Pekudei 5784-2024
“Building an Everlasting Sanctuary” (updated and revised from Pekudei 5768-2008) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Pekudei, we are told that, at long last, all…
Yom Kippur 5772-2011
"The Magic of the Day of Atonement" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The Jewish calendar has an abundance of "propitious" or "favorable" times and occasions. Nissan, the month of Passover, is…
Making it Transfusable
This past Sunday, June 14, was World Blood Day. Today's Jewish Treats takes a brief look at the Jewish researchers who made safe blood transfusions possible. In 1901, Karl Landsteiner…
The Demise of Villains
Purim is a day on the Jewish calendar throughout Jewish history that has brought much joy to the Jewish people. A few years ago, a Jewish Soviet immigrant to the United States shared that…
Tu b’Shevat is Coming
While it may seem as if winter has just begun, it may be time to look beyond the turbulent weather and see that spring is just around the corner. You might wonder how one can possibly…
The Seven Mitzvot
Jewish law places great emphasis on the way a Jew must live and the rewards for living according to Jewish law. Laws such as Shabbat and kashrut create a lifestyle in which Jews mingle…
I Am To My Beloved
The Torah verse that epitomizes the emotion of love is: “Anee l’dodi v’dodi lee” - I am to my beloved, and my beloved is to me (Song of Songs 6:3). The ideal love relationship…
Mourning Jerusalem I: A Brief History of the First Temple
Jews all over the world will be observing the fast of Tisha b’Av on this coming Saturday night and Sunday. It is on Tisha b’Av that the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the…
The Challenge of Fitting In
The weekly Torah reading of Mikeitz (Genesis 41:1-44:17), which almost always coincides with Chanukah, tells the story of the rise of Joseph the son of Jacob from slave to viceroy. And…
Tu b’Shevat is Coming
While it may seem as if winter has just begun, it may be time to look beyond the turbulent weather and see that spring is just around the corner. You might wonder how one can possibly…