Jewish Treats

The Great Hoshana (Hoshana Rabbah)

Rosh Hashana is known as the Day of Judgment (Yom Hadin), the day on which God judges every person. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the day on which God finalizes His verdict on the…

Read More

Jewish Treats

Vanity of Vanities

Most people are unknowingly familiar with the beginning of the third chapter of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) because of the 1965 hit song by The Byrds: “To everything – turn, turn, turn/There…

Read More

Sukkot,Weekly Message

Sukkot 5782-2021

“A Sukkah Memory” (updated and revised from Sukkot 5763-2002) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Growing up as one of the few religious Yeshiva students in the East Bronx in the early 1950s was…

Read More

Jewish Treats

Build Your Own Sukkah

Webster’s Dictionary defines a Tabernacle as a temporary dwelling, which is why the Jewish holiday of Sukkot is known as the Feast of the Tabernacles. A sukkah, however, is a lot more…

Read More

Jewish Treats

For The Sins We Committed

One of the main steps in the process of teshuva (repentance) is for a person to confess their sins and verbalize their errors. In so doing, a person admits committing a sin, not to…

Read More

Yom Kippur,Weekly Message

Yom Kippur 5782-2021

“Smashing the Golden Calves” (updated and revised from Yom Kippur 5764-2003) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Virtually all the holidays and festivals of the Jewish calendar revolve around…

Read More

Jewish Treats

Avinu Malkeinu

No prayer so thoroughly captures the Jewish people’s dual relationship with God as Avinu Malkeinu, “Our Father, Our King.” While Avinu Malkeinu is a prayer widely known to be part of the…

Read More

Vayeilech,Weekly Message

Vayeilech 5782-2021

“Appreciating our own Inner Worth” (updated and revised from Vayeilech 5761-2001) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Vayeilech, is almost always read together…

Read More

Jewish Treats

Symbolic Foods

Since Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment, it is customary to eat simanim*, foods with symbolic meanings that invoke God’s blessing. We also recite a short prayer before eating them.…

Read More

Jewish Treats

The Five Names of Rosh Hashana

In Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashana has several names that can help us understand the importance and power of this holiday. Rosh Hashana literally means “Head of the Year,” because Rosh…

Read More