A Trap of Wealth
If I were a rich man…The most important men in town will come to fawn on me…When you’re rich they think you really know… The now classic words from the Broadway show “Fiddler on the Roof”…
What A Player
Today marks 177 years since the first official game of baseball was played on June 19, 1846. In honor of this anniversary, today’s Jewish Treat presents a brief biography of a unique…
In Arkansas
Jewish life in Arkansas began in 1825 with the arrival of Abraham Block to the town of Washington in Hempstead County, Arkansas. For Block and his family, however, it was a very lonely…
Top of the Class
Among the scholars quoted in Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, are clusters of sages who are interconnected whether due to being from the same city, are part of the same generation or…
Naso 5783-2023
“Our Brother, Our Sister--the Proselyte” (updated and revised from Naso 5764-2004) By, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Naso, we learn of an intriguing law…
Jewish Treats,Shavuot,Shavuot Resources
The Feast of Weeks
Shavuot, which we begin celebrating this Thursday night (May 25th), is the only holiday listed in the Torah without the date on which it is to be observed. Rather, the Torah states that…
Western Wall History
The Western (Wailing*) Wall is the most accessible holiest location in Jewish life. With 28 rows of massive stones above ground (and 17 below), the wall itself is physically breathtaking.…
Berlin’s Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
On May 11, 1820, a child was born in Prussia who would, as a grown man, almost single-handedly change the face of German Jewry. Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer attended yeshiva in Hanover, and,…
Behar,Bechukotai,Weekly Message
Behar-Bechukotai 5783-2023
“The Revolutionary Nature of Shemita and Yovel” (updated and revised from Behar-Bechukotai 5764-2004) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In parashat Behar, the first of this week’s two…
Happy Birthday Birkat Hamazon
The Torah (Exodus 16:1) reports that the Children of Israel arrived at the Wilderness of Sin on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Iyar, approximately one month after the exodus from Egypt.…