Wendy Belzberg
By Wendy Belzberg
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News Since When Do Bouncers Guard Synagogues’ Silences?
I recently attended a bar mitzvah. As we were entering the sanctuary we were warned that there was a no-talking policy and that anyone who disrupted the service would be asked to leave. I watched as several people were indeed removed from the service. Since when are there bouncers at a synagogue? — Synagogue cum…
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News A Bride’s Tough Call Over a Turn of Phrase
My fiance and I both are the products of divorce. Our mothers are each contributing to our wedding, but we are paying 75% of the cost on our own. We decided that the invitation should read “together with our families” we invite you to join us at our wedding. My future mother-in-law was outraged by…
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News Misguided Advice on Israeli Aid
Recently it came to my horrified attention that my Forward e-mail has been disappearing into the void of virtual reality — by the ream. Hundreds of letters were delivered into my mailbox but never came out the other side; many e-mails never made it into the mailbox in the first place. Last week the dedicated…
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News Alienated by Atheists’ Anger About Bar Mitzvah
Should I go behind my 72-year-old mother’s back and tip her doormen? She has lived in the same building for the past 20 years. She gives each doorman $10 for the holidays. Period. Should I slip the doormen something extra when I visit her, and, if so, how much would be appropriate? — At the…
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News Presents (or Just Presence) at Bris?
Am I supposed to take something to a bris? I was invited to the home of a co-worker who just had her first son. I gave her a gift at her baby shower, and our department sent a beautiful flower arrangement to the hospital. Is there a protocol for giving a gift at a bris…
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News Cutting Out the Charitable Middleman
I believe it’s a mitzvah to give money to Jewish causes. I get blind solicitations in the mail every day, and I always send checks to charities based in Israel. I also respond to many solicitations from American organizations for Israeli causes with names like “Friends of…” or “American Friends of.…” I know the American…
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News Is It Time To Let (Bigoted) Bygones Be Bygones?
When my (non-Jewish) husband and I were married, his mother objected with every variety of antisemitic slurs, up to and including the pronouncement that “doors would be closed to us.” Fifteen years have gone by, and I have not forgiven her. My husband insists that it is time to forgive — if not forget —…
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News Video Greetings at Gravesite? What Terrible Taste!
I recently received a brochure from a Jewish funeral home offering a service I find appalling: a personalized video of the deceased that can be viewed at the funeral and on demand whenever you visit the gravesite. Surely this cannot be in keeping with Jewish law? — Appalled by funeral services Consulting Jewish texts about…
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