In the 1940’s, Vered Ben Sa’adon’s Dutch grandmothers grew up close to one another in terms of distance, yet were living worlds apart. As teenagers, one of them hid from the Nazis while the other aided them. Like Anne Frank, her paternal grandmother, Liesje de Vries, not only lived in hiding for years, she also wrote […]

I don’t remember exactly when I first learned about “shelo asani isha,” but I have to imagine that I wasn’t too happy about it. There is a section of the siddur called birkas hashachar (morning blessings), which is recited every morning by observant Jews. One of the blessings within birkas hashachar is said by men and blesses God for having not […]

Editor’s Note: Last week at my daughter’s school, I saw a wonderful quote by Abraham Lincoln. One of his general’s said, “We should pray that God is on our side. Lincoln responded, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always […]

Dear Jew in the City- Does Judaism have any opinions on politics or government? Are there Jewish Sources on how to deal with it and what our role should be? Thank you, Al Dear Al – Thanks for your question. Let’s first deal with our own form of government. Some people mistakenly think that the […]

Many Orthodox Jews Had Their Phones Off During the Sabbath. Then They Learned of a Massacre. Many of America’s most observant Jews refrain from using phones, television or the Internet on the Sabbath. On Saturday, it resulted in a shock. How an Orthodox Businesswoman Rose in the Ranks at the NSA Forty-two-year-old Anne Neuberger, an […]