The book of Jonah tells the famous story of a big fish (not whale) swallowing Jonah for three days until the prophet emerged unscathed. To someone like me with more of skeptical point-of-view, this episode is hard to swallow. Jonah had fled from the land of Israel after God set for him an unpleasant task, […]
Dear Jew in the City, I did not grow up Orthodox, but became religious because of Jew in the City seeing how special the frum community and Torah observance is. My parents weren’t too happy, but I knew I was doing the right thing. Then I started going to a local class given by a […]
Dear Jew in the City, I’m troubled by the mitzvah of Sotah. Is there a way to understand it that’s less troubling? Why is only the woman shamed and there’s no such shaming for a man who is suspected? -Troubled Dear Troubled, People often have issues with the case of the sotah – the woman suspected of […]
Dear Jew in the City, I am troubled by the mitzvah of seir l’azazel (the scapegoat of the Yom Kippur service). We are taught to believe and hope and pray for a redemption and a third Beis HaMikdash. If these commandments were just for ancient time, why all the daily prayers for and reminders of […]
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 […]
