Kindly curious person or a nosy yenta: “So when did you convert?” Me: “Uhhh…that’s complicated.” I have the feeling I’m not alone here. Do you get confused or defensive or tongue-tied when someone asks when you converted? It sounds like such a simple question, but it’s not. I feel like the date I converted ignores […]

Generally, no. Not unless you want him to, but perhaps in some Chassidic communities. However, most rabbis I know would probably feel pretty awkward if asked to name another person. After all, the convert has to live with it for forever. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a rabbi. Unless you are in

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. Fry up your latkes, gather your sufganiot, and spin that dreidel!  My Chanukah is off to an inauspicious start. As I wrote earlier, I had the great zchus (LOLZ) to attend Hackathonukah on Sunday. Keeping with the Hanukkah theme, we had all kinds of fried goodies: latkes, jelly

Are you single and living in the NYC area? Do you know someone else who fits the bill? Check out the new dating group Dvash (Honey)! It’s shidduchim for singles by singles. Love Jewish learning, want to meet new people of the other gender, and want to avoid a meatmarket atmosphere? You’ll love it! Events are

A hackathon is almost the last place I would expect to be today. I’m not a programmer or coder or anything else technical. But I’m a lawyer for new businesses, and that means I work with programmers and coders. So I figured I should know something about what they do and how they create the

You probably remember that we added “mashiv ha-ru’ah u-morid ha-geshem” (“cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall”) to the second blessing of the Amidah back on Shemini Atzeret.  But did you remember to add the other prayer for rain last week? I apologize; I would have reminded you, but my computer’s been in the

Yep! No yom tov restrictions on Hannukah. Chanukah 2014 starts on the evening of Tuesday, December 16, and ends on Wednesday, December 24. It’s a rabbinic holiday that came later in our history, so there can’t be a prohibition on work. You can fry food, go to the office for a full day’s work, turn

You can find the latest Orthodox Women Talk roundtable over at This Way to Eden. The question for today is… Reader writes: I‘d love to hear something regarding your favorite way to infuse your lives with Judaism. (Kosher food, Tznius, Shabbat…etc..) Not surprisingly, I seem to be the person way out in left field on

In the wake of the Freundel scandal, the Rabbinical Council of America announced several measures it will take, including appointing a female ombudsman (or group of ombudsmen) to be available for complaints from female conversion candidates. Honestly, I was surprised. It’s a great idea, and I’m glad they came to this realization even before the recommendation panel

I just got word that I’ll be a replacement guest on the first episode of Rabbi Eliyahu Fink’s new radio show! Please pray for me that I avoid an attack of my Foot in Mouth Disease. Join us at 1pm Eastern time or you can listen to the archived version later! Listen at http://nachumsegal.com/ The topic