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, […]
Dear Jew in the City, I know that there is a mitzvah to tell the story of our Exodus during Pesach, but why then? Why don’t we have to tell the story of getting the Torah or the story of sitting in succahs? Why is this the holiday we have to tell stories on? Sincerely, […]
I often walked my dog at unconventional times my senior year of high school. Sometimes after a long night of school work, I would only get out at around 1:30 AM. Somehow, without fail, my Hispanic neighbor from up the block would walk her dog Rosalina on a similar schedule. Despite the late hour, the […]
This is not the first time Israel has been drawn into a conflict that resulted in tragic deaths of civilians on the other side, nor is it the first time those tragic deaths have sparked heated battles not just in Gaza but on the web and in the streets. It’s not the first time we […]
It’s a dark heavy time… our hostages are still not home, war rages on. And it’s Adar, the Jewish month which when our joy should increase. Is this feasible? Are we really supposed to be happy when Israel is at war? And how are we supposed to increase our joy just because the Hebrew calendar […]
“We refute our Jewishness,” said Jonathan Glazer in the beginning of his controversial Oscar award winning speech. But does he, or for that matter, we, even really know what “our Jewishness” is about? Jewish customs seem like they can range from being deep and meaningful like reading the hagadah to startlingly unintelligible like getting drunk […]
