Dear Jew in the City- I just don’t feel Jewishly inspired. What can I do? Thank you, Jackson Dear Jackson- Thanks for your question, though I don’t think it necessarily plays to my strengths. There are people who have more spiritual inclinations towards religion and people who have more rationalist inclinations towards religion. (These are […]

Dear Jew in the City, I was told by a Jewish educator that my role as a wife is to defer to my husband because Chava came from a part of Adam and was supposed to be his helper. Is this actually based on Torah sources? -SG   Dear SG- In a sense, yes, it’s […]

Dear JITC- The Yom Kippur prayers perplex me. What if we didn’t do the aveira we apologize for, and what if know that we’re going to do it again? Thanks, B.B. Dear B.B.- Thanks for your question. The first part doesn’t really bother me too much for two reasons. The first reason is because it’s […]

Dear Jew in the City- What’s the meaning of blowing the shofar and why are there different shofar sounds? Sincerely, Jessica P. Dear Jessica- Very often, to answer a question, I’ll take a roundabout path to ultimately arrive at the answer. In this case, the response is much more straightforward. The shofar has a lot […]

Dear JITC- I have been privately not religious anymore for over a year and a half now. I don’t keep Shabbos or kosher privately, and I stopped keeping both publicly when I’m away from home or no one is around. This was never really my intention, but life happened in many painful ways. I used […]

Dear Jew in the City- I was raised to see Rosh Hashana as a terrifying time of year, that I would be judged by God in (aka Who Will Live and Who Will Die). I’ve obviously made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve met people who approach the holiday in a more positive way. What’s […]