Weekly D'var Torah

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...

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...

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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...

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...

Dedicated to Cantor Lois, Rabbi Jill Hammer and Dr. Ora Horn Prouser, my great teachers and sources of light

In the building...Read more...

Of all the Books of the Bible, only the Book of Esther, the Megillah, is publicly read at night rather than only by day the way we read Torah. What is the hidden meaning of this night reading?   The story of the Megillah seems to conceal as much as it reveals. What is hidden beneath the palace intrigues and rivalries? What does the laughter and the satire conceal?
 
In two short videos, Rabbi Rudin explores the Nighttime...Read more...

This week's Torah portion, Mishpatim, contains the "rules of the road" for creating a society infused with the holiness of the Sinai Moment.  It is the way back to the lost Garden; the primal harmony and staging ground for the full realization of our godly creative potential....Read more...

In this Parsha, Moses instructs us to always remember the moment of liberation from Egyptian Slavery: ultimately it was not a miracle, not a plague but the will for freedom and release from oppression that powered the Exodus.  That will and that longing burns in the Jewish heart: I invite you to light Shabbat candles this evening and feel that flame within. 

Hybrid Shabbat services tomorrow start at 9:30 AM- join us on Zoom!...Read more...

Before his death, our ancestor, Jacob, bestows blessings on all of us. They thrum and echo in the heart of every Jew. Each of us draws our spiritual strength from these blessings, said so long ago but still reverberating. We were meant to be a blessing and so we have been.
 
But there is a strange uncertainty: how many blessings did Jacob bestow? Was it thirteen? One to each tribe and a double blessing to Joseph through his sons...Read more...

Back in 1830, young Michael Faraday was messing around with magnets and wires when he made a curious discovery: when you moved a magnet close to a wire coil, it produced a little zap of electricity! Wowza! Rather than metal plates in stinky...Read more...

This essay is my journey in Torah, seeking understanding, wisdom and strength to endure during these terrible months. I dedicate it to those who have lost loved ones, to the holy souls who have passed in our congregational family and to...Read more...

Our primordial ancestral family's odyssey is rife with conflict and drama....Here's a quick recap.

This week's D'var was prepared by Lindsay Wolf for her Bat Mitzvah which was held via Zoom on Shabbat Mincha.  We are so proud and were so wowed by Lindsay's essay into her read on the narrative of how Rebecca and Jacob tricked Isaac into giving the Firstborn Blessing to Jacob rather than Esau that I wanted to share her profound words with her congregation.  Mazal Tov, Lindsay!

Read more...

G-d said to Abraham: The outcry of the evil of Sodom and Gomorroh has come before Me. I will descend and destroy these sinful cities.
 
Abraham answered: Will You destroy the innocent along with the wicked? Far be it from You to do such a thing,...Read more...

Note: Charlotte celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at Adath Shalom this past Shabbat after many delays due to the pandemic. Mazal Tov to her and to her parents, Jon and Joy and brother Zachary. We were delighted to be able to hold the service...Read more...

Shemini Atzeret: Shabbat

 
Simchat Torah: Sunday

Yom Kippur, the White Fast, is not just a day of self-denial.  It is a day when we remind ourselves who we really are: not a physical organism merely but a spiritual being.  The day is one of struggle but ultimately of freedom and cleansing: a demarcation of a fresh start.

Kippur, atonement, is related to the concept of K'fira, negation.  We temporarily seek to escape from the boundaries of our individual existence and...Read more...