A Name Full of Promise
The best-known Hebrew name of God is spelled Yud - Hey - Vuv - Hey. It is a name considered so sacred that we never verbalize it, but instead read it as Ah-doh-nai (meaning “my Master”),…
Passover 5777-2017
“לֶחֶם עֹנִי --Lechem Oni: The Bread of Affliction by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Two primary scriptural verses provide reasons for eating matzah, unleavened…
Kee Tisah 5777-2017
“The Gift of Torah" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Kee Tisah, the Torah reports that G-d gave Moses two stone Tablets of Testimony that were…
New Years Resolutions
Today, Jewish Treats looks at the Jewish nature of some of the most common New Year's Resolutions: 1. Lose Weight/Start Exercising/Eat Healthy Food: The mitzvah of saving a…
Chayei Sarah 5776-2015
"The Legacy of Ishmael" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Chayei Sarah, opens with the death and burial of the matriarch, Sarah, at age 127, and closes with the…
Broken Matzah
Whether one is in North America, Europe or Asia, the Passover seder is almost always familiar due to the universal text of the Haggadah. Through the course of time, however, different…
Returning
One of the dominant themes of the High Holiday season is repentance. In Hebrew, repentance is known as teshuva and it is a multi-tiered process that requires more than just feeling bad…
Shelach 5774-2014
“Do Not Follow After the Desires of Your Heart and Eyes” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald While the major theme of parashat Shelach concerns the scouts who return from the Land of Israel with…
A Lost Language of Scholarship
When most people think about Jewish language they think of Hebrew or Yiddish, and sometimes of Ladino. In honor of UN Arabic Language Day, Jewish Treats would like to recognize the…
He Shall Be Praised
Many of us remember learning to write research papers in school. Critical to receiving a good grade was composing a proper concluding paragraph to serve as a summation. While the prayer…