Dear JITC- Why do Jewish men wear hats? All the best, Carla Dear Carla- Thanks for your question. It has been asked before: A man asked his rabbi, “Why do Jewish men wear hats?” The rabbi replied, “Because our forefather Abraham wore them.” “How do you know that?” the man inquired. “The Torah says, ‘And […]

Dear Jew in the City- Two people have told me that July 4, 1776 was on the 17th of Tammuz. Wikipedia confirms this. Does that indicate something negative about America? Sincerely, J.S. Dear J.S.- Thanks for your question. Rav Salman Mutzafi (a student of the Ben Ish Chai and the author of Siddur HaRashash), Rav […]

Hi Jew in the City- Why don’t Orthodox Jews shake hands with members of the opposite sex? Thank you, Lloyd Dear Lloyd- This is a slightly-loaded question in that it makes a number of assumptions and you’re going to meet people who may not live up to those expectations. I agree with the basic premise, […]

Dear Jew in the City- A non-Jewish neighbor asked me out on a date. I said “no,” thinking that that would be it, but it wasn’t. When I saw that he was not giving up, I realized that I had to have a conversation explaining that because I am Jewish, specifically Orthodox, I only date within […]

Dear JITC- Why do Orthodox Jews wear black? Sincerely, Rosie Dear Rosie- The short answer to your question is this. Now, I would love to link to that and be done but, unfortunately, while Allison is cool enough to let me include it, she’s not cool enough to let that be my answer in its […]

Dear Jew in the City- Why do a lot of Orthodox Jewish men have beards? Sincerely, Steve Dear Steve- Thanks for your question, which we intentionally arranged to answer following last week’s question, which was on payes (sidelocks). As we mentioned there, Leviticus 19:27 contains two prohibitions, not to round the corners of the head […]