Dear Jew in the City, Why do Orthodox Jews walk everywhere? Sincerely, Driving Dear Driving, Do we? I literally hadn’t noticed. It’s tempting to say that it’s because fresh air and exercise are good for you – which they are – but I suspect that’s not what you’re experiencing. In all likelihood, you’re encountering […]
Rabbi Simcha Weinstein knows what it means to be called to something. As the longtime Chabad emissary (shaliach) at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Weinstein has spent years helping students navigate questions of meaning and purpose. But one of the deepest callings of his life emerged much closer to home. When one of his sons was […]
Dear Jew in the City, Why do Orthodox Jews use flip phones? Sincerely, Smartphone User Dear Smartphone User, Thanks for your question. The short answer is pornography. The longer answer is somewhat more nuanced. For starters, not all Orthodox Jews use flip phones; most probably use smartphones. The use of flip phones is pretty […]
Four years ago, Jew in the City stood outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza with a simple message: Orthodox Jews deserve fair representation. At the time, NBC’s Nurses had aired an episode that grotesquely and inaccurately depicted Hasidic Jews. The portrayal sparked outrage across the Jewish community. But instead of simply protesting, we chose to do something […]
Several weeks ago JITC (Jewish Institute for Television & Cinema) Hollywood Bureau hosted an official panel at Sundance Film Festival on Jewish representation in media. We presented the findings from our groundbreaking study conducted with the Norman Lear Center at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The research examines how general Jewish characters—and also […]
Dear Jew in the City, How do Orthodox Jews view Jesus? Sincerely, Wondering Dear Wondering, Thanks for your question. I would be hard-pressed to tell you how many times in the course of my “day job” a non-Jewish reader has written me asking, “What do Jews think of Jesus?” Sometimes they just can’t accept […]
