Kitniyot and Gebruchts

Ashkenazi or Sephardi? Hungarian, Yekke (German), Litvak (Lithuanian)? At no other time on the Jewish calendar is it so important to know your ancestry as it is on Passover. What one…

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Kitniyot and Gebruchts

Ashkenazi or Sephardi? Hungarian, Yekke (German), Lithuanian? At no other time on the Jewish calendar is it so important to know your ancestry as it is on Passover. What one does or does…

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Kitniyot and Gebrouchts

Ashkenazi or Sephardi? Hungarian, Yekke (German), Lithuanian? At no other time on the Jewish calendar is it so important to know your ancestry as it is on Passover. What one does or does…

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Eikev 5769-2009

"Feeding the Animals–Beasts and Humans" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Eikev, we encounter the well known second paragraph of the daily Shema prayer…

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Shavuot 5780-2020

“The Anonymous Holiday” (updated and revised from Shavuot 5760-2000) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This Thursday night, Friday and Shabbat, the joyous festival of Shavuot will be…

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Passover Writings

Passover Writings Order in Ten Plagues by Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald Demystifying…Bedikat Chametz (The Search for Chametz)…

The Original Employee Discount

Those who work in retail are often compensated with a special employee discount on goods sold in the store. In the days before retail, when the majority of the population worked in…

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The Real Thing

With a bit of creativity, one can easily think of reasons why a person might assume a new identity. Sometimes it is a need for safety, such as those who enter the Witness Protection…

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Shemini 5766-2006

"Those Remarkable Dietary Laws" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week's parasha, parashat Shemini, embarks on an extensive excursion, that is devoted to the Jewish dietary laws. In fact,…

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Shemini 5784-2024

“Those Remarkable Dietary Laws” (updated and revised from Shemini 5766-2006) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Shemini, contains an extensive excursion into the…

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