During the first 4 years after starting Jew in the City, I worked for free. I didn’t know how to fundraise, and so I basically volunteered for a cause I deeply believed in. After these early years of actually losing money by working (to pay for a babysitter while I was never compensated for my […]

Dear Rebbetzin Chaya- I was raised to believe there was only one way to be Orthodox and that never worked for me. Now that I understand there are many paths within the community, I am trying to figure out how a person decides where they belong? Any advice? Thank you, Melanie Dear Melanie- What a […]

I was a rebellious teen. You know the kind—the one the teachers worry about and whose parents get called down to discuss their issues. The kid who is on everyone’s watchlist for most-likely-to-go-down. Now if you are imagining some goth girl smoking pot, a skull tattooed on her forearm, you have got it wrong. I […]

It was the lowest point in my life: I was in the middle of a messy divorce, on the brink of bankruptcy, and everyone was against me. I blamed God. In a fit of anger, I tore the mezuzot from my doorposts, took them to the barbecue outside, poured lighter fluid on them, and watched […]

You’ve heard the term “modern Orthodox,” but have you ever heard of “modern chasidic,” also known as heimish? At Jew in the City, we love to show the nuances in the Orthodox Jewish world that many people are completely unaware of. In some cases, this lack of understanding even exists between one Orthodox community and […]

One of the biggest disadvantages I had growing up in an extreme, unhealthy Orthodox Jewish community is that I learned from an early age to view the world as black and white. They’re wrong. We’re right. We follow Torah correctly. They don’t. We’re living the life that God intended when He created the world. They’re […]