Passover 5761-2001
"The Final days of Pesach - Days of Unity" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald That the Jews happened to find themselves in Egypt and were enslaved by the Egyptians was not at all coincidence.…
Va'etchanan,Weekly Message,Genesis
Va’etchanan 5772-2012
"The Magic of the Mezuzah" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Va’etchanan, we encounter the first of two textual references to the mitzvah of mezuzah that are…
Judaism,Rosh Hashana Resources,Rosh HashanaJudaism,Rosh Hashana,Literacy
Preparing for the New Year
Preparing for theNew YearElul — The Month Before Rosh Hashana Table of Contents Teshuva- Repentance Customs of Elul 1.…
A Synagogue Tour
Throughout history, synagogue architecture has been as varied as the latest styles and the laws of the land (for instance, many cultures prohibited building synagogues taller than…
The Hebron Massacre of 1929
One of the most ancient cities in the land of Israel, Hebron is mentioned in the Bible as the location of the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'arat Ha'mach'pelah), which Abraham purchased…
Stories from Safed
The city of Safed in the northern Galilee is one of Israel’s most popular tourist destinations. One of its primary draws is its magnificent synagogues whose congregations date back to the…
Kitniyot and Gebruchts
Are you Ashkenazi or Sephardi? Hungarian, Yekke (German), Litvak (Lithuanian)?At no other time on the Jewish calendar is it so important to know your ancestry as it is on Passover. What…
Kitniyot and Gebruchts
Ashkenazi or Sephardi? Hungarian, Yekke (German), Litvak (Lithuanian)? At no other time on the Jewish calendar is it so important to know your ancestry as it is on Passover. What one…
A Synagogue in Mozambique
Mozambique is not the first place one would expect to find a stately Portugese-Baroque synagogue. Nevertheless, there is. And while for many years it was used for other purposes, there…