Matan Kahana, the deputy Minister of Religious Services to the Israeli Knesset, announced on June 2 that he would hire women in Jewish leadership positions for communities across Israel. In what capacity? Advisers of Jewish law relating to mikvah, or yoatzot halacha. Recently, there has been a growing demand among Orthodox Jewish women — particularly […]
While media representation and public opinion of mikvah has been sullied over the years (check out our mikvah video), Naomi Rosenbach, a PhD student at Hofstra, got to thinking about how Jewish women are experiencing the mikvah in real life and what factors might impact their experience. She decided the only way to know for sure was […]
While mikvahs are used by Jewish women all the time for the observance of Family Purity, they are also the special place where a non-Jew completes his conversion, as Rus did in the megillah we read every Shavuos. One of Hashem’s names is Mikvah Yisrael, not only because mikvah means hope and God is our […]
On the 13th of Kislev (the Jewish month when Chanukah takes place), I was 9 months pregnant with my third child. I woke up in the middle of the night confused, sweating, and very stressed. I tried to get my husband up to tell him about my dream, but he was more interested in sleeping […]
Jewish Actress Mila Kunis Says Shabbat Dinners Are Important for Her Family Jewish actress Mila Kunis talked during a recent podcast interview about Judaism’s role in her life with her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and their two children. The couple now celebrates Shabbat every week with candlelighting and a Friday night dinner. ‘Jewish House’ Helps […]
Meet New York’s Hasidic Jewish Bagpipe Player Not every bagpipe-playing altar boy considering joining the priesthood grows up to be a Hasidic Jew — but Ian Sherman did. Ian, known today in many circles by his Hebrew name Ephraim Eliyahu, was born to a Scottish Catholic mother and an Eastern European Jewish father, and was […]
