Jewish Treats

What’s in a (Last) Name?

When using proper names in the Jewish ritual, such as receiving an Aliyah to the Torah, marriage, divorce, on conversion documents, on tombstones or in memorial prayers, Jews are…

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Jewish Treats

Harari. Michael Harari

Most people have never heard the name Michael “Mike” Harari. Given his vocation, he probably would approve of his anonymity. Born in Tel Aviv, Michael Harari (1927-2014), enlisted in the…

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Jewish Treats

Choral in the Capitals

The history of Jewish settlement in Russia is as long and complex as the narrative of the ever-shifting areas of Russian power. In the 18th century, Empress Catherine the Great banished…

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Behar,Bechukotai,Weekly Message

Behar-Bechukotai 5764-2004

"The Revolutionary Nature of Shemita and Yovel" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald In the first of this week's double parashiot, parashat Behar, we encounter the remarkable laws of Shemita--the…

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Sources Commentators

Abarbanel (1437-1508, Spanish statesman, philosopher and commentator) Israel Abrahams (1858-1925) Achad Ha’Am (Asher Zvi Hirsh Ginsberg, 1856-1927) AJOP (Association for Jewish Outreach…

Weekly Message,Sukkot

Sukkot-Hoshana Rabbah 5768-2007

"The Festival of Sukkot Comes to a Dramatic Close" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald The final day of Sukkot, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, is known as Hoshanah Rabbah. Hoshanah Rabbah,…

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Behar,Bechukotai,Weekly Message

Behar-Bechukotai 5783-2023

“The Revolutionary Nature of Shemita and Yovel” (updated and revised from Behar-Bechukotai 5764-2004) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In parashat Behar, the first of this week’s two…

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Jewish Treats

Midwestern Sour Cream

There are a host of Jewish foods that are associated with the American Jewish experience. Most of these, such as blintzes with sour cream, sour cream and bananas, and (of course)…

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Jewish Treats

The Nuremberg Trials

On October 16, 1946, ten leaders of the Nazi party were executed after the first of the twelve Nuremberg Trials sentenced them to death. The trials of over 100 defendants took place in…

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Jewish Treats

Putting Chanukah in Historical Perspective

The events of Chanukah took place about 150 years after the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE), which brought 40 years of civil war to his empire. Eventually, the empire was divided…

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