Emor 5778-2018
“The Great Moses Seems Not to Know the Answer” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Emor, we encounter the episode of the מְגַדֵּף, megadef, the blasphemer, which…
Devarim 5778-2018
“The Final Rebuke" With this week’s parasha, parashat Devarim, we begin to read the fifth and final book of the Torah. The book of Deuteronomy is known in rabbinic literature as…
Matot-Masei 5783-2023
"The Mitzvah of Living in the Land of Israel” (updated and revised from Matot-Masei 5764-2004) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In parashat Masei, the second of this week’s double…
Bamidbar 5763-2003
"The Role of the Levites, and the Service of Yeshiva students in the Israeli Army" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week we begin to study the fourth book of the Torah, Sefer Bamidbar,…
Shelach 5766-2006
"Who was Caleb?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Parashat Shelach is probably the saddest parasha in the Torah. It is in this weekly portion that the Israelite men of the Exodus generation…
B’ha’alot’cha 5762-2002
"Is This What the Torah Predicted?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This coming week's parasha, parashat Beha'alotecha, contains varied and interesting themes. The parasha speaks of the…
Matot-Masei 5764-2004
"The Mitzvah of Living in the Land of Israel" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In parashat Masei, the second of this week's double parashiot, G-d speaks to Moses in the Plains of Moab and…
Devarim 5771-2011
“The Responsibility not to be Misled” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald With this week’s parasha, parashat Devarim, the fifth book of the Torah, which bears the same name as the parasha,…
Naso 5776-2016
“Reflections on the Meaning of Peace" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Naso, includes the well-known “Priestly Blessings,” the brief but beautiful, threefold…
Shelach 5777-2017
“The Slave Mentality” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Shelach, we read of G-d’s shattering decree that the generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt…