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How to Make a Radical Break with the Last Year this Rosh Hashanah

A number of friends have mentioned that they are dreading Rosh Hashanah. Their general sense of overwhelm has made preparing for the holiday—spiritually or physically—exhausting. Looking back at this past year depresses them. Cynicism leads them to expect 5781 will be worse than 5780. It doesn’t help that due to the novel coronavirus, a lot […]

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Fresh Start: Back To School & The Jewish New Year

I’m pretty sure that there’s a place in hell where the really bad people are trapped in a shoe store with hordes of short people who whine “Mommy” at them – forever.  There is a certain dread that fills my being at the end of every summer as we begin our back to school shopping. The […]

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What is Teshuva And How Do You Properly Do It?

Dear Jew in the City, What does it really mean to do teshuvah and how do we do it properly? Sincerely, Noah Dear Noah, Thanks for your very timely question. Taking a page from the sage Hillel, I’ll explain teshuvah “on one foot.” When my oldest child was young, he had a toy car that […]

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Five Ways to Stay Warm and Stylish While Outside For The Holidays

Every Autumn, we anticipate cozy nights in our temporary homes as the weather starts to grow colder. But due to Covid this year, our need for wearable warmth comes earlier than Sukkos, as many people are doing all their Yomim Noraim davening (and often their only socializing) outside as well. While stiffly structured coats might […]

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Haven’t We Been Afflicted Enough This Year?

This year, I’ve noticed a trend on social media: people mentioning that we shouldn’t have to afflict ourselves this year on Yom Kippur because we’ve been afflicted so much by recent events. According to this thinking, if the point of fasting and abstaining from a variety of physical comforts is to purge our sins, maybe […]

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