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May 16th, 2012

I Want to Start Keeping Kosher: Where Do I Begin?

Dear Jew in the City,

Neither my husband or I were raised in households that keep kosher, but we would like to start.  Do you have any suggestions for a military family who would like to begin keeping Kosher? The military lifestyle has us often living in cities far from observant Jewish communities and causes us moving frequently - every 2-3 years - possibly more frequently  Thank you for all of the work you do!

Sincerly,
Jessie from NC

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May 10th, 2012

Pepsi Wants You To #LiveForNow: Does Judaism Believe in Living For This World Or For Heaven?

The other day on twitter, I got a promoted tweet from Pepsi that said: "Got a fav #quote? One that gets you going? Tweet to us…if we #loveit we'll RT and spread the #inspiration #LiveForNow :)" From this tweet I learned two things: number one - the English language has been ruined - possibly forever, and number two Pepsi has a new social media marketing campaign built around the concept of "living for now."

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May 3rd, 2012

Jew in the City on the Front Page of the Jewish Press, Plus Two New Speaking Engagements!

Two and a half years ago, after reaching out to the Jewish Press with a short article about Jew in the City's mission, I was offered an opportunity to write up a longer article and have it on the front page. A few months ago, the editor offered me the front page spot a second time, this time giving an update on what Jew in the City had accomplished since the original article came out. Thank God, we've had many successes, which you can read about here (top link).

Also, I have two upcoming speaking engagements this month - one in Brooklyn, for the Russian American Jewish Experience Alumni (RAJEon) on May 22, the other as the guest speaker for Shavuos at Congregation Beth Tefilla, in Paramus, NJ. To learn more about the talks I give or how to bring me to your community, please click here.

There are a couple more announcements coming up, which I'll mention in the next news update!

 

April 26th, 2012

Why (Should I Care If You) Marry Jewish?

 

A few months ago while on Facebook, I started looking at an old high school friend's pictures. As is often the case on Facebook, pictures of someone I didn't  know any more led me to pictures of someone I didn't know at all.  (Obviously, I kept clicking!) And then I saw a picture of two strangers which made me sad.

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April 19th, 2012

Yom HaShoah: The Only Way To Achieve “Never Again”

I spent much of my childhood wishing that I had Holocaust survivors in my family. Now before you completely judge me for having such an insane wish, hear me out. I was raised to be a proud Jew, but did not have much of a foundation for that pride. Our minimal observance occurred only when it was convenient to observe, and despite going to Hebrew school and having a bat mitzvah, I knew next to nothing about Judaism. So a large part of my Jewish identity stemmed from Holocaust awareness and a connection to the State of Israel.

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April 12th, 2012

Our Father in Heaven And a Temple in Time-Out

It was one of those pretend cell phones (it even had a slide out keyboard!) that my three year old son slung across the room, narrowly missing my father's head as it whizzed by. Despite the fact that it played annoying music and had no volume control, I had bought it the day before as the "pull-it-out-if-my-son-is-about-to-lose-it-on-the-plane" toy.

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March 29th, 2012

Shake Off The Crumbs of Laziness: The Motivation In Matza

I've been known to eat cookies in bed even though mothers tell you not to. Such a yummy food in such a cozy place is almost the perfect combination were it not for those tiny crumbs that irritate the skin more than they ought to. This time of year (before Passover) crumbs irritate the soul as well. And so we search our homes high and low to rid ourselves of them.

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March 22nd, 2012

The Link Between the Toulouse and Mumbai Murders and Passover Redemption

For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us...We will soon be saying these words at the Passover seder, but they ring so true right now. The murder of three Jewish children and a young rabbi in Toulouse this week was not a random killing by a deranged gunmen, but rather a calculated act of hatred by an anti-Semite. A man so evil, he gunned down (at point-blank range) three innocent children and a father, who was guilty of nothing more than dropping his kids off to school.

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March 13th, 2012

Jew in the City Is On NPR


After many months of email tag, interview rescheduling, and plain old waiting for the air date, my interview on NPR's "Interfaith Voices" (and Mayim's, which follows mine and touches on our relationship) is finally on the air! This is the largest audience we've ever reached at JITC (100,000 listeners on 76 stations in the US and Canada, including nationwide on XM satellite radio) and we're very excited and hope that this will only be the beginning of more and more positive exposure for Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Judaism.

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February 24th, 2012

From Callous to Caring: The Key to Jewish Compassion

I never thought of myself  as a callous person, and yet, I can't deny that there were times when I was just too "busy" to stop and treat certain situations with the importance they deserved. Like on the morning of September 11, 2001, when my mom (who has a tendency to over-worry) called to report that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

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