Non-Orthodox Jews frequently seem concerned that Orthodox Jews are judging them about their lack of Jewishness. On JewishJournal.com, Jason Lipeles writes: "Although he had a long beard, I wasn’t nervous or thinking that maybe he was judging my lack of Jewishness." Why would they car...

I’ve heard thousands of stories about the power of prayer to effect divine intervention into your life, but how come there are no cases of prayer causing God to help an amputee grow a limb? We have no evidence of it ever happening. How come God answers all sorts of prayers but never the prayer...

TOLEDO, Ohio — Naama Shafir had all but given up hope of playing college basketball in the United States even though she was clearly good enough. She was the best player in her league in Israel. College coaches noticed her. But she wasn’t willing to give up her religious beliefs. Shafir,...

A friend calls. "I saw a bunch of Orthodox Jews walking today. I said to my brother, ‘Clean cups, dirty hearts." Luke: "What does that mean?" Friend: "It means that their cups are clean because of Talmudic rule 1378 but they’ll rape you in business. They are not ...

I haven't been around that ultra-orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem in years. But it's the only neighborhood my ultra-orthodox sister knows when she comes to visit that I agreed to meet her there on Friday. I pity her because she never had non-Jewish friends and doesn't know where Jaffa Street is, e...

Joe emails: I saw your story on shalhevet hiring vered hopenstand to teach hebrew and it reminded me of a funny story and an issue to raise. I was in a Hopenstand class in high school and she would talk to alot of the "dibs" (dumb israeli bastards), i.e. the native hebrew speakers, about w...

Because he did not apply. Rabbi Korobkin was the runner-up to Steven Weil in the 2000 search for a successor to Abner Weiss. He did not throw his hat in the ring this go round. By temperament, Rabbi Korobkin is more of a scholar than a pulpit rabbi. I believe he’s pursuing a PhD in Islam at UC...

Joe emails: Orthodox jews get an uneasy feeling from Barack Obama, and for obvious reasons. He has broken violently with George W. Bush on everything, and israel will obviously be included in things done differently. You can forget tacit approval of settlement activity in Judea and Samaria (hey, sma...

Ari Goldman writes in The Jewish Week: What bothers me is how ready the Orthodox rabbinate, apparently frightened of its right-wing constituency, was to criticize one of its own. But there was also a matter of decency here. Couldn’t the rabbis see how much Obama had done over a long campaign t...

Zev writes on hirhurim: Very poorly done survey, obviously prepared by women and from a woman’s point of view. For example, a question asks how much of the following affects your marriage: drugs, internet time, inapprpropraite internet sites, gambling, illegal activities. Clearly these are MOS...