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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Life ‘Free Range’ Mom Lenore Skenazy To Advise Forward Readers
Columnist and humorist Lenore Skenazy will be answering readers’ questions as the Forward’s next Bintel Brief advice columnist. Skenazy, a former New York Daily News and New York Sun columnist, now writes a syndicated column that appears in more than 100 newspapers. She also runs The Week magazine’s topical humor contest, “hat’s Next?” She is,…
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Life Paying Cash, Helping a Tax-Cheat?
Dear Bintel Brief, If a cleaning lady, repairman, tradesman or even a doctor quotes a price to do a service, but then immediately offers to reduce the price if you pay cash, and you suspect the lower price is offered because the provider will not report the income and pay taxes, are you participating in…
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Life Bridal Shower TMI?
Dear Bintel Brief, Nobody knows that I was once in a same-sex relationship. My former lover, now just a friend, has been invited to my bridal shower. I know that the hostesses are going to ask all the guests to introduce themselves and say how they know me. I am mortified. What if the truth…
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Life Hanna Rosin Has Some Advice for Forward Readers
Hanna Rosin, a writer for the Atlantic and Double X — the Slate Group’s new online magazine for women — will be answering readers’ questions as the Forward’s next guest Bintel Brief advice columnist. Rosin was nominated this year for a National Magazine Award for her Atlantic piece on transgendered children. She is the author…
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Life How Should We Honor the Deceased at a Simcha?
Dear Bintel Brief: My son’s bar mitzvah is later this month, and I am so proud of him. At the event, he has expressed a desire to honor his mother, my wife, who died last year after a long illness. But he has also expressed concern that he would be injecting a dose of sadness…
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Life My Son Is Refusing To Circumcise His Newborn
Dear Bintel Brief: My son married a non-Jewish woman. They have baby boy, and decided not to have a circumcision. My husband and I have told my son and his wife how important this is to us, but they still will not do it. Recently, we have read more about the health benefits of circumcision….
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Life Help! My Oldest Friend Won’t Give a Toast at My Wedding
Dear Bintel Brief, I have a dilemma concerning my upcoming wedding. During the reception we plan to have five or so guests of honor give toasts. I asked one of my closest childhood friends how he would feel about being one of the toasters and I immediately sensed an unexpected ambivalence on his part. Once…
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Life Former Mayor: Assisted Suicide Is Not Necessarily the Answer
Dear Bintel Brief: Until very recently, I considered myself an average American woman. I am foreign-born, but I’ve been here for many years — and I love the country that adopted me. I voted diligently in every election. I was also very active and productive. I worked as a volunteer. I was athletic. Suddenly, without…
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