Vayigash 5772-2011
"Joseph and Judah: A Confrontation for Posterity" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, we read of the dramatic and powerful confrontation between Judah and Joseph. (For an…
Naso 5776-2016
“Reflections on the Meaning of Peace" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Naso, includes the well-known “Priestly Blessings,” the brief but beautiful, threefold…
Vayeira 5777-2016
“There is But No Fear of G-d in this Place” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Vayeira, Abraham relives the trauma of his wife’s abduction in Egypt when he…
Vayechi 5777-2017
“The Passing of the Last of the Patriarchs” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Vayechi, is the final parasha of the book of Genesis. In this parasha, Jacob, the…
Shemot 5779-2018
“Getting the Jews Out of Egypt-–Two Views” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Shemot, we read of the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt by Pharaoh, as well as the…
Devarim 5770-2010
"On That Day the Lord Shall Be One and His Name One" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The book of Deuteronomy, known in Hebrew as Devarim, opens with the people now standing at the border of…
Yom Ha’atzma’ut – Israel’s Independence Day
On the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, in the year 5708, corresponding to May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was born. On that day, the British Mandate was terminated and David…
A Jewish Income Tax?
On February 3, 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived,…
Jews in Mississippi
In 1804, a year after the “Louisiana Purchase” was concluded, the United States government created the “Mississippi Territory.” On December 10, 1817, statehood was granted to Mississippi.…
A Light Unto the Sunshine State
What U.S. cities enjoy the largest Jewish populations? You probably included New York, Los Angeles and Miami, which are indeed the three cities, in order, with the largest Jewish…