I’m pretty sure that there’s a place in hell where the really bad people are trapped in a shoe store with hordes of short people who whine “Mommy” at them – forever.  There is a certain dread that fills my being at the end of every summer as we begin our back to school shopping. The […]

I was recently flipping through a fashion magazine and came across an article about a celebrity’s makeup. She was wearing this color eye shadow, that color lipstick, and then I saw what the blush color was called, and I wanted to blush! I couldn’t believe it – the name that this popular company uses for […]

Dear Jew in the City, I am 17 years of age and like some teens, I currently have an interest in tattoos. I know under Jewish law it is forbidden to get one, but how did this come to be and why? Thanks, Katie Dear Katie: Thank you for your question. Tattooing is specifically prohibited by the […]

My husband and I recently saw the award-winning, critically-acclaimed film “Fill the Void,” directed by an Israeli Hasidic woman, Rama Burshtein. It’s playing in select theaters throughout the country. (We found a showing in Manhattan.) I had been hearing great things about it, so I was curious to see the movie for myself. Despite the all […]

Tisha B’Av – the infamous day in Jewish history on which both of our Temples were destroyed and many other atrocities befell our people – is linked to the episode in the Torah where the meraglim (spies) set out to see the Land of Israel before the Children of Israel entered it. All but two […]

When I got to camp yesterday, my four year old son was filled with even more post-camp excitement than he’s filled with on a regular afternoon, which consists of him responding “GWEAT!” with a smile plastered to his face when I ask how his day was. What made this day extra, extra special? Why, the […]