampments of Israel during the forty-year journey from Egypt to the final encampment on the...Read more...
The Three Weeks, the Nine Days - An Overview
07/24/2024 09:46:22 AM
In 586 BCE and again in 70 CE, millions of lives were lost and we were exiled from our land when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Through reliving this season of sorrow by withholding from joyful activities, we are able to increase our understanding of history and our compassion for...Read more...
They are a Stiff-Necked People: Where it all went wrong on the 17th of Tammuz
07/16/2024 01:51:08 PM
Did you know that the original plan for Judaism was for each month to feature a different joyful holiday? That’s right. Instead of our holidays coming bunched together or scattered through the year, they were originally intended to come once a month at the full moon. Nice,...Read more...
Parshat Chukkat, 5784 The Wars of the Torah
07/10/2024 11:18:10 AM
Our Torah is meant to guide and inspire us through all of life’s journeys. Unfortunately, conflict is a feature in almost all of them. Conflicts within families, conflicts within ourselves, conflicts with nature, conflicting values… and conflict in the most horrific, violent...Read more...
The Greatness of Korach - A Tribute to a Failed Rebellion: When Heresy and Heroism Meet (almost)
07/01/2024 01:38:16 PM
In almost every D’var Torah written about Korach, the leader of the rebellion against Moses and Aaron that broke out after the nation was told that they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land after all, the rebel leader is painted as a...Read more...
D’var Torah, Shavuot, 5784 - A Tale of Two Grains
06/10/2024 11:17:22 AM
Rabbi Rudin
And you shall count from the gathering of the first Omer of barley seven weeks: fifty days and then at the wheat harvest make a new offering... (Leviticus...Read more...
Parshat BaMidbar On the Move Again - A Tale of Two Rallies
06/05/2024 12:37:25 PM
Read about the Israel Day Parade on June 9th
The Adath Shalom Delegation to the Israel Day Parade along with our friend from Ofakim (sister city) Daniel Ori. BIG tip of the Rabbinic Shtreimel to Ilyssa Tepperman...Read more...
B’Chukotai - Let the Land Rest- and let us rest too! The Sabbatical Year- and This Year
05/29/2024 01:03:48 PM
In this week’s Torah portion, the final portion of the Book of Leviticus, we are told to be sure to allow the Land to lie fallow every seven years in celebration of the Sabbatical Year. Not only that, but during the same sabbatical year, shemitta in Hebrew, we are to free all indentured...Read more...
Parshat Emor: The Blasphemer: Asking for Shelter, Invoking Destruction
05/13/2024 09:00:56 AM
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Parshat Emor features one of the most disturbing incidents of the Torah: a young man, born to an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father, seeks entry into the tribal encampment of Dan, his mother’s tribe. When he is rejected, he appeals to the Beit Din, the court of Moses...Read more...
To Ofakim- Post-Pesach Greeting
05/08/2024 02:14:07 PM
Shalom Friends;
Below, please find a greeting we prepared and sent to the Ofakim Community, our partner community in Israel (located in Southern Israel) in conclusion of Passover and wishing them a Happy Israel Independence Day.
Ofakim and Metrowest have been in a partnership since the 1990’s- a partnership dramatically strengthened and reinforced this past year in the...Read more...
D’var Torah for Pesach, 5784 The Three Needs of the Exodus
04/17/2024 01:27:08 PM
Free Yourself and Your Home of the...Read more...
Israel Solidarity Delegation Last Report
04/10/2024 10:11:33 AM
Our trip to partner community Ofakim
Resilience, Hope, Solidarity- Final Thoughts
Our group in front of the memorial mural of October 7th when fifty citizens of Ofakim lost their lives, many in the acts of defense that eventually drove the terrorists out of the city.
The shelter of anonymity...Read more...
Israel Solidarity Mission Part II -Southern Israel- Tears, Love, Determination
04/03/2024 10:36:57 AM
In this week’s Torah portion, Shemini, we relive the harrowing deaths of the projected future leaders of the nation, Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu.
Wise, kind, virtuous and gifted, the two young men approach the Holy of Holies without permission on the day when the Tabernacle is inaugurated. As divine flame emerges from the Holy of Holies to consume the offering outside on the altar, signaling the arrival of G-d’s...Read more...
Adath Shalom’s Israel Solidarity Delegation -March, 2024
03/26/2024 09:15:51 AM
Memorial at the Nova Music Festival Site
Four intense days of volunteering, supporting, bearing...Read more...
