Shelach 5782-2022

“Achieving Immortality” (updated and revised from Shelach 5763-2003) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald One of the most heartrending and challenging juxtapositions in the Bible appears in this…

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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…

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The Feast of Weeks

Shavuot, which we begin celebrating this Saturday night, June 4, is the only holiday listed in the Torah without the date on which it is to be observed. Rather, the Torah states that this…

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Bechukotai 5782-2022

“Ma’aser Shay’nee--The Second Tithe” (updated and revised from Bechukotai 5763-2003) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Toward the very end of this week’s parasha, parashat Bechukotai, we…

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Do you Shukle?

If you’ve ever watched a traditional prayer minyan (quorum), or even just the prayers of a traditional Jew, you might wonder what all the motion and body movement is about. Forward-back,…

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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.…

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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,…

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With Great Appreciation

Take a moment to ponder and appreciate what Israel’s independence as the Jewish homeland has meant to the Jewish community around the world and all of the incredible accomplishments of…

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Kedoshim 5782-2022

“Giving Proper Reproof” (updated and revised from Kedoshim 5763-2003) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Kedoshim, we encounter the well-known Biblical dictum,…

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Acharei Mot 5782-2022

“The Jewish Method of Achieving Moral Perfection” (Updated and revised from Acharei Mot 5763-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Acharei Mot, we read one…

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