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What Is The Jewish View on Ghosts?

The Ghostbusters franchise has come back from the dead, raising questions on what Judaism teaches about ghosts. According to the Torah, do ghosts haunt our society, crossing over from the dead to appear before and communicate with the living? Texts spanning millennia offer two different approaches within Jewish belief. Judaism teaches that death does not […]

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Does The Torah Support Racism?

Dear Jew in the City, With all the horrific shootings going on recently, it got me thinking about racism in the Jewish world. I’ve heard people claim there are racist sources in the Torah and Talmud. I hope that’s not true. Can you clarify? Do Orthodox Jews who are racist have sources to back up […]

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Why Do We Have Bonfires and BBQ’s On Lag BaOmer?

The little-known Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer starts tonight and goes through tomorrow. This day of late-spring fun interrupts a period of national mourning for the Jewish people. How did this annual pre-Memorial Day festival come to be? Two thousand years ago, the great Torah sage Rabbi Akiva, who was considered to be the best teacher of […]

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Why Do We Still Not Eat Kitniyos If No One Confuses Beans and Wheat?

Dear Jew in the City, What’s the deal with kitniyos? Especially being that we know now it’s not chametz, and some Jews eat it and some don’t… Sincerely, Rice on Pesach Dear Rice, Kitniyos (or kitniyot) is typically translated as “legumes” and the Ashkenazi practice is not to eat them on Passover. This isn’t because we used to […]

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How Can The Torah Let A Man Sell His Daughter into Slavery?

  Dear Jew in the City, I heard that the Torah says that a woman must marry her rapist and that a father can sell his daughter into slavery? How can we possibly accept such horrible ideas in the modern world? Sincerely, Biblical Inequality   Dear Inequality, That’s a great question. It is true that […]

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