Jewish Treats

Just a Half Shekel

This Shabbat is Parashat Shekalim (shekels). The Torah portion that speaks of Shekalim (Exodus 30:11-16) is read as the Maftir portion after the regular…

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Jewish Treats

Travelin’

Ever feel nervous just before the start of a trip? Ever have sleepless nights before boarding an airplane? Perhaps these hesitations connect back to a time when travel, whether by road or…

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Jewish Treats

No Strings Attached

Deuteronomy 16:18 states: "...You shall not take a bribe, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts just words." Although this statement of Jewish law is written in…

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Jewish Treats

Mourning Jerusalem I: A Brief History of the First Temple

Jews all over the world will be observing the fast of Tisha b’Av on this coming Saturday night and Sunday. It is on Tisha b’Av that the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the…

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Jewish Treats

A Fast of the Past

In just over a week, on the 17th day of Tammuz, Jews around the world will fast to commemorate multiple tragedies and to mark the beginning of the three-week period that concludes…

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Jewish Treats

Bows and Arrows

Today, Lag Ba'omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, is a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar. Its observance commemorates the end of a tragic plague that took the…

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Jewish Treats

Kitniyot and Gebruchts

Are you Ashkenazi or Sephardi? Hungarian, Yekke (German), Litvak (Lithuanian)?At no other time on the Jewish calendar is it so important to know your ancestry as it is on Passover. What…

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Jewish Treats

Purim Katan

In a Jewish leap year, a second month of Adar is added to the Jewish calendar, creating Adar I and Adar II. The question that arises is, in which Adar does one celebrate the important…

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Jewish Treats

Who Was Mordechai?

There are some people in this world who always seem to be right in the thick of the action. As described in the Book of Esther, this was Mordechai. It is Mordechai’s niece who is chosen…

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Weekly Message,Vayakhel

Vayakhel-Pekudei 5773-2013

"The Jewish Connection" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald With this week’s double parashiot, Vayakhel-Pekudei, the reading of the Book of Exodus is concluded. The exacting architectural and…

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