Perhaps I Was Wrong
The third book of the Torah, Vayikra/Leviticus, focuses on the sacrificial rites that were an integral part of Jewish life until the destruction of the Holy Temples. For many Jews of…
OMG! Passover is Coming
The intensive physical and emotional preparations for Passover come from one seemingly simple commandment: “Seven days you will eat only matzah, but on the first day you shall have put…
West Point
Several years ago, the Jewish news media delightedly reported that Rachelle David was the first female graduate of an Orthodox Jewish high school to be accepted to West Point. It is a…
Parasha of “The Month”
This Shabbat is Parashat HaChodesh, the Sabbath of “The Month.” The Torah portion that is read as the Maftir (additional Torah reading) after the conclusion of the reading of the regular…
The Stolen Child
From the perspective of Jewish history, the story of Edgardo Levi Mortara was a minor event in a long history of Christian persecution. Nevertheless, it had an important impact on world…
They Make Us Laugh
When the hit comedy Funny People was released in movie theaters in 2009, it was frequently noted in the Jewish press that almost all of the comic actors in the film, including the…
Pekudei,Vayakhel,Weekly Message
Vayakhel-Pekudei 5781-2021
“The Original Jewish Renewal Movement” (Updated and revised from Vayakhel-Pekudei 5762-2002) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This Shabbat, two parashiot, Vayakhel and Pekudei, are read,…
Surviving and Leading
Although born in Hungary in 1904, Rabbi Yehoshua (Joshua) Menachem Ehrenberg was living in Krakow when the Nazis began their systematic destruction of European Jewry. The city of Krakow,…
More Than Shabbat
Ahad Ha’am (Asher Ginsberg, poet and Zionist ideologue: 1856-1927) is quoted as saying, “More than Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.” This statement is part of the key to…
Sisterhood Power
Carrie Obendorfer (1872-1961) knew the power, joy and motivation of organized women. Her mother founded and led the Cincinnati branch of the National Conference of Jewish Women (NCJW). It…