Last year, at a car rental company, a Muslim man from Iraq who was bringing us our car, noticed my younger son, who looks the most like me of all of our children, replete with olive skin. It was the end of January, and even so, both my son and I looked brown. The Iraqi […]
Dear Jew in the City, What does Judaism say about the death penalty? Sincerely, Eric Dear Eric, That’s an interesting question. I assume you mean “What does Judaism say about the death penalty in secular law?” because anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Torah knows that capital punishment is all over Jewish law. […]
Jewish power and blood libels are millennia old tropes. Ashakenazi Jews as “white Europeans” is a neo-Nazi canard, called the Khazar theory, that has shockingly been bolstered in Hollywood. Jew in the City, which launched the first and only Hollywood Bureau for Jewish representation in 2021 returned to Sundance for the second year in a […]
At the start of the new year, The New York Times published a piece called, “I Left My Faith. God Didn’t Flinch.” The writer speaks about her journey from a modern orthodox girl to an openly queer nonbinary individual. She journals about the transition and the way Judaism presents in her life today. While I’m […]
Dear Jew in the City, Why does Hashem care so much about the intricate details of our practice, i.e. all the halachot of Shabbat, kashrut, etc.? Sincerely, Yuval Dear Yuval, Thanks for your question. You want to talk about an intricate detail? Let’s talk about commas. A comma is a tiny thing. Certainly, the inclusion […]
Dear Jew in the City, Can you please explain Jewish/Muslim relations in the Torah, in particular why they’re so contentious? Sincerely, Itai Dear Itai, Thanks for your question. The Torah has literally nothing to say about Jewish/Muslim relations. To explain why this is, please consider the following timeline: 1312 BCE – The Torah is […]
