When I was a child, I learned about my family’s roots. We were from Spain, and during the Spanish Inquisition, we were expelled from the country, along with the rest of the Jews who wouldn’t convert to Christianity. My family eventually ended up in Turkey, and some of my cousins still live there today. Today, […]
“I feel like I can speak dog,” Chomie Gross says. It’s a pretty shocking statement coming from someone who had a severe fear of canines for most of her life. Now, Chomie, 34, is not only a dog lover, but trains them for a living. “I never saw this coming, and I never knew it […]
Jews are a refugee people, and as an ethnic minority we have never had a solid home base since our exile from our homeland in 70CE, due to Roman colonizers. As such, our ethnic food has become the food of the places that have housed us. While classic Ashkanazi foods like brisket, matzah ball soup […]
You probably never thought you’d see the day when “J-pop” would become internationally known, but that’s what happened when an Orthodox Jewish choral-pop band became an overnight internet sensation. Miami Boys Choir’s arrangement of Yerushalayim (from Miami Moshiach, 2007) took TikTok by a storm these past few weeks. The one-minute video clip of a live […]
On the way to Rosh Hashana services today, I asked my 11 year old son how his prayers (with his father) the day before had gone. He said he was getting bored, so he started to read the stories below the prayers. He read about the one where the rabbi had his limbs amputated. I […]
Dear Jew in the City, Why do Orthodox Jews do circle dancing? Sincerely, Kayla Dear Kayla, Thanks for your very interesting question. It might surprise you to learn that circle dancing is not exclusively Jewish, let alone Orthodox. Circle dances can be found the world over, from Armenia to Sweden, from Greece to Germany, […]
