Weekly Message,B'ha'a'lot'cha

B’ha’a’lot’cha 5780-2020

The Torah’s Attitude toward Converts (Revised and Updated from Parashat B’ha’a’lot’cha 5761-2001)   by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald. This coming week’s Torah portion, parashat…

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Kedoshim,Weekly Message,Acharei Mot

Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5780-2020

"Who is Truly Religious?” (Updated and revised from Parashiot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5761-2001)   by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald   This week’s parashiot, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim,…

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Jewish Treats

The Samurai Who Saved Thousands of Jews from the Nazis

Often, when tragedy strikes, many seek to uncover a silver lining by searching for heroes and their selflessness. On the pantheon of such heroes during the Shoah (the Holocaust) is Chiune…

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Jewish Treats

Soles and Souls on the Danube

The Danube River is closely identified with the city through which it runs, Budapest, Hungary. Yet that river was defiled in late 1944. On March 19, 1944, the German army conquered…

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Jewish Treats

Ginger Ail?

Happy “Love Your Red Hair Day”! Those endowed with ginger-ness (In Israel, a redheaded person is called a “gingy”), 1% of the world’s population and 2% of that of the United States, are…

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Weekly Message,Sukkot

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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Jewish Treats

Avinu Malkeinu

No prayer so thoroughly captures the Jewish people’s dual relationship with God as Avinu Malkeinu, "Our Father, Our King." The exact formulation of this prayer is based on a prayer that…

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Jewish Treats

From Holy God to Holy King

On Rosh Hashana, God judges the world (and all the people therein), but their fates are not sealed until 10 days later, on Yom Kippur. It is during these ten days that we must present a…

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Jewish Treats

Holiday Greetings

The standard pre-Rosh Hashana greeting of “K’tiva v’chatima tova” ("May you be written and sealed for good”) is deduced from a Talmudic discussion concerning the three heavenly…

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Jewish Treats

The Year is Set

Rosh Hashana, the head of the year, is the day on which God determines the fate and fortune of both individuals and communities for the year to come. It is assumed that on this day God…

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