I love Washington Heights. It’s where the urban grid of Manhattan hits reality, where streets are smacked into cliffs and valleys, with stepped streets, sharp curves, and a mix of Russians, Dominicans, and an endless supply of young MO singles.…
Author: S. Tefilinov
S. Tefilinov is a New York-based news writer, who once worked with Heshy Fried in Albany. Has a Russian-speaking background.
She’s four years older than me
Being a BT with an immigrant background, I know that I’m better off dating someone from my own community than an “American.” But I keep an open mind, and whether I go for the ger, or go for the gerusha,…
I like dating divorcees
“She’s a wonderful girl, excellent middot,” said my shadchan. “She has a job, comes from a respectable family, and shares your Russian-speaking background.” I’ve heard this line before, so I was already prepared for the downside, the big “but” that…
Newsweek’s Most Influential Rabbis
I love America. G-d bless America. It’s the only country I know that does not have a chief rabbi, thanks to a very divided Jewish community, and a government that is constitutionally barred from appointing religious leaders. Fortunately, elements of…
I wasn’t invited to a Wedding
In my life, the average wedding within my extended circle of family and friends appears to take place every six months. The age-old gripe about Orthodox weddings all being the same, with the same food, music, circle dancing, may be…
On the downtown Manhattan mosque
I was passing through downtown Manhattan recently and happened upon a huge rally of self-described patriots protesting a planned Islamic center that would be built two blocks north of the World Trade Center (known to tourists as Ground Zero). I…
Go for the Ger
I have always been attracted to the other. I am a baal teshuva coming from a secular family, a white alum from a mostly minority college in a black neighborhood, an Ashkenazi living in a Bukharian neighborhood, a youngster in…
Where to Daven Shacharit in Midtown Manhattan
Those of us who live in the outer boroughs or suburbs of New York City, and work in Manhattan, we have the choice of doing weekday Shacharit in three places- at home, in the local shul, or at a minyan…