Yoma 35b
...A sensuous person will be asked, "What stopped you from learning Torah?" "What should I have done?" he will excuse himself. "I love life - it is full of pleasure and beauty. I was…
Vayeishev 5768-2007
"The Seduction of Joseph" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Vayeishev, Joseph is brought down to Egypt and sold by the Ishmaelites to Potiphar, one of…
Hey Handsome
Religion is about spirituality, morals and becoming a better person. One might, therefore, assume that physical beauty is beyond the Torah’s spectrum of interest. But the Torah makes a…
Hey Handsome
Religion is about spirituality, morals and becoming a better person. One might, therefore, assume that physical beauty is beyond the Torah’s spectrum of interest. But the Torah makes a…
Tzav 5774-2014
“The Perpetual Fire” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Last week’s parasha, parashat Vayikra, introduced the five main sacrificial offerings: the Ohlah עֹלָה: the burnt-offering, the Mincha…
Communicating with God
There is an old joke in which the President of the United States receives an exorbitant phone bill after calling God, while the Prime Minister of Israel gets to call God as a free local…
Partners Throughout
The relationship between two people sharing authority can often be difficult. Nevertheless, in the early Talmudic era, the leadership of the Jewish people was usually shared between two…
Vocation
“If a man ploughs in the ploughing season, sows in the sowing season, reaps in the reaping season (and etc.)...what is to become of the Torah?” (Talmud Brachot 35b). This question,…
Lose the Leather
Once a year, Jews around the world make a unique, and not always attractive, fashion statement by wearing clunky sneakers or fuzzy slippers. (The Talmud records that the sages wore…
Lose the Leather
Once a year, Jews around the world make a unique, and not always attractive, fashion statement by wearing clunky sneakers or fuzzy slippers. (The Talmud records that the sages wore…