Weekly D'var Torah

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...

Memorial at the Nova Music Festival Site

Four intense days of volunteering, supporting, bearing...Read more...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

                                                                        Page O Chanukah...Read more...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

D’var Torah for Selichot Services, 5783/2023

Selichot services take place on Saturday night and we hear again the plaintive...Read more...

.

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...

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...

     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...

 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

                                                                                      See/hear this week's message on the go:  

Read more...

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...

Everything that comes from G-d is ki tov --  only good.  But in the last few Torah portions, we have some pretty awful things arriving from heaven.

In Parshat Noach, a great flood descends and wipes out humanity.   In our Torah portion this week,...Read more...

With the end of the High Holidays, the rainy season sets in, a time of growing our inner lives and roots.  In the land of Israel, our...Read more...

 Sukkot, 5782

Between Judgment and Joy...

                                                          Read more...

Adath Shalom is Chosen as a Shamayim Vegan Challenge Synagogue

By Rabbi Rudin

A Year of Health and Healing: Adath Shalom’s Spiritual Vision and Mission for 5782

At our Selichot service last Saturday night, we honored our healers by asking them to stand and...Read more...

Update this content.

Check this 10 minute talk with Rabbi Rudin and see if it helps you add meaning to the sound of the Shofar.  Tekia! 

A Message to our High School Grads, Families and our Community..

Mazal Tov!  Welcome to a most exciting time of your life!  It has been our great joy and pride to...Read more...

All that is required of us is to take the Blessing that is before us.  The Blessing does not always lead to well-being, wealth and success -- it is not our purposes that are served, but HaShem's.  But sometimes, the Blessing that we seize leads to something much, much more.  Hear about the life and legacy of Raoul Wallenberg, whose great heroism was commemorated this past Sunday by the Mayor of Parsippany, the Interfaith...Read more...

With the end of Tisha B'Av, can the High Holidays be far behind?  And... so what?  What can this calendar fact mean for us?

The Slonimer Rebbe, one of Israel's Hasidic masters, writes in his book, "Ways of Peace," that there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah.  And what is a mitzvah?  A good deed?  An order from on high?  A kind act?  None of those, says the Slonimer, but also, all of them. What it really...Read more...

Is the American Jewish Journey different from the others?  During our history, we have lived in many climes, many countries.  In some we were welcomed and later persecuted and expelled.  In others, we lived in peace for millennia and gradually faded away into assimilation and loss of identity.  And in others... I don't have to say what happened because the memory still haunts us.

America was founded not on a...Read more...

We...Read more...

Dear Adath Shalom Family;

As we join our families and friends, gathering for a picnic or barbeque on this Memorial Day, for many of us, our first get-together after this long, dreadful year of the pandemic, let us reflect on the obstacles that we have overcome and the sacrifices that have been made to make it possible for us to "sit every one under their vine and fig tree."  

Our country, our...Read more...

Dear Adath Shalom Family;

I have been asked to present a concise and I hope accurate description of the current crisis in Israel especially in the face of much misinformation and outright untruths that cloud the flow of information.  Clearly as a Rabbi, proud Zionist and Jew and father of a grown child in Israel, I make no pretensions to being objective but at the same time, I strive to be truthful and factual...Read more...

The Mishna tells us that Torah study develops 48 spiritual superpowers!  Check out the daily quote about the middah (virtue) of the day and focus on developing that trait in your own journey!

Days...Read more...

D’var Torah for Rosh Chodesh

When was the world brought into being?  When did G-d say, “let there be light?”  When was humanity created in the image of the...Read more...