Rabbi Shmuel Salant

On the 29th of Av, 1909, corresponding to August 16th, Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Jerusalem’s long-time Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, passed away. Rabbi Shmuel was born in 1816 in Bialystok, then part…

Read More

Of Shamrocks, Snails and Survivors: the life of Rabbi Isaac Herzog

Rabbi Isaac Herzog, the State of Israel’s first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, passed away, at age 70, on this date - the 19th of Tammuz – sixty years ago, in 1959, corresponding to July 25th.…

Read More

Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried and the Abridged Code of Law

When rabbinic authorities make halachic (Jewish legal) rulings, they generally consult the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), a compendium of halacha written in 1563 by Rabbi Joseph…

Read More

Rabbi Tarfon

Studying the Talmud is a most exciting adventure that introduces a person to a host of intriguing historic personalities who had a profound impact on Jewish life. With so many different…

Read More

Shavuot 5762-2002

"Beyond the Book of Ruth: The Untold Story" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Beginning this Thursday night, May 16th and continuing through Friday and Shabbat, May 17th and 18th, Jews…

Read More

Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel

The list of American rabbinic leaders whose faces have graced U.S. Postage stamps is rather small, to say the least. One such stamp, created in 1986 and given a $1 value, featured Rabbi…

Read More

The First Rabbi In America

The first ordained rabbi to serve in an American congregation was Rabbi Abraham Joseph Rice (originally Reiss, 1802-1862). After studying in Germany, in Wurtzburg and then Fuerth, Rice…

Read More

The Flying Rabbi

On October 24, 2011, a memorial to the Jewish chaplains of the United States Armed Services was dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery. The 14 Jewish chaplains whose names were…

Read More

The Flying Rabbi

On October 24, 2011, a memorial to the Jewish chaplains of the United States Armed Services was dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery. The 14 Jewish chaplains whose names were…

Read More

The First Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel

When history books discuss immigration to the land of Israel at the beginning of the twentieth century, the waves of immigrants to which they refer were, for the most part, Ashkenazim…

Read More