Parshat VaYikra- Hearing, Heeding and Doing
03/20/2024 09:39:07 AM
(G-d) called to Moses and spoke to him…
The first word of this week’s Torah portion, VaYikra, is one of the most immediate and evocative of the entire scripture. Take a look at the way it appears in every Torah scroll in the world:
VaYikra- G-d is...Read more...
Parshat Pekudei: Looking at Our Community Through the Eyes of a Guest
03/13/2024 10:34:12 AM
A few weeks ago, Rabbi Rafi Tvizer of Ofakim, Israel, part of a delegation to the Greater MetroWest Jewish Federation sent from the communities that had been devastated by the horrific events of Black Shabbat, arrived to stay with me for two nights as part of the home hospitality featured in these emotional and powerful delegations. I have known Rabbi Rafi- we met while both volunteering during cleanup from Hurricane Sandy when he was...Read more...
D’var Torah: VaYakhel- Our Tabernacle, Our Community, Our World
03/06/2024 09:28:24 AM
This Week’s Torah Portion Speaks About the Needs of Our Day
This week’s Torah portion describes the actual assembly of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), or wilderness sanctuary, which served as the spiritual center of the Jewish encampment on the way to the Promised...Read more...
Parshat Ki Tissa, 5784 - The Golden Calf and the Pattern of Brokeness -
02/27/2024 01:16:07 PM
A disturbing pattern appears throughout the Torah narratives.
At first, everything seems pristine and pure. G-d’s intention and plan moves forward to a stunning and holy conclusion- and then there’s a sudden dark turn that forces G-d’s hand as it were and a new, broken reality...Read more...
A Special Shabbat Guest, this coming Shabbat, 2/23-24
02/20/2024 09:03:21 AM
Dear Adath Shalom Mishpacha (family);
Rabbi Rafi Tvizer of Ofakim
We are all looking forward to an exciting upcoming weekend! Rabbi Rafi Tvizer from the “City of Heroes”, our Ofakim...Read more...
Tarshat Teruma - Building the Mishkan
02/13/2024 05:48:19 PM
A Message for Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion Month
Can you imagine a situation in which you make a donation to a worthy cause - only to be told, no thank you? We have enough?
That’s what...Read more...
Parshat Yitro - How Does the Covenant Work Exactly?
01/29/2024 09:59:23 AM
On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai…the Israelites encamped there in front of the mountain.
Moses went up to God. יהוה called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus...Read more...
Hot off the Press! Shabbat Shirah, 5784
01/23/2024 01:55:06 PM
Counting Birds
Note: This Shabbat, Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song has a tradition to feed birds. We devote one Shabbat a year to focusing on songs to G-d: birds sing to G-d constantly! In gratitude to our winged friends, we scatter crumbs and seeds for them, especially in the winter. Also, please take part in the worldwide bird count which runs from February 16-19, collecting important data on bird...Read more...
D’var Torah for Parshat Bo
01/17/2024 09:02:34 AM
What does it take for someone to change their mind?
Pharaoh is the archetype of the cruel, oppressive tyrant who is so filled with hate, so invested in his own power and ego that he refuses to have the slightest bit of empathy for the people he has enslaved and brutalized. His lack...Read more...
Celebrate: It’s the Months of Shevat!
01/09/2024 11:25:20 AM
This month’s, (the Hebrew month of Shevat (January/February)) zodiac sign is Aquarius. In Hebrew it’s called by the more prosaic name of דלי D’li- which literally means a bucket, water container or vessel.
Part of the meaning is purely geographical: in the...Read more...
Parshat Shemot: The Never-ending Exodus
01/02/2024 09:29:49 AM
I’ve heard that every person has a central metaphor through which they see life. For some, life is a journey, for others a quest and for others perhaps a climb, a circus, a dream or even a feast.
In this week’s Torah portion, we are introduced to what I think is Judaism’s...Read more...
Recognizing the Brother in the Other- D’var Torah for Parshat VaYechi
12/27/2023 11:03:11 AM
In this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi, the long-estranged tribes of Israel are finally united once again. The burden of generations of rivalry and hatred that...Read more...
D’var Torah: VaYigash 5784 - The Essence of the Book of Genesis and of the Torah
12/20/2023 08:47:41 AM
There is no more poignant and beautiful moment in the Torah than this week’s Parsha when Judah opens his heart to his estranged and unrecognized brother, begging for him to release Benjamin who has been framed, and to accept him, Judah, in his stead as a slave.
At that...Read more...
