Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried and the Abridged Code of Law

When rabbinic authorities make halachic (Jewish legal) rulings, they generally consult the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), a compendium of halacha written in 1563 by Rabbi Joseph…

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A Truly Jewish Hospital

It happened during the Holocaust that Rabbi Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam was shot in the arm by the Nazis. Afraid to go to the Nazi infirmary, which he felt meant certain death, Rabbi…

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Tragedy Overcome

Originally based in the town of Bobowa in Southern Poland, the Bobover chassidim were almost completely annihilated by the Nazis. Rabbi Ben Tzion Halberstam, the second Bobover Rebbe, and…

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Sources Commentators

Abarbanel (1437-1508, Spanish statesman, philosopher and commentator) Israel Abrahams (1858-1925) Achad Ha’Am (Asher Zvi Hirsh Ginsberg, 1856-1927) AJOP (Association for Jewish Outreach…

Behar-Yom Ha’atzmaut 5771-2011

"A State is not Delivered on a Silver Platter" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Behar, contains many themes that pertain specifically to Eretz Yisrael, the land…

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Tetzaveh 5776-2016

"Feeling the Pain of Others who are in Need" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Parashat Tetzvah focuses almost entirely on the holy vestments that are worn by the כֹּהֲנִים, the lay and the…

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Kinnot

KinnotMany devastating events took place on the 9th of Av. This is why the Jewish people consider it the saddest day on the…

Elegies (Kinnot)

An elegy is defined as a mournful poem or a lament. In Hebrew, an elegy is known as a kinna. On Tisha b’Av, when the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the First and Second…

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Elegies (Kinnot)

An elegy is defined as a mournful poem or a lament. In Hebrew, an elegy is known as a kinna. On Tisha b’Av, when the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the First and Second…

Read More

Elegies (Kinnot)

An elegy is defined as a mournful poem or a lament. In Hebrew, an elegy is known as a kinna. On Tisha b’Av, when the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the First and Second…

Read More