Ever since I got to know the Orthodox Jewish community personally in my late teens, I have been extremely impressed with the ways people help each other. From open homes for guests (including strangers) on Shabbos and holidays, to making meals for postpartum mothers, to groups dedicated to visiting the sick, to countless gemachs (an […]

Dear Jew in the City, I know that suicide is technically prohibited in the Torah, but what about people with mental illness (like the recent passing of Robin Williams who suffered from bi-polar disorder)? Is ALL suicide prohibited equally? Does Jewish law consider mental illness a justification for suicide? How do we reconcile the Torah’s […]

“Hasidic ‘Rocker Chicks’ Bulletproof Stockings Seek Broader Audience”  Bulletproof Stockings is a Hasidic all-female alt-rock band led by Dalia Shusterman and Perl Wolfe. Based in Brooklyn, they perform to women-only audiences. Their recent gig at Lower East Side rock venue “Arlene’s Grocery” drew their most diverse crowds ever as well as a lot of media […]

As a child, I had a recurring dream that I was in the Holocaust. Twenty-five years later, much of it is hazy, except for the intense fear of trying to escape from pursuers who considered it a crime to be Jewish. I wondered if this was a common thing. “Do you think most Jews have […]

The shloshim (the end of the thirty day mourning period) for Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali – the boys in Israel who were kidnapped and killed by terrorists last month – was yesterday. There is a question I have been wondering about ever since their bodies were discovered and the tape of their phone call to the […]

Dear Jew in the City, I have a few Orthodox friends who are very pro-Israel, but I have also read that some forms of Orthodoxy are vehemently anti-Zionist. I’ve heard of other sects who completely separate the concepts of Zionism and Judaism as two essentially separate belief systems. I have no idea if any of […]