Eikev 5765-2005
"Understanding Birkat Hamazon, the Grace After Meals" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this coming week's parasha, parashat Eikev, we are told of the mitzvah of reciting Birkat…
Tetzaveh 5763-2003
"The Primacy of Jewish Education" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In last week's parasha, parashat Terumah, we read of the appeal for donations to build the Tabernacle--the portable…
Shelach 5765-2005
"Bread Alone" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald As the name of the parasha, "Shelach lecha"--send for yourself, indicates, this week's parasha focuses on the 12 scouts that were sent by the…
Chanukah,Chanukah Resources,Articles,JudaismLiteracy,Judaism,Chanukah
The Story of Chanukah
The Story of Chanukah How a small band of Jewish renegades took on the Syrian-Greek army. Under the Hellenist Rule When the…
Tetzaveh 5765-2005
"A Flame in Every Jewish Heart" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This coming week's parasha, parashat Tetzaveh, focuses primarily on the design and manufacture of the priestly vestments. The…
Matot-Masei 5770-2010
"Do Not Pollute the Land...Do Not Defile the Land" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In the second of this week's double parashiot, Matot-Masei, the Torah describes the contours of the Levite…
Genesis,Weekly Message,Vayishlach
Vayishlach 5773-2012
"Gid Ha’nasheh: The Sinew of the Thigh" By Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Vayishlach, after twenty two years of fleeing from his brother Esau, who had…
Tetzaveh 5773-2013
“The Centrality of Light” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Tetzaveh, speaks at length of the priestly vestments. The parasha closes with a description of the…
Inauguration Oil
Elected U.S. presidents are inaugurated on January 20th. But, it wasn’t always that way. The Congress of the Confederation set March 4, 1789, as the date for “commencing proceedings” of…
These Lights We Kindle
While the mitzvah of lighting the menorah is an outward-focused mitzvah - the menorah is lit in a window or doorway - it is also an opportunity for personal reflection on the deeper…