This Land Is Our Land
“Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai said: ‘Three things are weighed equally, and they are earth, humans and rain.’ Rabbi Levi bar Hiyyata said: ‘… to teach you that without earth there would be no…
A Place For the Artists
Marcel Janco, who passed away on April 21, 1984, is best known as one of the founders of the Dada movement, an avant-garde art movement of the early twentieth century that rejected…
What Happened in SHUM?
While most people know about the horrors of the Crusades, many do not realize that there were, in fact, many Crusades over a period of four hundred years, and that most of these crusades…
How Fortunate We Are
A study of the atrocities that befell the Jews of the Middle Ages in Speyer, Worms and Mainz, should remind us to appreciate how fortunate we are to live in a society where the freedom to…
Acharei Mot,Kedoshim,Weekly Message
Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5781-2021
“Shaatnez: Understanding ‘Irrational’ Decrees” (updated and revised from Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5762-2002) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Once again, this week, we have double…
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…
Ethics of the Fathers
Ethics – it’s a big word in our day and age. Between political corruption and financial misdeeds, it is easy to wonder what ever happened to even the most basic ethical standards.…
Remembering Bergen-Belsen
The spring brings with it annual anniversaries that mark the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, death camps and a day of renewed life for tens of thousands of survivors of the Shoah…
Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day
On the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, in the year 5708, corresponding to May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was born. On that day, the British Mandate was terminated and David…
Israel’s Memorial Day
The State of Israel’s independence, as well as its continued survival, is a modern day miracle. But, it has come at great cost in human lives to its citizens. Therefore, before Israel…