Jewish Treats

Sir Moses Montefiore

Sir Moses Montefiore (1784-1885) had an extraordinary impact on the world. Beginning a career in general business, Montefiore quickly gained one of the 12 brokers licenses allowed to Jews…

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Re'eh,Weekly Message

Re’eh 5781-2021

“The Elusive Blessing of ‘Peace’” (updated and revised from Re’eh 5763-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s Torah portion, parashat Re’eh, contains some of the most exalted…

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Jewish Treats

A Man of Courage Honored

In 2001, it was recognized that in the course of American history, numerous heroes had been denied consideration for the United States Medal of Honor for extreme valor in battle, due to…

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Jewish Treats

The Yom Kippur War

It would be impossible in this format to provide a full history of the events that led to the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in the fall of 1973. However, in honor of the second ceasefire…

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Jewish Treats

The First Rabbi in America

The first ordained rabbi to serve in an American congregation was Rabbi Abraham Joseph Rice (originally Reiss, 1800-1862). After studying in Germany, in Wurzburg and then Fuerth, Rice was…

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Jewish Treats

The Jewish Holiday A Week before Chanukah

The Mishnah (Rosh Hashana 1:1) declares four calendar dates as “Jewish New Years.” On the first day of Tishrei, we celebrate Rosh Hashana as the annual day of judgment for all humanity…

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Jewish Treats

Chanukah and Divine Order

Chanukah always overlaps with at least one Shabbat (if not two), and since Chanukah begins on the 25th of Kislev and lasts for eight days, the holiday always coincides with the…

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Jewish Treats

Tooning Machines

There are not many people whose names appear as a dictionary entry, and even fewer whose names have become adjectives. As of 1966, however, the name “Rube Goldberg” took an official…

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Jewish Treats

Natural Born Athlete

In the world of sports, Bobbie Rosenfeld had, what a person might call, the “magic touch.” As it was once noted: “The most efficient way to summarize Bobbie Rosenfeld’s career…is to say…

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Jewish Treats

Kosher in Gracie Mansion

Although New York has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States (the first Jews arrived in 1654), the first openly Jewish mayor of New York City was not elected until…

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