Kee Tisah 5768-2008
"Moses Shatters the Tablets" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Kee Tisah, we read the dramatic story of Moses receiving the tablets of the Ten Commandments…
Kee Tisah 5760-2000
"The 'Vengeful' G-d" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In the parasha, Parashat Kee Tisah, we read of the infamous episode of the Golden Calf. In preparation for the Revelation, Moses had gone…
Simchat Torah 5767-2006
"The Evolving Holiday" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald The festival of Simchat Torah is one of the most joyous of the Jewish calendar. In Israel, following the conclusion of the festival of…
Sukkot 5762-2001
"I'm Dreaming of a Warm Sukkot" by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald The joyous festival of Sukkot, which begins Monday evening, October 1, expresses the idea of the unity of the Jewish People in a…
Smashing the Tablets
The sages declare that five tragedies occurred on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, which is why the day is observed as a fast day. Days of what we might now call "bad karma" (on which bad…
Yitro 5771-2011
"The Dark Side of Judaism" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In our previous studies of parashat Yitro 5760-2000, we spoke of Israel’s encounter with Jethro and the non-Jewish world. Through…
Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah
Tonight starts the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, literally the Gathering of the Eighth, a connected, yet independent holiday, that immediately follows Sukkot.During the seven days of…
Moses’ “Spartacus Moment”
The episode of the Golden Calf represents one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the Children of Israel. A mere 40-days prior, the Jews stood at the very same Mount Sinai,…
Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah
Tonight starts the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, literally the Gathering of the Eighth, a connected, yet independent holiday, that immediately follows Sukkot.During the seven days of…
The Tragedy of the Idol
Ever since Moses saw the Israelites dancing around the Golden Calf and smashed the two tablets of the law, the 17th of Tammuz has been an inauspicious day for the Jewish people,…