Dear JITC- Why do Orthodox Jews rock when they pray? Thanks, Shawn Dear Shawn- Yes, Orthodox Jews rock. We rock so hard. The swaying to which you refer is called shuckeling, from the Yiddish word shuckelen meaning to shake. While a widespread – though not universal – practice (it’s not the practice of Sefardim, for example), its […]

An initiative for Yom Hazikaron has brought secular and religious Jews together in Israel, as Haredi Jews signed up to read Tehillim for fallen Israeli soldiers. With increased tension between the populations due to COVID-19, this timely partnership has helped many Israelis make sense of this difficult time. The “For Every Victim There Is A […]

Several times each day, we describe God in our prayers as a shome’a tefila, One who hears prayers. “Hear our voice, Hashem, our God…accept our prayers with compassion…don’t turn us away empty…Blessed are You, Hashem, Who hears prayer.”  This blessing of the Amidah prayer paints a nice, neat picture of the relationship between our prayers […]

United Airlines Reschedules Flight for Yom Kippur United representative Robert Einhorn confirmed that the airline changed the departure time for one of its Tel Aviv flights after a customer expressed concern about missing the flight due to her religious obligations for Yom Kippur.”After some coordination with the network team and the TLV airport authorities, the […]

In 2002, when my husband and I were first married, we moved to Israel for a couple years to learn in yeshiva and seminary. I was working in Jewish outreach at the time and some people in Jerusalem had launched a TV station dedicated to Jewish outreach. Since I my childhood dream was to be […]

Dear Jew in the City- Why do we ask God to remember us on Rosh Hashanah? It’s not like God forgets things. Thanks, Eitan Dear Eitan- Thanks for your question, though my reply will probably have less to do with Rosh Hashana than you were expecting. It has more to do with grammar. Obviously, we […]