Precious Creation
While there are many appropriate themes with which the Torah in Genesis 1 could have begun (Abraham, Mt. Sinai, etc.), it begins instead with a day-by-day description of the creation of…
Acharei Mot,Weekly Message,Kedoshim
Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5783-2023
“The Jewish Attitude Toward Sexuality” (updated and revised from Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5764-2004) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Both of this week’s parashiot, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim,…
Take A Sabbatical
It is interesting that the two most common professions which offer sabbatical leaves are academia and clergy. These two professions are fields in which practitioners devote a great deal…
Jewish Matchmaking
“Matchmaker, matchmaker / Look through your book / And make me a perfect match…” (Fiddler on the Roof). With the widespread proliferation of internet dating sites such as eHarmony,…
Watch Your Language
Once upon a time in American culture, defiant children who uttered certain improper words would have their mouths washed out with soap. Today, profanities litter the world of common…
Forgiveness: An Elul Treat
Many feel that the three hardest words to say, in any language are: “I am sorry.” Yet, we all know how very important those words are. Indeed, a person saying they are sorry, or at least…
Uncategorized,Twebrew School Lessons
Matthew
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Vanity of Vanities
Most people are unknowingly familiar with the beginning of the third chapter of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) because of the 1965 hit song by The Byrds: “To everything – turn, turn, turn/There…
The Bird of Thanks
On Thanksgiving Day, it is customary in the United States to eat a turkey dinner. The Hebrew name for turkey is “tar’negol hodu,” literally, an “Indian Rooster.” It came by this name…
Giving Gifts
“A person who is diligent in lighting Chanukah candles will have children who are scholars” (Talmud Shabbat 23b). The desire for scholarly children was actually one of the motivations for…