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 […]

Contrary to how some have described their somewhat suddenly isolated lives, I can’t possibly accept viewing the current reality as “the new normal.” This is no kind of normal. Recoiling when someone reaches to hand you something, steering your kids across the street to avoid the neighbors, making sure to let the mail sit for […]