With Your Permission
Dear Miss Manners: Yesterday, a friend knocked on my door. I invited him in and he proceeded to grab a snack out of the fridge, watch a movie on my TV and then hopped on to my exercise…
Everyone Does The Wave
One of the main mitzvot of the holiday of Sukkot is the waving of the four species: citron (etrog), palm, myrtle and willow. Trying to understand this mitzvah metaphorically, our sages…
The Marquess of Reading
There have been few Jews included among the peerage of the United Kingdom, and only one who was awarded the title of Marquess. Sir Rufus Daniel Isaacs, the Marquess of Reading, was born…
Kee Tavo 5780-2020
“There are Stones with Human Hearts” (updated and revised from Kee Tavo 5761-2001) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Kee Tavo, Moses transmits to the Jewish…
Oh My Achin’ Tooth
On some lists of quaint holidays celebrated in the month of February, today is marked as National Toothache Day. Anyone who has ever suffered the trauma of an aching tooth may wonder why…
Vayikra 5781-2021
“The Lesson of the Mincha Offering--Giving with a Full Heart” (updated and revised from Vayikra 5762-2002) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This Shabbat, we begin to read the book of…
It’s Not About The Status
In many, if not most, Jewish parables, the righteous and scholarly are often presented as living in a state of poverty. Indeed, it might often seem as if poverty is an attribute of…
The Marquess of Reading
There have been few Jews included among the peerage of the United Kingdom, and only one who was awarded the title of Marquess. Sir Rufus Daniel Isaacs, the Marquess of Reading, was born…
Oh, My Aching Tooth
On some lists of quaint holidays celebrated in the month of February, today is marked as National Toothache Day. Anyone who has ever suffered the trauma of an aching tooth may wonder why…
Beer
In Tractate Pesachim 107a, beer lovers can find an interesting discussion about the use of beer for kiddush or havdallah. “Rabbi Hisda asked Rabbi Huna: Is it permitted to recite kiddush…