JITC Branches
From the archives
Dear Jew in the City, My family’s Pesach traditions are so strict and burdensome that I don’t want to observe the holiday anymore. The work is too much and I’m starving the whole time. Is there room for me to be more lenient? -A.E. Dear A.E, Thanks for your question. As I mentioned last […]
Whenever I see an Orthodox rabbi on TV or in movies, I brace myself for impact. While I have personally had a couple disappointing interactions with a couple rabbis in over 2 decades of being observant, by and large I’ve had positive, supportive and meaningful experiences. The rabbis that I am privileged to know are […]
A number of friends have mentioned that they are dreading Rosh Hashanah. Their general sense of overwhelm has made preparing for the holiday—spiritually or physically—exhausting. Looking back at this past year depresses them. Cynicism leads them to expect 5781 will be worse than 5780. It doesn’t help that due to the novel coronavirus, a lot […]
Dear Jew in the City, What are the basic halachic requirements for tzniyus? Sincerely, Teri Dear Teri Thanks for your question. I try to avoid answering “what’s the halacha?” questions because of the lack of universal parameters in matters of halacha. For example, I once made the innocuous observation that the bracha after eating rice […]
Popular videos
In a world obsessed with devices, it occurred to me that we are living in an age where silence dominates many situations. Silence between couples, silence between families, silence everywhere you turn as people tap, tap, tap on their devices. What an isolating existence. But what if there was an antidote to silence? What if […]
Big Bang Theory star, Mayim Bialik, asks Jew in the City can science and religion work together in a Jewish framework? While there are some Orthodox Jews who believe in a literal account of the creation story, many of us hold that the events must be understood another way. RAMBAM, also known as Maimonides, stated […]
Recent videos
The Jewish people have a history of feeling alone. During the Holocaust, there was no one that spoke out in support of us, that helped us, that came to our rescue until six million of us were killed. Now, after the horrific October 7 attack against so many of our brothers and sisters in Israel, […]
The world has changed forever for the Jewish people since October 7 and things will never be the same. Everyone has correctly prioritized giving to the immediate needs of Israel in these last six weeks, but the war on Jews in media is also a battle we must fight. We’ve been at it since 2007. […]
