Recently, in a school in Israel, a child was hit by a rebbe for “misbehaving.” According Kikar Shabbos News, this older teacher struck the student quite hard and has a history of similar acts of violence against children. The boys’ parents called the police and a complaint was filed against the teacher. It was an awful […]

Hi Jew in the City- Why don’t Orthodox Jews shake hands with members of the opposite sex? Thank you, Lloyd Dear Lloyd- This is a slightly-loaded question in that it makes a number of assumptions and you’re going to meet people who may not live up to those expectations. I agree with the basic premise, […]

Hey JITC- Why do Orthodox Jewish men have sidecurls? Thanks, Ivan Dear Ivan- Thanks for your question. Those sidecurls are called “peiyot” in Hebrew, meaning corners. This is commonly Yiddishized as “peiyes” and is usually rendered in English in a variety of less-phonetically-accurate spellings, including “payes” and “peyot.” (By the way, the common English-language term […]

Orthodox Family Speaks Out About Opioid Abuse in the Religious Community The opiate epidemic raging across the country has seeped into nearly every community, and the Orthodox population is not immune. Community leaders say the drug problem is growing. Applications to kosher drug rehab are soaring, Narcan is being carried by Hatzalah ambulances, which serve […]

My family didn’t know any Orthodox Jews personally was I was growing up, but we knew “of” them. They were “extreme,” “closed-minded,” and “chauvinistic.” Then, when I was 16, I met some for the first time up close, and something surprising happened. These people were educated, open-minded, and kind. The women were empowered and the […]