You Border on the Adriatic
For many Americans, knowledge of Albania may derive from a famous scene in the sitcom “Cheers,” where “Coach” helps “Sam” study geography via the use of songs. They did this by singing,…
The History of the Knesset
The founders of the State of Israel did not have much time to set up and plan the specifics of government. So, it is not surprising that the country emerged from its fight for…
Rabbi Shmuel Salant
On the 29th of Av, 1909, corresponding to August 16th, Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Jerusalem’s long-time Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, passed away. Rabbi Shmuel was born in 1816 in Bialystok, then part…
Rosh Hashana 5784-2023
“Actions and their Implications” (updated and revised from Rosh Hashana 5766-2005) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The celebration of the Jewish New Year is entirely unlike the secular New…
Albania and the Jews
Albania, which today marks its Independence Day, is a small Balkan country with an almost minute Jewish population. While it was never a country with a large Jewish population, there have…
The Board of Deputies
The contemporary Jewish community of England began to form in the late 17th century, after a nearly 400 year ban on Jewish settlement. While the majority of the Jews who initially came to…
Rights in Connecticut
At the time that Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution on January 9, 1788, the fifth state of the United States was not particularly welcoming to Jews or anyone else who was not…
Jews in Mauritius
In the Indian Ocean, just off the coast of Africa, is the island nation of Mauritius. Despite the general absence of Jews in Mauritius in the past, there is enough of a Jewish community…