Reincarnation
Reincarnation is a word that to most Jews screams of foreign cultures. What is not common knowledge, however, is that the reincarnation of souls is a concept found in Judaism (although…
Development of the Haggadah
On Passover night we are commanded v'hee'ga'd'ta and you shall tell, the story of the Exodus. (Notice the shared root of hee'ga'd'ta and Haggadah.) The Passover Haggadah serves as a…
How Pirates Spread Torah
From the 6th to the 11th century, the center of Jewish life was in Babylon under Persian rule. The Jewish community was headed politically by the Exilarch and religiously by a sage known…
The Reluctant Rabbi
Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Schwadron (1835-1911) learned modesty and dedication to Torah study from his special father, Reb Moshe, who constantly reviewed different sefarim (holy books) while…
Minsk, Pinsk and Dvinsk?
Dvinsk, also known as Daugavpils or Duenaburg, is Latvia’s second largest city, situated 140 miles southeast of Riga, Latvia’s capital (Dvinsk is the city’s Russian name). Dvinsk became a…