Dear Jew in the City, On a recent flight after dealing with hours of a cancelation, a reschedule and then a delay, I finally boarded the plane with numerous other exhausted passengers. I noticed quite a few fellow Orthodox Jews on this flight, the one closest to me was a twenty-something guy with a […]

Dear Jew in the City, Why do Orthodox Jews use flip phones? Sincerely, Smartphone User   Dear Smartphone User, Thanks for your question. The short answer is pornography. The longer answer is somewhat more nuanced. For starters, not all Orthodox Jews use flip phones; most probably use smartphones. The use of flip phones is pretty […]

Dear Jew in the City, How do Orthodox Jews view Jesus? Sincerely, Wondering   Dear Wondering, Thanks for your question. I would be hard-pressed to tell you how many times in the course of my “day job” a non-Jewish reader has written me asking, “What do Jews think of Jesus?” Sometimes they just can’t accept […]

US figure skater Alysa Liu, made a remarkable comeback, winning an Olympic gold medal last week after taking two years off from her sport. Fans noticed the joy that was infused into her routine. Her story isn’t just inspirational for the regular reasons. It is also bizarrely connected to the Makom branch of our organization, […]

Dear Jew in the City, Why do Jews kiss the door? Sincerely, Puzzled Dear Puzzled, Thanks for your question. I’m going to answer it but before I do, I’m going to tell you a story. Many years ago, when the interwebs were in their infancy, people got their information from a thing called newspapers. (Imagine […]

Dear Jew in the City, What is the Torah view on Jewish people getting an autopsy? Sincerely, Mark   Dear Mark, Hmm. Interesting question. And honestly, we’re all surprised that this hasn’t come up before! The answer starts with condemned criminals. You see, the Torah commands that an executed felon has to be buried on […]