Wearing Skirts Over Pants Helps Me Straddle Two Worlds Orthodox young women, many of whom traditionally wear only skirts outside the house as an expression of modesty, increasingly wear pants under those skirts. This gateway between the world of skirts and the world of pants — clothing items that, for some Orthodox Jews (though […]

  How to Host a Shabbat Dinner and Why You Should—Even if You Aren’t Celebrating The rituals of this Friday night tradition have become so much more than a religious experience. What’s better than winding down the week at home filled with your favorite people and the scent of a chicken roasting in the oven? […]

Mayim Bialik Wears Orthodox Jewish Designer on Red Carpet at SAG Awards Actress Mayim Bialik looked gorgeous at this week’s SAG Awards, which she attributed to Miri Couture, a modern Orthodox designer. Noting the dress’ options for sleeve and other modifications, the actress talked politics as well as fashion. BCBG Designer Joyce Azria on Her […]

The SNL writer who called Barron Trump a “homeschool shooter” was just permanently suspended over her remarks, and as a kid I remember hearing how Chelsea Clinton was mocked on Saturday Night Live for being an awkward teen. Thankfully, in both cases, people on both sides of the aisle spoke out, saying that making fun […]

Dear Jew in the City, When and why did Jewish boys and men start wearing yarmulkes, and are there any circumstances when a yarmulke need not be worn? M.L. Dear M.L., The practice of wearing a yarmulke (kippah in Hebrew) is an ancient tradition that has its roots as a “middas chasiddus” (an act of piety) before […]

A few years ago, when my son (then 5) and my daughter (then 8) were playing “mitzvah pirates” – a game they invented where they sailed the seven seas in order to help people  –  my son took one look at my daughter and told her, “Girls can’t be pirates.” (In his world of “pirates,” […]