Beyond Their Means
It goes without saying that life would be simpler if all things were black and white. Alas, however, we live in a world filled with many shades of grey. An excellent example of this is…
Get Out!
The history of the Jews in Europe can almost be read as a timeline of expulsions. At one time or another, Jews have either been expelled from, or prohibited to settle in, almost every…
The Second Passover
On the first anniversary of the exodus from Egypt, the Children of Israel prepared to celebrate their first Passover as free people. God decreed that they should eat matzah and maror…
The Truth About Gefilte Fish
There is a little known secret that, hidden in what was once the Russian Pale of Settlement (basically Belarus and Eastern Poland), there is a deep, fresh water lake stocked with the…
No Stumbling Blocks, Please
The prohibition “Do not put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14) seems like an odd commandment. After all, who but a truly mischievous, mean-spirited prankster would put…
Re’eh 5767-2007
"Prohibition Against Excessive Grief" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Re'eh, we learn of the prohibition of excessive mourning and grief for those who pass…
Military Trappings
On October 22, 1973, the tenuous ceasefire between the Israelis and the Egyptians attempting to end the Yom Kippur War, was broken. As a result, the Israel paratroopers captured the road…
The Eyes Have It
January is Eye Care Month! Close to 2,000 years ago, the importance of treating even basic eye disease was recorded in the Talmud (Shabbat 108b), where the rabbis debate what one may do…
The Jews of Finland
For most European countries, the history of its Jewish presence begins some time in, or before the Dark Ages and is accented by varying periods of exile or oppression. Since Jews were not…
The Second Passover
On the first anniversary of the Exodus from Egypt, the Children of Israel prepared to celebrate their first Passover as free people. God decreed that they should eat matzah and maror…