Chanukah 5784
12/04/2023 08:53:02 AM
So here’s the question: Is Chanukah a historical commemoration? You know, the paradigm of Jewish holidays: they tried to kill us, they failed, let’s eat.
Not according to Rabbi Tzadok of Lublin, one of the 19th century’s most creative and thoughtful Jewish...Read more...
Parshat VaYishlach, 5784 - The Kiss Heard Around the World (or was it a bite?)
11/28/2023 01:16:48 PM
Beyond being the sacred text that molded western civilization and has had the most impact of any work of literature ever, the Bible in and general and the Torah in particular contain what can only be described as incredible storytelling.
Take this week’s parsha. Jacob and Esau,...Read more...
Parshat Toldot/Chodesh Kislev, 5784 Chanukah, 5784: Bringing and Being the Light
11/15/2023 09:55:51 AM
Three of our congregational leaders at the Washington Rally on November 14th
Adath Shalom’s Vice President gave us the theme of this year back at Rosh HaShana when she told us to Be the Light. Now, as we prepare for...Read more...
Chayei Sarah, 5784 Campus Update: One of our College Students Speaks out!
11/07/2023 05:35:28 PM
Sarah Imenu, Sarah Our Mother, whose life is celebrated in this week’s Parsha, exemplifies the authenticity and moral courage that nurtures the Jewish people to this day. It is appropriate to share the words of one of our community’s spiritual successors of Sarah as we continue to be nurtured by her example.
This week’s D’var Tora comes to us from Adath Shalom alumna, Carly, who celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at our shul and...Read more...
Hunkering Down or Heading Out?
11/01/2023 10:42:18 AM
Abraham our Ancestor is not exactly a shrinking violet. When his nephew Lot is kidnapped among others by a large invading force, Abraham does not suffice with prayer. He assembles a small coalition and goes after the invaders. Coming by night upon the overconfident army of the Mesopatamian...Read more...
It is Time to Pay Attention: D’var Torah for Lech L’cha, 5784
10/23/2023 09:14:15 AM
In this week’s Parsha, Lech L’cha, we are introduced to Abraham.
Kind of a weird introduction, actually. “G-d said to Abraham, ‘Go from your country, your birthplace, your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will bless you and magnify your name and through you all the families of the...Read more...
Love for and of Israel
10/17/2023 01:33:42 PM
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Dear Adath Shalom Family;
This week's D'var Torah was written by our member Jon Kessler. Jon asks us to look beyond the darkness and challenges of this moment and to reflect on our own relationship with the land and people of Israel. Whatever your connection, I hope that you...Read more...
Simchat Torah - Judaism Celebrates Change
10/04/2023 09:19:13 AM
If you’ve seen or heard about Simchat Torah celebrations in New York, Moscow, Boston, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, London, Johannesburg, you know that they are huge, joyful spectacles where we dance our Torahs out into the streets and the joy, music and celebration are explosive and...Read more...
The Sukkah: Enduring in Its Impermanence Sukkot 5784
09/27/2023 08:58:03 AM
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Sitting out in the Sukkah on a crisp fall evening is the mother of all immersive experiences.
You feel somehow secure and enclosed in the flimsy walls and patchy roof but at the same time, the fragility of the shelter makes you acutely aware of the outside darkness and the...Read more...
Yom Kippur, 5784
09/19/2023 08:44:19 AM
Every year we are asked to run a spiritual marathon - 25 hours of prayer, reflection, repentance and… fasting!
I hear stories of our ancestors in the old country making it a literal marathon where they are in shul for the entire time, everyone dressed in white robes,...Read more...
The Meaning of Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, the Renewal of the World
09/11/2023 03:02:57 PM
Rosh HaShana is just another day, right? It’s not an equinox or a solstice. It has no astronomical significance. No eclipse, no magnetic flux, no bells and whistles. It’s not even the first month of the year - it’s the seventh. It’s not even the anniversary of the...Read more...
When Do We Do the Inner Work?
09/03/2023 10:21:33 PM
D’var Torah for Selichot Services, 5783/2023
Selichot services take place on Saturday night and we hear again the plaintive...Read more...
The Shofar Ten - Part II - Rabbi Saadya Gaon’s Final Five Reasons for Sounding the Shofar
08/30/2023 06:49:33 AM
The sound of the Shofar is powerful, evocative, moving - but why exactly? To try to explain, Rabbi Saadya Gaon, Rosh Yeshiva of the Harvard of Yeshivas, Sura back in tenth century Babylonia, near modern day Baghdad assigned not one but ten Jewish historical moments that the Shofar...Read more...
