Hora Hey

Hands clasped, feet flying, and the room spinning as the giant circle of dancers turns round and round to the pulsing klezmer music from the band. It’s the Hora--that fabulous circle…

Read More

Chanukah and Divine Order

Chanukah always overlaps with at least one Shabbat (if not two), and since Chanukah begins on the 25th of Kislev and lasts for eight days, the holiday always coincides with the…

Read More

Yom Ha’shoah, Holocaust Memorial Day

Yom Ha’shoah, is usually observed each year on the 27th of Nissan. Jews around the world will mark Yom Ha’shoah (Officially Yom Ha’zikaron La’shoah V’ha’g’vurah, which translates to…

Read More

Balak 5781-2021

"Words of Eternal Truth from the Evil Prophet Bilaam” (updated and revised from Balak 5761-2001) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Balak, we encounter Balak,…

Read More

These Lights We Kindle

While the mitzvah of lighting the menorah is an outward-focused mitzvah – which is why the menorah is lit in a window or doorway – it is also an opportunity for personal reflection on the…

Read More

Chanukah and Divine Order

Chanukah always overlaps with at least one Shabbat (if not two), and since Chanukah begins on the 25th of Kislev and lasts for eight days, the holiday always coincides with the…

Read More

What Are Tefillin?

“And you shall bind them [the words that I command you today] for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes… (Deuteronomy 6:8)”. The above verse refers to…

Read More

Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day

Yom Hashoah, is observed each year on the 27th of Nissan, which is tonight and tomorrow. Jews around the world will mark Yom Hashoah (Officially Yom Ha’zikaron La’shoah V’ha’g’vurah,…

Read More

Mikeitz 5783-2022

“In Those Days, in These Times” (updated and revised from Mikeitz 5763-2002) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald As we have previously noted, the story of Joseph may be seen as the story of an…

Read More