Green Cheesecake At Midnight

The holiday of Shavuot has three well-known, and well-loved, customs: Decorating our Homes and Synagogues with Plants and Flowers: According to the Midrash, at the time of the giving of…

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First on the Court

Born in 1856, in Louisville, Kentucky, Louis Dembitz Brandeis was the child of European immigrants who maintained a minimal Jewish identity. However, his maternal uncle, Lewis Dembitz,…

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Top of the Class

Among the scholars quoted in Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, are clusters of sages who are interconnected whether due to being from the same city, are part of the same generation or…

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On the Canadian Prairie

Thirty-three years old at the time of his immigration, Grodno-born Rabbi Israel Isaac Kahanovitch (1872-1945), was called to Winnipeg, Manitoba, after spending a year Pennsylvania. He had…

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Hear O Israel

In this week’s Torah portion, Va’etchanan, we read the famous words of the Shema: “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” Articulate it please! Say it out loud – slowly,…

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Happy Bow Tie Day

Today is Bow Tie Day, which is celebrated annually on August 28th. The bow tie originated in the 17th century with Croatian soldiers who wore them as part of their uniforms in the…

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Celebrating Bar Ilan University

Would you believe that the founding of Israel’s second largest university (33,000 students) was conceived “deep in the heart of Dixie"? Two years after Israel’s founding in 1948, the…

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Rosh Hashana 5784-2023

“Actions and their Implications” (updated and revised from Rosh Hashana 5766-2005) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The celebration of the Jewish New Year is entirely unlike the secular New…

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The Perfect Species

At this time of the year, Jews around the globe head out in search of the perfect lulav and etrog (lulav refers to the grouping of lulav, hadassim and aravot, which, together with the…

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