Dear Jew in the City, This might seem like a silly question, but how do Orthodox Jews go swimming? Do they have places that are separate for men and women? If women cannot swim with men then can you ever swim with your whole family or just your husband if it’s private or is that […]

“Lashon hara is geshmake,” (“Gossip is tasty,”) my rabbi announced to my seminary class years ago. My first inclination was to think, “Oh, no Rabbi, you too?!” But then I realized that God created our world so that gossip would be delicious to most people. Of course there are those who simply have no taste for […]

“I’d like to be more religious, but having a career is very important to me. If I became Orthodox, I wouldn’t be allowed to work,” Rachel explained to me over the phone. “Really?” I responded. “Which commandment in the Torah states, ‘thou shall not work if you’re a woman?’” Rachel, of course, had no source to […]

Jew in the City’s mission to break down stereotypes about Orthodox Jews was started as a social media campaign for two main reasons: Number one, new media – especially YouTube – is very effective at conveying one’s personality to viewers and most people, after having a positive interaction with an Orthodox Jew begin to view […]

Two weeks ago, I got an email from a man (let’s call him B) who explained that he is “ frei” (no longer observant) because he was molested by an “Orthodox Jew” and because his molestation (and other molestations he knew of) were covered up by other “Orthodox Jews.”  (The quotations serve as a way of my […]