You may be aware that religious Jews do not work on Shabbat. You may also be aware that religious Jews do not do a whole slew of things on Shabbat, such as igniting a fire or even turning on lights. You are certainly aware that turning on the lights isn’t a whole lot of work. […]
Dear JITC, I know you’re not meant to “shop around” in matters of getting a psak (a ruling in a matter of Jewish law). But can you ever seek a second opinion and, if so, how? Best, Josh — Dear Josh, Thanks for your question. It dovetails very nicely with another topic that we discussed […]
Florida, North Carolina, New York, Georgia…each day it seems like a different state is reporting antisemitism— numbers are increasing rapidly. We just marked Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day — a time devoted to ensuring a terror even remotely in that realm doesn’t happen again. With stories percolating that feel eerie, much like pre-Holocaust times, the possibility […]
Noemie Lopian’s father wrote a book called, The Long Night, that sat on a shelf by itself in their house. It was a constant, living in the background of her childhood. When Noemie read its contents, she was 36 years old. What she found out changed the course of her life. It was her father’s […]
Dear Jew in the City, Why is it a mitzvah not to free a slave? That seems pretty messed up. – Moshe Dear Moshe, Thanks for your question. Before I answer, let me contextualize things for readers. We previously discussed a question about slavery, specifically how American Jews might or might not have participated in […]
Dear Jew in the City, Why didn’t King David deal more harshly with his son who raped his daughter? Why didn’t Yaakov react more strongly to Dinah being raped? – Jason Dear Jason- Thanks for your question, Jason. I understand where you’re coming from, but I think you’re making a lot of assumptions about what […]
