Jewish Treats

Moral Yoking

While organizations such as PETA and local SPCAs were created to protect animals and safeguard them from undue suffering and cruelty, the Torah has, for millennia, maintained strict laws…

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Masei,Weekly Message,Matot

Matot-Masei 5782-2022

“The Massacre of the Midianites: Does Judaism Countenance Genocide?” (Updated and revised from Matot-Masei 5763-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald At the conclusion of parashat Balak,…

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Jewish Treats

Symbolic Foods

Since Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment, it is customary to eat simanim*, foods with symbolic meanings that invoke God’s blessing. We also recite a short prayer before eating them.…

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Jewish Treats

For The Sins We Committed

One of the main steps in the process of teshuva (repentance) is for a person to confess their sins and verbalize their errors. In so doing, a person admits committing a sin, not to…

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Jewish Treats

The Five Prohibitions of Yom Kippur

“…on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all…for on that day God will forgive you and cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before God”…

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Jewish Treats

The Seven Mitzvot

Jewish law places great emphasis on the way a Jew must live and the rewards for living according to Jewish law. Laws such as Shabbat and kashrut create a lifestyle in which Jews mingle…

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Jewish Treats

The Thanksgiving Synagogue Service

While Thanksgiving is most certainly an American festival of gratitude, its founders prominently articulated its religious underpinnings, which ultimately find their source in Judaism.…

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Jewish Treats

This Tomato Was Grown Where?

The view of Judaism is that humankind has the unique ability to synthesize the physical and the spiritual elements of life. Hence, Jewish law requires Jews to recite a blessing over food…

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Jewish Treats

The Fast of Esther

This coming Monday, March 6th, which is the 13th of Adar on the Hebrew calendar, is the Fast of Esther. “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and…

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Jewish Treats

The Four Mitzvot of Purim

This year, Purim will be celebrated beginning this evening, March 6th after sunset, and continue through tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7th. Four mitzvot are associated with the holiday:…

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