Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in honor of the birth of his daughter – in order to make the world a better place for her and everyone else – pledged 99% of his Facebook shares (which are currently worth $45 billion dollars) to charity. He explained that the money would be used towards feeding […]

You can listen to the “Jew in the City Speaks” interview above or on NachumSegal.com Fifteen years ago Debbie Fox, a social worker and Orthodox Jew, joined the team at Jewish Family Services in Los Angeles. She and a group of rabbis were tasked with fielding reports from the local Jewish community. In only six […]

To hear to the entire radio interview on “Jew in the City Speaks,” listen above or on NachumSegal.com Last Shabbos was Makom‘s inaugural Shabbaton which took place in the Five Towns. (Makom is an initiative of Jew in the City which helps former and questioning Charedi Jews find their place in Orthodoxy. To read about why Makom was […]

Sit in judgment of others, as our sages teach “Don’t judge another man until you have stood in his place.” (Ethics of the Fathers) When they do that judging in public, as the Talmud says, “He who publicly shames his neighbor is as though he shed blood.” When they commit acts of fraud, as the […]

When I was first making the transition from Conservative to Orthodox, an observant Conservative family I knew invited me over for Shabbos essentially to have an “intervention.” “Look,” they told me, “you can be kosher and shomer Shabbos without becoming one of THEM. If you become Orthodox – you’ll become a rock-thrower.” Where did an intelligent, […]

As I write these words, our brothers in Israel have entered Gaza to weed out terrorists. This mission is occurring during the Three Weeks – a time of mourning over the destruction of our Temple which begins on the 17th of Tammuz and ends on Tisha B’Av. We are told that the Second Temple was […]