Tu b’Av And The Offering Of Wood
Tu b'Av, the fifteenth of Av, was celebrated in ancient times by unmarried maidens who went out on this day to dance in the vineyards hoping to be chosen by an unmarried youth to be his…
Seventeenth of Tammuz: End of the Tamid Offering
In the year that the Israelites left Egypt, on the 17th day of Tammuz, Moses descended from Mount Sinai to find the Jewish people dancing around the Golden Calf. In exasperation, Moses…
Pinchas 5782-2022
“Can a Perfect G-d Sin?” (Updated and revised from Pinchas 5763-2003) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Pinchas, is full of fascinating narratives. The parasha…
Vayikra 5775-2015
“The Primacy of Independent Thinking” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Vayikra, contains many laws and directives regarding the various sacrifices and ritual…
Vayikra 5768-2008
"Infallibility in Judaism" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Vayikra, we are told of the many types of offerings that were brought in the ancient Tabernacle. In…
Pinchas 5763-2003
"Can a Perfect G-d Sin?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week's parasha, parashat Pinchas, is replete with fascinating narratives. The parasha opens with G-d's reward to Pinchas for his…
Shoftim 5784-2024
“The Extent of Rabbinic Authority” (updated and revised from Shoftim 5765-2005) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Shoftim, 41 new Torah laws, are…
Tzav 5783-2023
“Making the Menial Hallowed and the Mundane Holy” (updated and revised from Tzav 5764-2004) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Tzav, continues the theme of…
Vayikra 5782-2022
“Insights for the Contemporary Soul from Ancient ‘Primitive’ Rituals” (Updated and revised from Vayikra 5764-2004) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald With this week’s parasha, parashat Vayikra,…
Naso 5779-2019
"Traditional Judaism: Fundamentalist or Ascetic" (Revised and updated from Naso 5760-2000) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Naso, we encounter the…