Vayechi,Weekly Message

Vayechi 5782-2021

“The Debate: Burial in the Land of Israel” (updated and revised from Vayechi 5762-2001) This week’s parasha, parashat Vayechi, concludes the book of Bereshit, Genesis. Parashat Vayechi…

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Jewish Treats

The Tenth of Tevet, Asarah b’Tevet

And it was in the ninth year of [King Zeddekiah’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 Board of Deputies

The contemporary Jewish community of England began to form in the late 17th century, after a nearly 400 year ban on Jewish settlement. While the majority of the Jews who initially came to…

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Jewish Treats

The Fast of the Fifth of Tevet

Aside from Yom Kippur, which is mentioned in the Torah, all the other fasts on the Jewish calendar are Rabbinic in nature and find their rabbinic source in a single Scriptural verse:…

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Jewish Treats

A Day That Will Live in Infamy

In one of the 20th century’s most memorable and impactful speeches, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, “A Day that will live in infamy,” due to the deadly…

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Vayigash,Weekly Message

Vayigash 5782-2021

“The Virtues of Assimilation” (updated and revised from Vayigash 5762-2001) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Vayigash, the dramatic story of Joseph and his…

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Jewish Treats

This Tomato Was Grown Where?

The view of Judaism is that humankind has the unique ability to synthesize the physical and the spiritual elements of life. Hence, Jewish law requires a person to recite a blessing over…

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Jewish Treats

This is Chanukah

Tonight, is the eighth and final night of Chanukah. After the flames die down, many households will pack up their menorah and think little of the holiday again until next year. However,…

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Jewish Treats

Chanukah and Divine Order

Chanukah always overlaps with at least one Shabbat (if not two), and since Chanukah begins on the 25th of Kislev and lasts for eight days, the holiday always coincides with the…

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Jewish Treats

A Chanukah Heroine

Who is Yehudit (Judith), the daughter of Yochanan the High Priest, who saved her city, Bethulia, from destruction at the hands of the Syrian-Greek general Holofernes? As the Jews in the…

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