Tonight, we will light memorial candles. We will lower our gaze and bow our heads. We will say a prayer and try to memorialize the existence of the millions of Jewish souls that the Nazis tried to erase and extinguish over 60 years ago.
The laws prohibiting speaking or believing loshon hara, motzi shem ra, and rechilus are some of the hardest in Torah to keep.
As a Jew, it often feels as if we live from Sabbath to Sabbath, holiday to holiday. Every time I...
Hell no, don't give me your umbrella, or your coat, not your trains that run on schedule or your buses that lurch and groan, not your cars neither and the rules of the road.
I've got me, and that's enough until I get there.
I’ve always thought being a Believer meant never having questions. I thought that it meant never admitting weakness. But I have questions. And I admit, at times like these, I am not strong.
Orthodox Jews often emphasize marriage too strongly, undermining the lives and souls of the singles among them. It's wrong, and it spurs unnecessary hurt, insecurity, and alienation.
Often, life seems a cold, hard outgrowth of unfeeling nature. Occasionally, I sense something mystical. I'm not sure what I believe, but I sure know what I hope.
I am eight years old, lying in my parents bed. In another room, my parents are arguing. I drift away feeling this was all my fault. That somehow, I am responsible for the pain and rage around me. That somehow, I have to fix things. That somehow, I am only lovable if I am perfect. It's a heavy, heavy burden to bear. And now I am a mother of four, still bearing this weight.
The following is part of the Hevria series “Truth And Dare”, in which Hevria writers have pushed themselves to write...
