Ushpeezin
During the festival of Sukkot, the sukkah is intended to be our home. For example, since dining normally takes place in the house, on Sukkot, dining takes place in the sukkah. Because the…
Sukkot 5785-2024
“Sukkot - The Festival of Joy” (updated and revised from Sukkot I 5767-2006) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The festival of Sukkot is regarded as the most joyous of all the Jewish holidays.…
Build Your Own Sukkah
Webster’s Dictionary defines a Tabernacle as a temporary dwelling, which is why the Jewish holiday of Sukkot is known as the “Feast of the Tabernacles." A sukkah, however, is a lot more…
Golden Opportunity
Use the prayer of Neilah and the other Yom Kippur prayers as an opportunity to connect with and come closer to God on this auspicious day. As you take the necessary steps to prepare for…
For The Sins We Committed
One of the main steps in the process of teshuva (repentance) is for penitents to confess their sins and verbalize their errors. In so doing, those who seek forgiveness for committing a…
Remembering October 7th
Today is the one-year anniversary of the horrific attack that took place when Hamas terrorists from Gaza entered Israel and killed over 1,000 Jewish lives, shaking the very foundation of…
Yom Kippur 5785-2024
“G-d’s Gift to His People on Yom Kippur” (updated and revised from Yom Kippur 5765-2004) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Because of the observance of Yom Kippur, the final weekly Torah…
Holiday Greetings
The standard pre-Rosh Hashana greeting of “K’Tiva Va’Chatima Tova,” May you be written and sealed for good, is deduced from a Talmudic discussion concerning the three heavenly books that…
Rosh Hashana,Weekly Message,Haazinu
Rosh Hashana/Haazinu 5785-2024
“Jewish Normal, Is Not Very Normal” (updated and revised from Haazinu-Rosh Hashana 5774-2013) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Haazinu, Moses, speaking to the…
Avinu Malkeinu
No prayer so thoroughly captures the Jewish people’s dual relationship with God as does the prayer Avinu Malkeinu, “Our Father, Our King.” While Avinu Malkeinu is a prayer widely known to…