Vayeira 5778-2017
“The Alliance with Abimelech” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Vayeira, is a rich parasha containing many important topics, including the destruction of Sodom,…
Toledot 5778-2017
“Isaac’s Unconditional Love for Esau” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Toledot, we read of the birth of Esau and Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when his wife,…
Vayeitzei 5778-2017
“Three Wells ” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Vayeitzei, Jacob leaves Beer Sheba to escape the wrath of Esau and travels to Haran to be with his uncle,…
Who Was Mordechai?
There are some people in this world who always seem to be right in the thick of the action. As described in the Book of Esther, this was Mordechai. It is Mordechai’s cousin who is chosen…
Painting Our People
Born on December 26, 1902, in Rahachow, Belarus (in the Pale of Settlement), Anatoli Lvovitch Kaplan was a Jewish painter who celebrated his Jewish heritage and the Jewish world in his…
The Tenth of Tevet
And it was in the ninth year of [King Zaddekiah’s] reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth (day) of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came, he and all his legions, upon…
THIS is Chanukah
Tonight is the eighth and final night of Chanukah. After the flames die down, many people will pack up the menorah and think little of the holiday again until next year. However, the…
Before They Knew Viral
Martha Wollstein, whose parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany, began her medical education when she was 16 years old. The Women’s Medical Society of the State of New York was also…
An Unholy Act with the Best Intentions
There are many stories in the Torah that might be deemed “too adult,” and are generally glossed over in Hebrew school. But, like every narrative in the Bible, these stories have…
Jabotinsky
When Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky was born on 13 Cheshvan (October 18) 1880, in Odessa, it was probably inconceivable that he would become a staunch advocate for the resettlement of…