Dear Jew in the City, What are tzitzit and why do Jewish men wear them? Sincerely, Jack Dear Jack, Thanks for your question. Just a heads-up, you said tzitzit, reflecting the Sephardic pronunciation, but I’m going to use tzitzis, à la the Ashkenazic. The answer to your question is fairly straightforward: we wear tzitzis because […]
Dear Jew in the City- My son recently started putting on tefillin. Is there anything meaningful that I can share with him about this mitzvah? Thank you, Allison Dear Allison- Nope. Not a thing. I’m kidding. There’s actually quite a bit one could say about the significance of tefillin. It always struck me as strange […]
Dear Jew in the City- What are shmittah and yovel? Thank you, Shira Dear Shira- Thanks for your question, which I assume was inspired by the fact that this year (Hebrew year 5782) is a shmittah year. Shmittah is a rest for the land of Israel once every seven years, just as Shabbos is a […]
Rabbi Avraham Bekhor of Chabad of Randolph, NJ inspired his congregation to do more mitzvos, but his speech to them about it a few months ago made only a part of the impact. It took him almost dying a few hours after giving the speech for them to take it to heart. Struck by a […]
“I live in New York,” I said to myself. “It’s the easiest place in the world to keep kosher besides some cities in Israel.” Though I was just a high school student, and most of my family was not religious, I took it upon myself to keep kosher. Being Jewish – especially being Orthodox – […]
Dear JITC- Israel is being accused of being genocidal murderers and war criminals. Are there sources that show that Jews love life and value universal humanity? Thank you, Ari Dear Ari- Thanks for your question. I don’t think it’s that Jews love life per se, I think it’s that God loves life. This is a […]
