Jewish Treats

Good Sense from Nikolsburg!

The Biblical phrase, “Love your fellow as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) serves as the foundational verse promoting Ahavat Chinam (baseless love) and Ahavat Yisrael (love for fellow Jews).…

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Jewish Treats

The Antidote Of Baseless Hatred

The calendrical period between the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz and the Fast of Tisha b’av is known as Bein Hame’tzarim (in the midst of distress) and is referred to colloquially as the…

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Jewish Treats

At The End Of The World

While Judaism is, for the most part, focused on the here and now (with a solid amount of regard for the past), it does have its own eschatology. Eschatology is theology concerning what…

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Weekly Message,Balak

Balak 5778-2018

“The Contemporary Impact of the Blessings of Bilaam” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Balak, records Bilaam’s dramatic prophecies regarding the Jewish people.…

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Jewish Treats

This Surgery Is Elective

In the late twentieth century there was, according to anecdotal evidence, an epidemic of “deviated septum” among American Jewish girls. The implication, along with many not-so-funny…

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Weekly Message,Shelach

Shelach 5778-2018

“Moses Called Hoshea the Son of Nun, ‘Joshua’” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Shelach-Lecha, the tragic story of the scouts is recounted. The scouts’…

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Jewish Treats

Cover Your Ears

Understanding proper speech, according to Jewish tradition, is critical to one’s personal development. Proper speech does not refer to manners or etiquette, but rather to avoiding a broad…

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Jewish Treats

Give Them a Choice

There is an oft-cited Midrash (Sifrei, Dvarim 343) describing how God offered the Torah to the other nations of the world before He gave it to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.…

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Shavuot,Weekly Message,Bamidbar

Bamidbar-Shavuot 5778-2018

“Counting a Very Special People” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald   With this week’s parasha, parashat Bamidbar, Jews throughout the world begin reading the fourth book of the Torah,…

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Jewish Treats

A Different Set of Loaves

There are several well-known connections between the holiday of Passover and the holiday of Shavuot. The most obvious of these is that the celebration of Shavuot is dependent on the count…

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