Best Guest

If you are a guest, or going to be a guest, be appreciative of the needs of your hosts.

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A Guest For How Long?

The mitzvah of hachnassat orchim is so important that it is listed as one of only six mitzvot for which “a person eats the fruit in this world, while the principal remains for that person…

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An Honored Guest

Invite a veteran to join you for a Shabbat meal. 

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Elijah – Our Passover and Brit Milah Guest

At the Passover seder, those children who are still awake after the meal watch eagerly to see if the prophet Elijah comes to drink from his special cup...(and adults often shake the table…

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Sukkot 5761-2000

"A Sukkot Story: Devotion to a Festival" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald The famed Rabbi Shlomo Zevin, records the unusual story concerning Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1810), the…

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Sukkot 5780-2019

“A Sukkot Story: Devotion to a Festival” (Updated and revised from Sukkot 5761-2000) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The famed Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin records the unusual story concerning…

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Vayeira 5783-2022

“Sodom: The Home of Institutionalized Evil” (updated and revised from Vayeira 5763-2002) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Have you ever wondered what it might be like to have lived in Sodom?…

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Shoftim 5761-2001

"Security for Citizens and Caring for Guests" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this coming week's parasha, parashat Shoftim, Deuteronomy 21, we encounter the ritual of the Eglah Arufah,…

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Vayeira 5763-2002

"Sodom: The Home of Institutionalized Evil" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Sodom? There are, after all, many places in the world,…

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Skeptic’s Day: Or is It?

Happy “Skeptics Day,” is the annual opportunity to acknowledge those who need absolute evidence before believing anything. What does Jewish wisdom teach about skepticism? In a Jewish…

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