Tazria-Metzora 5778-2018

“Looking at Tzara’at from a Different Perspective”   by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s double parshiyot, Tazria and Metzora, deal almost exclusively with the issue of the…

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Tzav 5780-2020

“Behold, I am Sending You Elijah the Prophet” (Revised and update from Tzav 5761-2001)   by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald   On this coming Shabbat, the Shabbat of Erev Pesach, we…

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Kiddush

Kiddush Kiddush, sanctification, is the prayer said over wine and/or grape juice through which Jews proclaim the uniqueness of…

You Say It’s Your Birthday

January, March, June or November (or any of the other months not listed)...Nope, that's not the birthday about which we are writing. Jewish Treats wants to know: Do you know your Hebrew…

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The Feast of Weeks

Shavuot, which we begin celebrating this Thursday night (May 28, 2020), is the only holiday listed in the Torah without the date on which it is to be observed. Rather, the Torah states…

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Precious Creation

While there are many appropriate themes with which the Torah in Genesis 1 could have begun (Abraham, Mt. Sinai, etc.), it begins instead with a day-by-day description of the creation of…

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The Birth and Death of Moses

One of the 13 principles of faith according to Maimonides is believing that Moses was the greatest of all the Jewish prophets. He was so great, that God feared he would be…

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Completing the Cycle of Talmud

In August 1923, weeks before the High Holidays, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, dean of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in Poland, proposed that the entire Jewish world study a daily folio of Talmud (a…

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The Feast of Weeks

Shavuot, which we begin celebrating next Saturday night (June 8), is the only holiday not listed in the Torah by the date on which it is to be observed. Rather, the Torah teaches that…

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Rejoice in Reverence: Play the Lottery

It would be the height of irreverence if one were to come to synagogue on Yom Kippur dressed in a light-hearted or comedic costume. Imagine chanting the deeply inspiring and…

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