Since 1906, the Forward has been answering reader dilemmas about daily life in “A Bintel Brief,” Yiddish for a bundle of letters. Send your queries to [email protected], and listen to a podcast version of our signature advice column.
Bintel Brief
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The Schmooze A Bintel Brief: A Bundle of Letters
Liana Finck’s Bintel Brief comic is currently being serialized in the Forward. Her blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: This is the first page of a comic book I’m…
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The Schmooze Making the Bintel Brief New
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree I’m often asked how to go about extending the shelf life of yesteryear’s Jewish cultural treasures. It seems to me that studying them in class is one way to keep them fresh and evergreen. Another is through creative recycling. A lively, smart example of how to preserve Jewish culture…
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The Schmooze The Background Man
The best writers of children’s books appeal to readers of all ages. Sometimes this appeal comes from the same sources, sometimes from different aspects of the book. At their best, both Ezra Jack Keats (born Jacob Katz) and the show in his honor at the Jewish Museum, do both. Children will gravitate towards his narratives,…
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Life An ‘Advice Goddess’ on the Age of Rudeness
Amy Alkon, the witty syndicated advice columnist behind “The Advice Goddess,” thinks rudeness has reached epidemic proportions. Alkon opens her book “I See Rude People” with a description of being subjected to a stranger’s decibel-crushing cell phone conversation. And woe to the person who shouts out his phone number within earshot of Alkon. She’s at…
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Life From a Single Gal (and Her Parents), Advice to Just-Married Friends
I’ve been summoned to give wedding advice. Well, I along with 156 other wedding guests. Two of my friends are marrying each other in Upstate New York. And while they’ve known each other since their Hebrew School days they’ve only begun dating as adults. It’s all very sweet and loving and good. This week they…
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Life I Never Give To Beggars — Am I a Bad Jew?
Dear Bintel Brief, Hardly a day goes by without homeless and less fortunate people begging on the transit system. They ask for money and sometimes food, and I feel sorry for them, but never give to them, or engage at all. I value tzedakah, I volunteer and give to numerous charities, but I’m conflicted about…
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Life My Friends Who Want To Host Me Have Bedbugs!
Dear Bintel Brief, I’m traveling to visit friends who have just discovered that they may be harboring a bedbug infestation in their new home. They have called an exterminator but he hasn’t come yet, so they have no idea what type of problem they’re dealing with. I’ve read that bedbugs cause lots of trouble and…
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Life Help! The Times Square Car Bomb Plot Makes Me Scared To Leave The House
Dear Bintel Brief, With the recent events in Times Square (the foiled car bomb plot) I’m feeling anxious about leaving the house. I know that no one can control for these kinds of things, but do you have any advice about what I can do to calm my nerves? Nervous North of Times Square Steve…
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