I’ll call her Lindsay in order to protect the innocent; the only one really guilty of anything was me. You see, I found Lindsay to be annoying — like really, really annoying. The very sight of her drinking water made my skin crawl. Well, it wasn’t just the way she drank the water, it was […]

Dear Jew in the City, I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, but do you really think that just because you abstain from eating pork and the animal is killed in a certain fashion that brings you real closeness to God? Jesus said that nothing from the outside can make you “unclean,” only your inner thoughts and […]

The idea that the Jewish nation considers itself to be the “chosen people” is something that rubs many people the wrong way. Such a term smacks of elitism and supremacy. Do we Jews really believe that we have some innate quality that makes us a “master race?” Upon examining a famous midrash (a commentary to the Bible based on exegesis, […]

My parents made me a big bat mitzvah – like black-tie-affair-on-a-yacht-cruising-around-Manhattan-harbor-with-a-hundred-and-fifty-of-our-closest-family-and-friends big. But they weren’t just the people that planned the party and paid for it. They saw me through all my years of Hebrew school and bat mitzvah lessons. They helped me write my speeches and made me practice them. And although we had […]

Dear Jew in the City, Why is there such hatred towards Orthodox and Chasidic Jews? As I pursue becoming observant, I have received many negative comments about the Orthodox, especially the Chasidic, from fellow Jews in particular. Why is this? I don’t understand. Can you shed some light on this. Thanks, Shelley

I have recently become an expert – nay, a master – of white rice preparation. How, you ask? I don’t know exactly, but my white rice of late has had the perfect balance of oil, salt, moistness, and fluff. It is everything I ever hoped for and dreamed for in a calorie-heavy, nutrition-light accompaniment to the delicious (and likewise unhealthy) sweet and […]