The Shofar Ten - Part One
08/21/2023 12:34:54 PM
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The plaintive cry of the Shofar is a highlight of Rosh HaShana but what exactly does it mean?
Tenth Century whiz-kid Rabbi (he was appointed head of the largest Yeshiva in Babylonia at only 36 years old) Saadia Gaon gives us ten spiritual associations that the Shofar...Read more...
Rosh Chodesh Elul: Sound the Shofar! Eight Things to Know about Elul
08/14/2023 09:18:44 AM
The Jewish month that begins on Thursday and Friday is the last month of the year - Elul. The Shofar is sounded each day of Elul (including Rosh Chodesh and aside from the last day of the month) to awaken our souls to Teshuva (repentance),...Read more...
Parshat Re’eh: I have set before you a blessing and a curse… The Summer of 2023: Seeking blessing, facing challenges
08/08/2023 08:41:54 AM
This week’s parsha declares that in every circumstance, we have the opportunity to wrest blessings from challenges.
In a difficult summer that saw the highest recorded temperatures in history, filled our skies with smoke and challenged us with the anxieties of uncertain times,...Read more...
Parshat VaEtchanan- Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Consolation
07/24/2023 09:28:01 AM
The Unanswered Prayer
At that time, I begged G-d…let me please cross over and see the good land across the Jordan, the goodly highlands and the mountains of Israel! (Deuteronomy 3:25)
Moses has dedicated his entire...Read more...
The White Fast and the Black Fast... and Why-
07/18/2023 03:51:49 PM
Listen to Rabbi Rudin - Click HERE
There are Two 24 hour Fast Days in Judaism: the White Fast of Yom Kippur and the Black Fast of Tisha B’Av.
Many people fast during...Read more...
Mattot-Masei: These are the Journeys of the Children of Israel…
07/11/2023 01:49:49 PM
The Torah’s account of the forty-two encampments of our ancient travels through the wilderness on their way to Israel contains a message. Miraculous wells of pure water that spring from the rocks, enemies that dog our steps but who fall before our faith,...Read more...
The Season of Sorrow: Tisha B'Av and the Three Weeks
07/04/2023 10:44:05 AM
Know for certainty that every descent we experience in life is only for the sake of rising up even higher
-Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav
On the Ninth of Av, the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people...Read more...
All of Us Means All of Us D'var Torah for Parshat Chukkat-Balak
06/27/2023 10:21:19 PM
This interpretation of the Torah narrative is inspired by Rabbinic teachings called Midrash.
In this week’s Torah portion, those who hate and fear us, in this case, his majesty, Balak ben Tzippur, King of Moab and his allies, hire a major league sorcerer (in modern terms, we’d call him an ‘influencer’), Balaam, to curse us.
I know that those you curse are cursed, says...Read more...
The End of Strife Parshat Korach, 5783Book of Numbers, 16-18
06/21/2023 11:37:57 AM
This week’s Parsha, Korach, describes a terrible schism in the Jewish people. The once righteous but ultimately mistaken and sinful Korach, who has been passed over for priestly leadership in favor of his cousin, Aaron, gathers a large group and attacks Moses...Read more...
The Five Minute Rabbi Part Two
06/13/2023 08:50:51 AM
Don’t Read- Listen!
Right Here
This is part II of a mini-podcast series on the laws of Shabbat observance in...Read more...
A Darkness that Can Be Felt - Interfaith Dialogue in the Haze
06/07/2023 01:43:02 PM
Once a month I take part in an interfaith conversation with a group of Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Over the time that our Interfaith Council has met, we have learned to trust each other and become friends. Our discussions are open-hearted. Despite...Read more...
The Five Minute Rabbi
05/31/2023 09:29:47 AM
Don’t read this- listen to it right here!
The Torah says (Exodus, parshat Mishpatim): Six Days you shall labor and perform all of your...Read more...
Shavuot: Seven Weeks to Freedom
05/23/2023 03:11:31 PM
What is Shavuot? Well, seven weeks ago we celebrated the anniversary of the Exodus. Freedom from slavery and the horrors of Pharaoh’s Egypt. ...Read more...
In the Desert: Again. Parshat BaMidbar
05/14/2023 07:02:22 PM
In Numbers, the fourth book of the Torah, we join the Jewish people on their journey through the howling wilderness on our way to the Promised Land. We encounter moments of joy and challenges of rebellion and disaster. But through it all, though long...Read more...
