Shelach 5771-2011
"Challah–-All Possessions Are From the L-rd" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The primary narrative of this week’s parasha, parashat Shelach, concerns the episode of the scouts (spies) who…
Bo 5772-2012
"The Plague of Darkness" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Bo, we learn of the eighth, ninth and tenth of the ten plagues--locusts, darkness and the death of…
Mikeitz 5776-2015
“Joseph’s Bold Advice to Pharaoh-–Revisited” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Mikeitz, Joseph, the Hebrew slave boy, is hurried from the dungeon to stand…
Three Steps Forward, Three Steps Back
While Jewish prayer has many aspects that are introspective, prayer is also designed to serve as a vehicle of communication with the Divine. The central focus of every prayer service is…
The Buttonwood Jews
On the 17th of May, 1792, 24 businessmen met under a buttonwood (sycamore) tree and made an agreement to deal only with one another and to set a .25% commission rate on all…
The Golden Ages of Estonia
Estonia, one of the three Baltic states, has never historically hosted a large population of Jews, but the quality of its hospitality toward Jews and other minorities has been quite…
Unexpected Sri Lankan History
Today’s Jewish Treat will take a brief look at an unexpected location for Jewish history: Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Located off the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka’s Jewish community…
Choral in the Capitals
The history of Jewish settlement in Russia is as long and complex as the narrative of the ever-shifting areas of Russian power. In the 18th century, Empress Catherine the Great banished…
Putting Chanukah in Historical Perspective
The events of Chanukah took place about 150 years after the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE), which brought 40 years of civil war to his empire. Eventually, the empire was divided…
Grandmaster R
When Szmul Rzeszewski (1911-1992) was five years old, his father showed him how to play chess. Three years later, the boy was a recognized child prodigy who gained acclaim giving…