On a recent flight from LA to Israel, my husband and I settled comfortably in our assigned seats near each other, when a seemingly secular fellow approached us. The man claimed that my husband was sitting in this man’s seat, that we had been given it mistakenly by the airline. My husband checked his boarding […]

Hi JITC- The idea that there’s a halacha that we don’t have to return lost money to a non-Jew has always bothered me. Maybe I could see it making sense if we are in a society where non-Jews are anti-Semitic. But does this also apply when non-Jews treat us nicely? Thank you, David Dear David- […]

When my father was in the final weeks of his life, languishing in Cornell hospital, I found myself reaching my breaking point. I was the only relative nearby that could come to the hospital on a regular basis. As a single parent, I was away from my kids for five Shabbosim in a row. It was […]

I was raised in an extreme religious environment that stressed fear and punishment over love and joy. Anti-Semitism was taught as a rebuke from a vengeful God. And it’s followed me everywhere. Because of this negative messaging, my relationship with Judaism was fraught from a young age. By early adulthood, I found myself drifting away. […]

During a life-threatening crisis, you might expect a man dressed in rabbinic garb to pray for you, but you probably wouldn’t think he’d be the one to save you. With ZAKA, Israel’s primary rescue and recovery organization, whose volunteers are mostly religious Jews – a majority of them Haredi – you get both! ZAKA was […]

’93Queen’: Film Review | Hot Docs 2018 Forget Supergirl and Wonder Woman. To see a real female superhero in action, check out Paula Eiselt’s documentary concerning the creation of an all-female, Hasidic EMT corps. 93Queen centers on Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, the co-founder of the organization that gives the film its title, and watching this intrepid […]