We’ve made some big discoveries at Makom (our branch that helps disenfrachised Charedi Jews find a positive place in Orthodoxy) in the last few months. For years, I thought the underlying reason people came to Makom was due to trauma with a capital T: sex abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse. All of those reasons still […]

During the Gaza attack on Israel this summer, as Jews around the world were being physically assaulted, I was concerned that my pre-teen son wasn’t paying much attention to the news or aware of what his people were enduring. I saw a powerful clip on Instagram of Hitler addressing Nazis over 70 years ago which […]

Turn away from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it. ס֣וּר מֵ֭רָע וַעֲשֵׂה־ט֑וֹב בַּקֵּ֖שׁ שָׁל֣וֹם וְרָדְפֵֽהוּ׃ I always understood the verse from Psalms in a simple way: remove yourself from bad behaviors, busy yourself with good ones, seek peace, and pursue it. It seems pretty straight forward. Recently, under the guise of our Tikun […]

For most of elementary school, I was the only Jewish girl in a class of over eighty kids. There were a couple of Jewish boys. While I was secular during my childhood, everyone in school knew I was a Jew. A neighbor called me a “Jewish jerk” and made guttural noises one day to explain that […]

In June, Variety features editor, Malina Saval, penned an important article: Too Jewish For Hollywood: As Antisemitism Soars, Hollywood Should Address Its Enduring Hypocrisy In Hyperbolic Caricatures of Jews where she discusses how Jewish parts in movies are often played by gentiles, as Jews are considered too unappealing to be on screen. Additionally, Saval notes […]

Last week, a Sephardic member of our shul (synagogue) asked me which Middle Eastern country my family comes from. “None,” I explained, “We’re Ashkanazi.” “Really?” he exclaimed, “I was certain you were Sephardic.” After this encounter, I got to thinking: despite being completely Ashkanazi, with both sides of my family hailing from Ukraine, Russia and […]