Jewish Treats

A Trap of Wealth

If I were a rich man...The most important men in town will come to fawn on me...When you’re rich they think you really know... The now classic words from the Broadway show Fiddler on the…

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Korach,Weekly Message

Korach 5778-2018

“Where Did Korach Go Wrong?” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Korach, we read of the rebellion of Korach, Datan and Abiram, and 250 men of the Children of…

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Jewish Treats

A Proverb For More Than Parents

While there is no single Biblical or Talmudic text that can be compared to any of the formal parenting advice books that abound today, there are frequent pieces of sound parenting advice…

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Weekly Message,Shelach

Shelach 5778-2018

“Moses Called Hoshea the Son of Nun, ‘Joshua’” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Shelach-Lecha, the tragic story of the scouts is recounted. The scouts’…

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Jewish Treats

Bows and Arrows

Today, Lag Ba'omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, is a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar. Its observance commemorates the end of a tragic plague that took the…

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Weekly Message,Emor

Emor 5778-2018

“The Great Moses Seems Not to Know the Answer” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Emor, we encounter the episode of the מְגַדֵּף, megadef, the blasphemer, which…

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Jewish Treats

How Pharaoh Enslaved the Israelites

While reading the Book of Exodus, one might wonder at the swift descent of the Jewish nation from being the privileged family of the Viceroy, Joseph, to becoming downtrodden and abused…

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Jewish Treats

More Purims in Adar?

The holiday of Purim that we celebrated last week is a world-wide holiday commemorating the redemption of the Jews of the Persian Empire from the threat of decimation at the hands of…

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Jewish Treats

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…

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Jewish Treats

The Book(s) of Maccabees

Chanukah is neither directly ordained in the Torah (like Rosh Hashana, Passover, etc.) nor mentioned in any other biblical text (as Purim is in the Book of Esther). The Books of Maccabees…

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