Shelach,Weekly Message

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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Weekly Message,Korach

Korach 5782-2022

“Korach’s Rebellion: Why is the Jewish Community Losing So Many of its Best and Brightest?” (updated and revised from Korach 5763-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha,…

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Va'etchanan,Weekly Message

Va’etchanan 5782-2022

“Why the Sh’ma?” (updated and revised from Va’etchanan 5763-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Va’etchanan, we encounter, in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, one of…

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Jewish Treats

Seeking God in Elul

In anticipation of the High Holy Days, and during the High Holy Days themselves, Psalm 27 is read twice daily from the beginning of the month of Elul through the holiday of Sukkot in…

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Jewish Treats

“And Now Let Us Say Amen…”

The word “Amen” seems to be one of those words associated with prayer throughout the Judeo-Christian culture, but what does it mean? The response "Amen" at the end of an oath or a prayer…

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Weekly Message,Sukkot

Sukkot 5783-2022

Sukkot 5783-2022 “The Seven Protective Divine Clouds” (updated and revised from Sukkot 5764-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The festival of Sukkot acknowledges profound gratitude to…

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Jewish Treats

The Jews of Panama

The history of the Jews in Panama is similar to Jewish history in other South and Central American countries. Conversos (Jews who publicly recanted the Jewish faith and adopted…

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Jewish Treats

Sigd, The Ethiopian Holiday

While most of the Jews of Ethiopia–the Beta Israel, as the Ethiopian community is properly called–have made aliyah and rejoined the global Jewish community, they have their own unique…

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Jewish Treats

Can You Be The Tenth?

That the Hebrew word “minyan” derives from the infinitive “lim’not,” to count or number, is not at all surprising. A minyan is a quorum of 10, the smallest number necessary to create a…

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Jewish Treats

Presidents’ Day: The Jews and Martin Van Buren

In 1840, the news of the terrible fate of the Jewish community of Damascus (Syria) reached the shores of America and brought the disparate Jewish communities of the young American nation…

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