Jewish Blogs

My Favorite Segulas

There’s a lot of talk about how crazy some segulas are and it’s nice for someone to showcase the ones we actually use. I’m not sure these are real, but here you go anyway. Courtesy of Avromy L. from Facebook: Segulah for recovery from illness: Go to a doctor (Berachot 60a, Bava Kamma 46b) Segulah for longevity: Lead a healthy ...

Mothers Day 2010 – What to get your Jewish Mom?

It’s that time of year again – Mother’s Day! You didn’t forget, RIGHT? You’re going to take her out for a nice brunch, RIGHT? You’re going to *at least* get her something special, RIGHT? Ah your Jewish mom – the one who raised you, cared for you, made sure you were fed, educated, and ready to take on the world! ...

Mishpacha Propaganda

When you live out of town, you don’t get the frum magazines until months down the line. You might absentmindedly walk out with the shul’s edition, the one that says DO NOT REMOVE written across it in black marker, and it’s such a relief to have new Jewish reading material in this outpost of frumkeit that you figure meh, it’s ...

Mark Zuckerberg Eats Kosher in Rome

I’m all for letting Mark Zuckerberg and his new wife Priscilla Chan honeymoon in peace, but I couldn’t resist blogging about two noteworthy events that occurred during the newlyweds’ Italian vacation. First, the Facebook Founder and CEO took his bride to a *kosher restaurant in the Jewish area in Rome. The couple dined at Nonna Betta where they spent 32 ...

Loneliness on the High Holidays

One of my family’s traditions has always been to make sure to invite new people to our holiday meals every year. Just as there are many lonely people around the time of Thanksgiving and New Years, there are many lonely Jewish people around the time of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The High Holidays come in the autumn, just after ...

Let’s talk about sex

It seems that every time I talk about something remotely sexual a bunch of people make comments telling me that I need to find a wife or get laid and I simply don’t understand the logic. Does marriage or sex make one any less sexual or likely to talk about sex? I almost think it’s the exact opposite, anyone who ...

Laughing Until I Cried: Hebrew School

My father always insisted that Hebrew school vitally important, and certainly more important than secular school, which seemed ridiculous. Regular school had its moments of strangeness—why did we spend much of third grade learning how to knit, or take at least three field trips to cemeteries? Hebrew school, on the other hand, involved more regular strange occurrences—although I also learned ...

“It Could Lead to Mixed Dancing” is Antiquated and Needs to be Replaced

Whenever something is banned or restricted in the frum community, people like to jokingly say that it could lead to mixed dancing. This line is from our parents generation, yet somehow it has remained the one line that people can say half jokingly in response to some of the crazy chumros and bans in recent times. Mixed dancing was a ...

Israelis Merge Facebook and Google

Google is making another effort to successfully compete with Facebook in social networking. Google Buzz and Google Wave never caught on, but Google can’t afford to fail with their latest attempt Google Plus. The problem is that over 750 million people worldwide have already built up their Facebook profiles and might not be willing to invest the time in Google ...

Israeli Tech Startup Wants Silence

It’s no secret that Israel is the Silicon Valley of the Middle East. With thousands of tech companies and start-ups, Israel has become just as well-known as a center for technology innovation as it is for hummus. Between two visits to Israel earlier this year, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Holy Land for techies – International CES (Consumer ...

Is Steve Lonegan, the Anti-Spanish Former Mayor of Bogota, Jewish?

No, New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan is not a Jew. He is Catholic and attends St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Bogota. Back on 7/17/2006 here is what we posted on our blog about Mr. Lonegan when he tried to get a Spanish advertising billboard removed from his town… Don’t confuse this town with the capital city of ...

Is Sex Expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer Jewish?

Yes, sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer is a Jew, a holocaust survivor and a former Israeli Haganah scout and sniper. Wikipedia reports: Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Wiesenfeld (near Karlstadt am Main), Germany, the only child of Orthodox Jews Irma (née Hanauer) and Julius Siegel. In January 1939, she was sent to Switzerland by her mother and grandmother ...