Dear Jew in the City, I heard recently that an Orthodox rabbi said that Israeli soldiers are allowed to rape women in war. Is this true? If is, it is horribly upsetting! How could that be part of Judaism? Thank you, D.L. Dear D.L., You’re referring to something that the new candidate for chief rabbi […]
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 […]
Dear Jew in the City, Thank you for all of your posts and videos — they have been unfailingly helpful as I have been trying to navigate the often-confusing ba’alas teshuvah process. Here is a question I have for you, though. How do you respond when people claim that Judaism and the “old testament” are […]
Dear Jew in the City, On one hand the Torah tells us we’re not supposed to speak lashon hara (evil speech), on the other hand, the Torah commands us to not stand idly by our neighbors blood (lo ta’amod al dam rei’echa). If we think someone is dangerous, how do we know when to remain […]
I started my journey towards Jewish observance when the father of one of my classmates killed his two children and himself when I was eight years old. This tragedy pushed me to search for meaning in life, and at sixteen, I stumbled upon Orthodox Judaism, and realized it was what I had been missing. Like […]
Dear Jew in the City, I know that the Torah tells us to honor our parents. But what is one to do when those parents are not good parents. When they hardly raise you, possibly resent you and are often distant? If a child is neglected or even hated by his mother- how is he to […]
