Seinfeld has a joke that more people are afraid of public speaking than death. That means that more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. Not me. I was a natural born performer. Was it in my genes? Did my middle-child birth order push me to be louder in order to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
On Your Mark with Allison Josephs Too many people never saw Torah’s beauty. Allison Josephs helps them discover it. Allison Josephs launched Jew in the City and its initiative, Makom, an outreach organization that works to reverse negative associations of frum Jews. The Unlikely Journey of a 16-Year-Old Baseball Player Who Broke Racial and Religious […]