The Secret of Jewish Observance
05/08/2023 10:52:09 PM
Contemplating the Conclusion of the Jewish Year, 5783
Looking at Jewish spiritual life, it’s really astonishing just how much stuff we do. I mean look at it: We start the year by blowing loud blasts on Ram’s...Read more...
Lag B’Omer! The Holiday of Hiddenness
05/03/2023 05:33:17 AM
No texts, no prayers, no services…. And no real name! Lag B’Omer actually means “thirty three days of the Omer Count”!
So what gives?
Read more...
The Five Minute Rabbi: What to Know about...Counting the Omer!
05/02/2023 05:36:38 PM
See/hear this week's message on the go:
Read more...
Israel: It’s Not Complicated
04/25/2023 01:26:23 PM
It is very rare to see positive coverage of Israel in the world press. There are too many examples and too much explanation is required to expose how profound the distortion is for this short message. But as one who has been to Israel thirty times (at...Read more...
Take the Clean Speech Challenge - Together with Jewish Organizations and Shuls from all over Jersey!
04/18/2023 08:45:44 AM
Who is the one who desires life, who loves their days and sees good? It is the one who guards their tongue from speaking ill, and their lips from guile, turning aside from hurtfulness, seeking peace and pursuing peace.
-Psalm 34:13-15
Judaism doesn’t...Read more...
Where is our miracle? D’var Torah for the Seventh Day of Pesach
04/10/2023 11:23:14 AM
On the Seventh Day of Pesach which begins Tuesday night, we celebrate the Parting of the Sea of Reeds.
The story goes like this: Pharaoh and Egypt have finally released Israel. We head out, mustering at Ramses and then...Read more...
VaEtchanan Torah Portion 5784
08/13/2024 08:36:20 AM
See Rabbi Rudin’s NEW Torah Study Spiritual Uplift Moment-
How to Shema
This week’s Torah portion contains the eternal declaration of the Jewish people:
שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל...Read more...
Deuteronomy- The Book of Criticism: and how to make it work to bring happiness, growth and blessing
08/07/2024 11:39:33 AM
Ah, constructive criticism….how we say we love you! And in reality - maybe not so much…
After all, how can we improve ourselves without frank and truthful feedback? Who of us can truly be aware of our shortcomings? We are hard-wired it seems to overlook our faults unless they smack us upside the head. And even then, our power to rationalize and activate amazing defense mechanisms is always ready to...Read more...
B’Chukotai - Let the Land Rest- and let us rest too! The Sabbatical Year- and This Year
05/29/2024 12:59:40 PM
In this week’s Torah portion, the final portion of the Book of Leviticus, we are told to be sure to allow the Land to lie fallow every seven years in celebration of the Sabbatical Year. Not only that, but during the same sabbatical year, shemitta in Hebrew, we are to free all indentured servants and to...Read more...
To Ofakim- Post-Pesach Greeting
05/08/2024 02:07:47 PM
Shalom Friends;
Below, please find a greeting we prepared and sent to the Ofakim Community, our partner community in Israel (located in Southern Israel) in conclusion of Passover and wishing them a Happy Israel Independence Day.
Ofakim and MetroWest have been in a partnership since the 1990’s- a partnership dramatically strengthened and reinforced this past year in...Read more...
Parshat Pekudei: Looking at Our Community Through the Eyes of a Guest
03/13/2024 10:27:48 AM
A few weeks ago, Rabbi Rafi Tvizer of Ofakim, Israel, part of a delegation to the Greater MetroWest Jewish Federation sent from the communities that had been devastated by the horrific events of Black Shabbat, arrived to stay with me for two nights as part of the home hospitality featured in these emotional and powerful delegations. I have known Rabbi Rafi- we met while both volunteering during...Read more...
Rosh Chodesh Elul: Sound the Shofar! Eight Things to Know about Elul
08/14/2023 09:17:51 AM
Update this content.
Why I Fast on Tisha B'Av
07/18/2023 03:26:39 PM
Don't Read this- listen to it! Click here!
There are Two 24 hour Fast Days in Judaism: the White Fast of Yom Kippur and the Black Fast of Tisha B’Av.
Many people fast during Yom...Read more...
Pesach 5783
04/04/2023 08:57:00 AM
Backgrounder: Don’t Forget to Count the Omer!
A Short Guide to Sefirat HaOmer
By Rabbi Rudin
Read more...Shabbat HaGadol
03/29/2023 01:55:32 PM
This Shabbat is called Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat. Our tradition teaches that back in Egypt, this Shabbat, four days before the Exodus, was when the Jewish people refused to labor any longer as slaves. Instead, they took lambs for offerings as a prelude to their freedom.
