God decided that my car would die on top of Glacier Point road in Yosemite. I was able to coast down the hill in neutral while listening to Mike’s Song (Phish) and wondering how in earth I would get to…
Category: shabbos
Do you get post Shabbos depression?
Like most people I used to rush out of Shabbos, I would be outside with my friends looking through the light pollution of New York trying to find three stars. The second someone would spot the three stars, we were…
Upper West Side bars make it possible for orthodox Jews to go out on Friday night
For many orthodox Jews, the biggest drag is not being able to go out on Friday night like normal people. Lots of folks are seen as anti-social and weird for not going out with their non-Jewish or non-religious friends, it’s…
The erev Shabbos post shower clothing dilemma
I typically show up about an hour before Shabbos when I am staying somewhere new. If I am a seasoned guest at someone’s house, the time I arrive depends on past experiences. But what I am about to discuss is…
Challah Cutting Rant
I grew up with the full slice. My father never even thought about size or order when he cut and distributed challah in our home. He used to cut these huge bricks off of a yellow Zomicks challah. Others may…
shul bathroom tissue sucks
What the heck is the deal with shul bathroom tissue? Note my usage of term bathroom tissue, with regards to shul toilet paper in rusting dispensers it is one of the only times where one may use the ever so…
Shabbos at the Shul on the Beach in Venice California
Typically when you walk out of shul for a break, you find the bulletin board and check if there’s a hot Kiddush, look through the door of the women’s section, check out the hot new designs and technology in the…
I spent last Shabbos in Boynton Beach Florida
One of the things I hate about doing shabbos in random places is not being able to get to shul. So when I found out that Boynton Beach, Florida, where my girlfriend’s grandmother lives, had a Chabad I was pretty…
The Mission Minyan: If Orthodox and Egalitarian were possible
We walked in during pisukei d’zimra and there was already a large crowd of people gathered. I took a seat all the way to the right of the room and looked around. A few people said “Good Shabbos“, asked me…
Shabbos in San Jose
The Rabbi was yeshivish, clearly so because he used words that most of the shul didn’t understand, caught himself, and then said the English translation afterwards. My host said he was a YU guy, but I couldn’t see it. Was…
I hate it when shuls place the siddurim up front
Dear synagogue architect: I am writing to request that you design shul sanctuaries so that the siddurim are placed towards the rear of the room. I have been greatly disturbed as of late, to discover that siddurim are placed towards…
Friday night adventures at the Young Israel of Hillcrest (Queens)
If the man didn’t hand me a siddur I don’t think I would have found them, I asked him where they were and without speaking to me, or even acknowledging me he handed me a maroon artscroll siddur, of the…
Rabbis say its assur to end shabbos at normal time due to Halloween
For the first time in many years, both modern orthodox and Haredi Rabbis have joined forces on a ban, they have banned ending shabbos at its normal time due to the dangers of Halloween. Many of the Rabbis we spoke…
Observance level has nothing do with the friendliness of a shul
Some folks express dismay that shuls aren’t as friendly as they could be, but I kind of expect shuls to be unfriendly places where people just go to daven, back in the day the shul was the center of Jewish…
Don’t worry I’m not going to have sex with your daughter at the shabbos table
We cant have you over because we have daughters is a classic scenario in the frum community, I vaguely understood the concept when I was 16 and they ran a risk of me making eyes at their daughter too much…
Shabbat is for Shtupping
By Aliza Hausman From Friday night to Saturday night, I observe Shabbat, you know the Jewish Sabbath, most stringently. No Twitter. No Facebook. No Blackberry. For 25 hours I am sucked into, what I like to call, a technological black…
Kiddush Clubs Observe Siyum HaShots
Kiddush Clubs Observe Siyum HaShots – sent to me by Yo Robbins on Facebook On Saturday morning in synagogues around the world, Kiddush club members celebrated the completion of a seven-and-a-half-month cycle of weekly drinking.
Divrei Torah Bloopers: I’ve blown my load
I was at a sheva brachos desert this shabbos, and after the person who gave the torah sat down, the father of the kid who got married told him to start up a zemer. The man who was a bit…
I went to my first Egalitarian minyan and it was interesting
I think the last time I put on something that I would have called shabbos shorts was in the mid 1980’s, you know, those dark shorts that covered your knees that you wore to shabbos parties that gave out pekalechs…
I may be the most immature person I know
Two thinsg happened on shabbos that made me crack up, I think I was the only one that thought they were funny, so funny in fact that I had to hold my face down and stop myself from bursting.
Burning dumpsters doesn’t show the beauty of shabbos!
I bid good bye to my friend Josh at Kikar Shabbat, we had expected some riots, but there were none and we both turned toward home, let down by the seemingly non-violence of the Charedim. I walked toward the Beis…
Lawsuit says automatic lights infringe religious rights
Its about time frum Jews hopped on the whacked out lawsuit bandwagon, and this is the perfect way to do it. This couple in England is suing their apartment managers for infringing on their human rights because they fail to…
There’s one piece of chicken left – do you take it?
I sat at the table eying the last piece of chicken, everyone was long finished their food, but I could tell there were others with the same thoughts as I, they too were wondering fi anyone else wanted the last…
Oversleeping in a house with a basement shul
For the first time in my life, I slept in a house with a shul in Cleveland, and of course, due to lack of sleep the night before I slept until around 10:30, which was probably the point at which…
I love Moscato Diasti in the blue bottle
There I said it, it takes a real man to say that you know… Moscato Diasti is one of longest lasting fads in Orthodox Judaism, it is still very popular even years after it was first introduced to the frum…