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 […]
Dear jew in the City, What is the source and meaning for “he who is compassionate to the cruel will be cruel to the compassionate?” Sincerely, Joseph Dear Joseph, Thanks for your question. Are you familiar with Godwin’s law? Godwin’s law is an internet principle which states that as an online discussion grows longer, […]
“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 […]
Dear Jew in the City, As we think about the Jewish people being redeemed, what can we think about the Purim story about the Jews meriting redemption? Sincerely, Abraham Dear Abraham, Thanks for your question. I’m curious why your premise is that we’re “think(ing) about the Jewish people being redeemed.” Because of the war? […]
Harvard’s population of Jewish students has gone from 25% to 5% in the last several years and not enough people are talking about it. “It’s not because Jews got dumber over time,” Shabbos Kestenbaum says. Kestenbaum is a Harvard grad student suing the university for failing to uphold federal law under Title VI of the […]
Last night, Jewish director Jonathan Glazer won an Oscar for The Zone of Interest, his harrowing film about the commandant of Auschwitz during the Holocaust. The film was noteworthy because it didn’t show the horrors of the camp: we mostly just hear gunshots, screams, and other sounds in the background as the family goes about […]
