Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, literally the Night of Crystal but generally translated as the Night of Broken Glass, was a tragic turning point in the fate of Germany’s Jewish community. The country-wide…
Curses Turned To Blessings
“How glorious are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel. As valleys stretched out, as gardens by the river-side; as aloes planted by God, as cedars beside the waters” (Numbers…
Balak 5777-2017
“Influencing the Will of G-d” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Balak, we learn that the Moabite king, Balak, the son of Zippor, is overwhelmed with fear as a…
Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day
Today, the 28th* of Nisan, Jews around the world are marking Yom Ha’shoah (Officially Yom Ha’zikaron La’shoah V’la’g'vurah, which translates to The Day of Memorial for…
Chayei Sarah 5777-2016
“Sarah Dies at Age 127” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Chayei Sarah, opens with the grim news of the passing of the great Matriarch, Sarah, at age 127. The…
What Happened in North Africa
During the Holocaust, European Jewry was almost completely decimated, and the importance of sharing that history is becoming even more important as the last surviving witnesses of the…
Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day
Today, the 27th of Nissan, Jews around the world are marking Yom Ha’shoah (Officially Yom Ha’zikaron La’shoah V’la’g'vurah, which translates to The Day of Memorial for…
Before Michigan
The foundations of Michigan’s Jewish community were laid by the German Jews who came to America in the 1840s and spread out across the continent. Jewish history in Michigan, which became…
The Intellectual Prototype
In the early and mid-twentieth century, there were what might be called stereotypical Jewish intellectuals – Jewish men and women who were dedicated socialists and whose fervor was often…
Shemot 5774-2013
“G-d Recognizes His Peoples’ Sufferings” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Shemot, the enslavement of the Children of Israel by the Egyptians begins in…