“Should I take down my mezuzah?” A friend asked me the other day. I shuddered at the thought. The idea of hiding my Judaism by removing such a fixed item on my home, one that ironically is there to protect that home, was a level I just couldn’t imagine getting to — that I didn’t […]

Dear Jew in the City, Why does Hashem need our prayers, especially when He already knows what we want and need? Why is prayer so important? Sincerely, Rachel   Dear Rachel, Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, you’ve got things backwards. God is complete and perfect; we’ve got nothing to offer Him that He “needs.” Sure, […]

Jews are outnumbered. At 15 million small, in terms of our physical presence and safety, we are outnumbered. Attacks on Jews around the world have dramatically increased since October 7. We are outnumbered on social media, especially since our enemy seems to have invested a lot of money in bots that spew hateful and distorted […]

These days, it’s easy to completely melt into a puddle of doom and fear when scrolling through the news or the ignorant, malignant Instagram comments of so many. This morning, it was reported that Bolivia cut ties with Israel and Chile and Colombia recalled their ambassadors. There are death threats to Jews on college campuses, […]

The horrific events done at the hands of Hamas on October 7th have shaken our people to the core. We haven’t felt such a rise in antisemitism since the Nazi Holocaust in Europe. We are deeply wounded. Over 1,400 people in Israel were murdered, often in the most barbaric ways imaginable. Thousands more were injured […]

Dear Jew in the City, Did the Jewish people have any pre-battle prayer in biblical times? Best, Asher Dear Asher, Thanks for your question. Before I answer it, I’d like to address prayer more generally. I once heard a rabbi say that we shouldn’t take Israel’s battles against Muslim countries lightly. This is because we […]