Dear JITC- Why do Orthodox Jews rock when they pray? Thanks, Shawn Dear Shawn- Yes, Orthodox Jews rock. We rock so hard. The swaying to which you refer is called shuckeling, from the Yiddish word shuckelen meaning to shake. While a widespread – though not universal – practice (it’s not the practice of Sefardim, for example), its […]
Hello Jew in the City- I relate to praying as something that I must do three times a day. While, whenever I think about it, I conclude that Hashem IS in control (at least to a large degree), but I do not truly believe that Hashem listens to my praying. As such, saying tehilim or otherwise davening for something […]
Dear Jew in the City, On a recent flight after dealing with hours of a cancelation, a reschedule and then a delay, I finally boarded the plane with numerous other exhausted passengers. I noticed quite a few fellow Orthodox Jews on this flight, the one closest to me was a twenty-something guy with a short […]
Dear Jew in the city, I have been an avid reader of your website for a while now and always watch your videos. I am a huge fan! I have been slowly becoming more religious over time but one question has been troubling me. If we have free will, why do we pray to G-d […]
