Can You Count to 49?
There is a commandment (Leviticus 23:15) to count the 49 days that immediately follow the first night of Passover and, on the 50th night, to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. This period…
Perhaps I Was Wrong
The third book of the Torah, Vayikra/Leviticus, focuses on the sacrificial rites that were an integral part of Jewish life until the destruction of the Holy Temples. For many Jews of…
Terumah 5781-2021
“The Mishkan and the Sanctity of the Jewish Home” (updated and revised from Terumah 5763-2003) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald With this week’s parasha, we begin a series of five weekly…
The First Ten
If the children of Israel received the Torah at Mount Sinai, why did Moses come down bearing only “two tablets of testimony” luchot ha’aidoot (Exodus 32:15), on which the Ten Commandments…
Head Start
Print out this week’s Torah Portion, Yitro today, and get a head start learning about the events leading up to, and the recitation of, the Ten Commandments given to the Jewish people at…
Yitro 5781-2021
“Structural Secrets of the Decalogue” (updated and revised from Yitro 5762-2002) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Yitro, in Exodus 20, we…
The Foods of Tu b’Shevat
Jews around the world will celebrate Tu b’Shevat, the new year of the trees. Tu b’Shevat is often celebrated with the 7 species for which the Torah praises the land of Israel: “A land of…
B’shalach 5781-2021
“G-d: The Source of Sweetness” (updated and revised from B’shalach 5762-2002) by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat B’shalach, immediately after the splitting of…
Pidyon Ha’ben – Redeeming the Firstborn
“You must redeem the firstborn of a person…when he is one month old, for the value of five silver shekels” (Numbers 18:15-16). God sanctified the firstborn male Israelites when He…
Symbolic Foods
Since Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment, it is customary to eat simanim,* foods with symbolic meanings that invoke God's blessings. We also recite a short prayer before eating them.…