Jewish Treats

With Your Permission

Dear Miss Manners: Yesterday, a friend knocked on my door. I invited him in and he proceeded to grab a snack out of the fridge, watch a movie on my TV and then hopped on to my exercise…

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Jewish Treats

Over The Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow...Well, we all know that there is no real place over the rainbow! After all, a rainbow is caused by the refraction of light during the rain. But when you see a…

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Jewish Treats

Torah, To What Can I Compare Thee?

Various biblical verses and rabbinic texts compare the Torah to different natural resources to teach us about the greatness of the Torah in terms that can be readily understood. After…

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Haazinu,Weekly Message

Haazinu 5760-1999

"The Final Song" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week's parasha, parashat Haazinu, contains the final song which Moshe sings before his death. This is the song to which Moshe alluded in…

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Emor,Yom Ha'atzmaut,Weekly Message

Emor-Yom Ha’atzmaut 5763-2003

"The Counting of the Omer and the Celebration of Israel's Independence" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week's parasha, parashat Emor, coincides with the celebration of Yom Ha'atzma'ut,…

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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." While Avinu Malkeinu is a prayer widely known to be part of the…

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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…

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Jewish Treats

More Than A Harvest Festival

Few people refer to Sukkot by the name Chag Ha’Asif, Feast of the Ingathering, but the Torah specifically states: “And you shall observe…the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year”…

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Jewish Treats

The Bird of Thanks

On Thanksgiving day, it is customary in the United States to eat a turkey dinner. The Hebrew word for turkey is “tar’negol hodu,” literally, an “Indian Rooster.” It came by this name…

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Jewish Treats

Mourning Jerusalem I: A Brief History of the First Temple

This coming Saturday night and Sunday, Jews the world over will be observing the fast of Tisha b’Av. It is on this day that the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the First and…

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