Connecting Words
According to the internet’s fun holiday websites, January 18th is Thesaurus Day. The date is in honor of the creator of the first modern thesaurus, [Peter Mark] Roget’s Thesaurus. A…
Vayishlach 5782-2021
“Yisrael: The People Who Wrestle with G-d” (updated and revised from Vayishlach 5762-2001) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Vayishlach, after having lived…
She Brought Them Home
There were many heroes involved in the incredible effort to secretly bring thousands of imperiled Jews from Europe after the war to the Land of Israel despite the BriTisha blockade. More…
Majority Rules
After the Torah was given, Moses served as the sole judge of the Jewish people until a judicial hierarchy was established at the suggestion of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. One judge was…
Majority Rules
After the Torah was given, Moses served as the sole judge of the Jewish people until a judicial hierarchy was established at the suggestion of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. One judge was…
Majority Rules
After the Torah was given, Moses served as the sole judge of the Jewish people until a judicial hierarchy was established at the suggestion of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. One judge was…
Korach 5767-2007
"Agonizing Over Collective Punishment" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Korach, we read of the dramatic events that unfold with the rebellion of Korach and…
A Poet and A Martyr
Hannah Senesh (Szenes) was born in Budapest, Hungary, to an assimilated, middle-class family. An avid diarist from the age of 13 until her death, Hannah maintained a personal journal…
Conquering the Desert
One of the great miracles of the State of Israel has been its ability to transform desert into blooming arable land. In 1867 Mark Twain described the land in one of his memoirs: “The…
Waves of Aliyah
Although the State of Israel was officially established in 1948, the beginning of the mass return of Jews to the Promised Land began in the 1880s. Each distinct wave of immigration is now…