I have been known to go to the gym for literally 6 minutes at a time. And those are my good days. I spend most of my life on the couch. (Like right now – I’m on the couch. Why do you think I made an entire YouTube show about a woman sitting on a […]
Dear Jew in the City- What’s the history of Selichos? Why did it come about? Best, Mark Dear Mark- Thanks for your question. As far as the liturgy goes, Selichos are fairly contemporary. By that I mean that they are measured in mere centuries, rather than millennia. Some of the prayers we recite, like Shema, […]
Dear Jew in the City, The month of Elul is a beautiful concept, but can be hard to relate to. What do I do actionably in Elul? What should we be trying to accomplish pre-teshuva? Best, Matt Dear Matt- Thanks for your question. First, let’s examine what Elul is. You might not realize how much […]
Beloved singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen died last week at the age of 82. Most famous for penning the hauntingly poignant ballad “Hallelujah” among other songs in the past 40 years, as well as poetry and novels, not many people were aware that Cohen was born and raised Orthodox, spent some time involved in Buddhism then returned […]
After two months of Yomim Tovim, why do we have one more holiday in Shemini Atzeres?
The Mishna in Sukkah relates that “He who has not seen the rejoicing at the Place of the Water-Drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life.” The Siloam Spring in Jerusalem, pictured above, was the source of water for the Simchas Beis HaShoeva, or Rejoicing in the House of Water Drawing, a ceremony which took […]
