Ever since I got to know the Orthodox Jewish community personally in my late teens, I have been extremely impressed with the ways people help each other. From open homes for guests (including strangers) on Shabbos and holidays, to making meals for postpartum mothers, to groups dedicated to visiting the sick, to countless gemachs (an […]

“Hasidic ‘Rocker Chicks’ Bulletproof Stockings Seek Broader Audience”  Bulletproof Stockings is a Hasidic all-female alt-rock band led by Dalia Shusterman and Perl Wolfe. Based in Brooklyn, they perform to women-only audiences. Their recent gig at Lower East Side rock venue “Arlene’s Grocery” drew their most diverse crowds ever as well as a lot of media […]

As a child, I had a recurring dream that I was in the Holocaust. Twenty-five years later, much of it is hazy, except for the intense fear of trying to escape from pursuers who considered it a crime to be Jewish. I wondered if this was a common thing. “Do you think most Jews have […]

The shloshim (the end of the thirty day mourning period) for Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali – the boys in Israel who were kidnapped and killed by terrorists last month – was yesterday. There is a question I have been wondering about ever since their bodies were discovered and the tape of their phone call to the […]

As I write these words, our brothers in Israel have entered Gaza to weed out terrorists. This mission is occurring during the Three Weeks – a time of mourning over the destruction of our Temple which begins on the 17th of Tammuz and ends on Tisha B’Av. We are told that the Second Temple was […]

When my husband and I got married in August 2000 (happy almost anniversary to us!), we had a plan to learn Torah in Israel as a way to start our marriage off on a meaningful note. We first had to finish college and save up some money in order to make this dream happen, but […]