What’s the purpose of a miracle? There are of course many answers, including those that are specific to the particular miracle in question. For instance, I recently learned how Abarbanel (15th-century Portuguese commentator) explains the purpose of one particular miraculous moment in the Book of Judges. In Judges Chapter 13, a malach appears to the […]

Years ago, I was sitting innocently on a bus with Tanach (Bible) in hand when a man began to educate me on what he saw as the Bible’s mistakes. He believed Saul, the first king of Israel, was cheated: he was the better man and should never have lost his throne to David – David […]

In discussing the Sukkot holiday, a friend of mine expressed an interest in learning “how to celebrate without a sukkah and make it meaningful.” A quick search informed me that Google has answers to that question, but not ones that spoke to me – at least, not at first glance. I found several pre-pandemic articles […]

The other day, my five-year-old responded to a mention of “doing nothing” by pointing out that it’s impossible to do nothing; everyone is always doing something. In fact, all four of my kids have had a similar eureka moment at some point in their lives. It might be related to attempts to grasp the notion […]

Dear Jew in the City, Do Orthodox Jews Have Arranged Marriages? Does Jewish law allow this? Thank you, Alex Dear Alex – First, another question: What does “arranged marriage” mean? For that matter, what does “allowed” mean? Let’s assume “arranged marriage” doesn’t just mean a blind date. Does it mean two sets of parents agree […]

At week number whatever this is of stay-at-home orders, many of us are feeling a little… bored. Last night, even my 6th-grader, who I don’t think had complained even once since his school closed, finally voiced some dissatisfaction with doing the same thing every day. (His school is actually doing an excellent job maintaining a […]