In essence, our freedom began as an act of defiance: no longer agreeing to be slaves and instead, offering the sacred animal of the Egyptians, the...Read more...
Guest Teacher! - Find the Mitzvah that Speaks to You!
03/21/2023 05:25:51 PM
This week's D'var Torah is presented by our recent Bat Mitzvah who provides a very powerful and meaningful message about spirituality: find the Mitzvah that speaks to you and make it into the wings that lift you!
The name of my parsha...Read more...
Matzah and Maror or Apples and Honey? When was the World Created?
03/19/2023 05:59:14 PM
When exactly was the world created? The Rabbis of the Talmud weigh in.
Rabbi Eliezer says that the world was created in the harvest month of Tishrei. Rabbi Joshua argues that it was created in the springtime month of Nisan. Both...Read more...
Pesach Mitzrayim and Pesach Dorot- The Egyptian Passover and the Passover of the Generations
03/12/2023 08:50:41 PM
Passover is the story-telling holiday disguised as a meal. We love to kvetch about the dry, crackly Matzah but this most quintessential of all Jewish foods has a subtle nutty, homey flavor that deep down, tugs at our...Read more...
Esther Concealed and Revealed: the Mask of Purim
03/06/2023 12:31:10 PM
Purim, the early spring dress-up holiday celebrating the defeat of an evil doer’s attempt to wipe us out, has surprising depths.
Aside from frivolity and joy, the great theme of the day is...Read more...
Dispelling the Shadow: Parshat Zachor- the Secret of Amalek
02/27/2023 12:45:19 AM
This Shabbat we read Parshat Zachor, a short passage from Deuteronomy evoking a moment of unspeakable horror and trauma:
Remember what Amalek did to you as you left Egypt: coming upon you when you were exhausted and weakened, attacking...Read more...
Parhat Mishpatim: Searching for the Essence of Jewish Life
02/12/2023 08:29:56 PM
I can’t worship a G-d whom I can understand.
I can’t practice a religion that I can explain.
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Lessons on Freedom from the Torah Part III
02/05/2023 11:47:42 PM
We have seen in this series that the Exodus narrative is the world’s greatest tool of personal freedom and empowerment. Part one explored the necessity of freedom as a precondition of being who we truly are. In part two, we explored the need to master time as the second precondition for freedom.
In today’s lesson, we encounter one of the central Mitzvot of Judaism and delve into its...Read more...
The First Mitzvah: Exodus Lessons in Freedom Part II
01/29/2023 05:20:20 PM
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The Exodus story isn’t just an epic saga. It’s an instruction manual on how to be free. The word in Hebrew for Freedom, Cherut, חרות isn’t about being rid of obligations and responsibility. That’s not what freedom means to...Read more...
Leaving Egypt: The Ongoing Journey of Freedom
01/21/2023 10:06:30 PM
The story that we tell over and over again, every day, through our prayers and sacred texts, isn't about religion per se. The Stand at Sinai when we all heard G-d's Ten Commandments, the basis of the Mitzvot, practices, customs and rules of Jewish life is certainly...Read more...
Who Will Stand With Us? Parshat Va'Erah
01/17/2023 06:36:44 PM
The above iconic picture shows Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a survivor of the Holocaust and one of the greatest teachers to...Read more...
The Turning Point- Parshat Shemot/Exodus
01/08/2023 05:00:57 PM
The first two chapters of Exodus go from degradation to degradation. The Jewish people, the Children of Israel, are enslaved. Their suffering and oppression at the hands of the Egyptians is beyond all imagining - or rather, it would be if we had not been subjected to...Read more...
Did The Jews Make Resolutions in Egypt?
01/03/2023 05:19:01 AM
According to the Talmud, keeping resolutions is all about who you make the resolution to. Making a promise to yourself is great. But at the same time, when you are able to go beyond yourself and realize that others are counting on you, then the chances...Read more...
Eight Lights for Eight Nights: Chanukah 5783- The Hidden Light
12/18/2022 01:16:31 PM
In the Torah, the supreme source book of Judaism, light is the very first creation. And yet… none of us has ever seen it. This light that we see by -- that is not the first primordial light. That...Read more...
Chanukah - Were the Maccabees Right Wing Extremists?
12/11/2022 11:49:44 AM
Yes, that is the buzz. The Maccabees were a bunch of religious fundamentalist wack a doodles. That's the claim and here's the background... it's 250 BCE.
Under the rule of the Syrian...Read more...