Vayigash 5773-2012
"Is My Father Still Alive?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Vayigash, we read of one of the most dramatic moments in the Torah, when Joseph finally reveals…
Rabbi Aharon Kotler
Rabbi Aharon Kotler, whose 50th yahrtzeit is today, arrived in the United States in 1941. The Va'ad Hatzalah brought Rabbi Kotler out of Nazi controlled Europe, where he had been a highly…
Yitro 5765-2005
"Jethro's Advice to an Overburdened Leader" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this coming week's parasha, parashat Yitro, we learn of Judaism's remarkable openness and willingness to…
Yitro 5784-2024
Urgent message: Given the most challenging situation in Israel at this time, I urge all to pray for the bereaved families, the hostages, the missing and the many casualties. Please try to…
Celebrating Bar Ilan University
Would you believe that the founding of Israel’s second largest university (33,000 students) was conceived “deep in the heart of Dixie"? Two years after Israel’s founding in 1948, the…
Berlin’s Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
On May 11, 1820, a child was born in Prussia who would, as a grown man, almost single-handedly change the face of German Jewry. Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer attended yeshiva in Hanover, and…
The Origins of Formal Jewish Education in the United States
Today, thankfully, there are hundreds of Jewish elementary schools in the United States that teach both Judaic and general studies. The paradigm for this movement was the founding of…
Celebrating Bar Ilan University
Would you believe that the founding of Israel’s second largest university (33,000 students) was conceived “deep in the heart of Dixie”? Two years after Israel’s founding in 1948, the…
The Tragedy of Jealousy
The Talmud (Yevamot 62b) relates that “Rabbi Akiva had 12,000 pairs of students...and all of them died in one period of time because they did not act with respect toward each other...they…
The Tragedy of Jealousy
The Talmud (Yevamot 62b) relates that “Rabbi Akiva had 12,000 pairs of students...and all of them died in one period of time because they did not act with respect toward each…