While this year of the world battling Covid-19 has kept many people in their homes, some people have questioned where they want their home to be. On Yom Ha’Atzmaut, we celebrate aliyah stories, and this year, the challenges posed by the pandemic made making the leap to a life in Israel all-the-more impressive. These families […]

Dear Jew in the City- Covid has a weird symptom of removing people’s senses of smell and taste. What do smell and taste represent in Judaism? Also, my whole family lost our sense of smell from Covid. How do we handle the besamim part of havdalah? Sincerely, Jody Dear Jody- Thanks for your question. I […]

Dear JITC- I just saw my parents after 13 months since Covid started, since they have now been vaccinated. I remember there being a blessing over seeing someone you are close to after not seeing them for a year. Can you tell me about this? Thank you, Annie Dear Annie- The Sages, who wrote the […]

This week, not one but two viciously anti-semitic articles were written in two major New York based news outlets. I heard about the New York Times article first, from Newsweek deputy opinion editor, Batya Ungar-Sargon. Her tweet summed up the article perfectly: Who needs the Daily Stormer when you’ve got the New York Times? An […]

Alexi Minko’s bar, the Alibi Lounge, is the first black and gay-owned business in Harlem, for which he has had to make creative and painful choices to keep afloat during the pandemic. To renew his lease, he must now come up with $15,000 by the end of the month. Minko’s landlord, Mordy Getz says, “Everyone […]

While almost 117,000 people have died from COVID in the United Kingdom, its Haredi community has been especially hard-hit, with 64% of its population testing positive in contrast to England’s 16%. Therefore community leaders created a pop-up vaccination site to coincide with motzaei Shabbos, so that as evening services ended, people could line up in […]