First on the Court
Born in 1856, in Louisville, Kentucky, Louis Dembitz Brandeis was the child of European immigrants who maintained a minimal Jewish identity. However, his maternal uncle, Lewis Dembitz,…
What’s in the Book: Kings II (Part 1)
The Second Book of Kings continues the history of a divided nation: the Kingdom of Israel in the north (10 tribes) and the Kingdom of Judea (Judah and Benjamin) in the south. After…
Workers’ Rights
Are workers’ rights a modern invention born out of the trials and tribulations of the industrial revolution? Everyone’s heard of the horrors of the sweatshops, child labor abuses and…
Someone’s Been Sitting In My Chair
In some families, dinner time is a helter-skelter affair where everyone grabs what they want on their way to their next event. In other families, dinner is a set time when everyone…
Name Change
It is not a coincidence that cultures around the world share a belief in the power of given names. In Judaism, it is believed that parents are granted a flash of ruach hakodesh, Divine…
Name Change
It is not a coincidence that cultures around the world share a belief in the power of given names. In Judaism, it is believed that parents are granted a flash of ruach hakodesh, Divine…
Name Change
It is not a coincidence that cultures around the world share a belief in the power of given names. In Judaism, it is believed that parents are granted a flash of ruach hakodesh, Divine…
Shoftim 5769-2009
"The Torah Declares War on Bribery" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Shoftim, we again encounter the Torah's emphatic injunction against taking bribes.…
Tetzaveh 5772-2012
"Where is Moses?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Parashat Tetzaveh focuses in depth on the special vestments that the lay priests and the High Priest wore when they officiated at the…
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…