After 97 years of having female contestants parade around in next to nothing, to be commented on and literally judged, Miss America (formerly known as a beauty pageant) is throwing in the towel when it comes to swimsuits. Gretchen Carlson, the chairwoman of the Miss America board of directors, announced this on Good Morning America today. […]

Of course I believe in Hashem, but he’s the Boogey Man waiting to strike me down.  These horrifying words were uttered by an attendee at the first Makom shabbaton several years ago during dinner. Where did such an abhorrent idea come from? How could a person possibly have a relationship with God if she felt […]

My family didn’t know any Orthodox Jews personally was I was growing up, but we knew “of” them. They were “extreme,” “closed-minded,” and “chauvinistic.” Then, when I was 16, I met some for the first time up close, and something surprising happened. These people were educated, open-minded, and kind. The women were empowered and the […]

The Internet – at least in its current iteration – may be ruining the world as we know it. Of course I’m being melodramatic, but I’m also being serious. The ills of the web are nothing new. People are more isolated than ever, covet other people’s lives more than ever, and have shorter attention spans […]

Over the weekend, actress Amber Tamblyn (best known for her role in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) tweeted that she was nearly run over by a Hasidic man in a van while pushing her daughter in her stroller across a street in Brooklyn earlier that day. She was hoping the police would catch the […]

Every time I log into my Yahoo email over the last couple days, I am reminded that a female Olympic athlete recently had a “wardrobe malfunction.” I am purposely being circumspect about the details because we really shouldn’t be talking about this story at all, and I truly hope it will stop soon. For poor […]