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 A JDate Love Triangle
Dear Mr. Zaslow: About two months ago, I sent a message to a woman on JDate whom I was very interested in. I didn’t hear back from her, and in the meantime I began dating an ex-girlfriend again. Recently, the woman from JDate e-mailed me, expressing interest and apologizing. She explained that she could not…
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Life Help! My Adult Daughter’s a Schnorrer
Dear Mr. Zaslow: I raised three daughters in a nice middle-class, haimish home. My youngest daugher is a real schnorrer — a cheapskate. She flaunts her frugality. Her home furnishings are “dumpster décor,” and sometimes, she’ll go to Costco and eat her lunch by sampling food served by the various demonstrators. Recently she told me,…
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Life Should We Invite My Alzheimer’s-Stricken Mother to Our Son’s Upcoming Bar Mitzvah?
Dear Bintel Brief: Our son’s bar mitzvah is rapidly approaching, and we still are not sure what to do. My mother, who lives in a far away state, has Alzheimer’s and it will be very discombobulating for her and her aide to travel to us. Moreover, my mom won’t remember the event even a few…
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Life Jeffrey Zaslow Has Some Advice for Forward Readers
Jeffrey Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal columnist and the co-author of “The Last Lecture,” will be the Forward’s guest Bintel Brief columnist, answering reader questions during the month of March. When he was 28, Zaslow beat out 12,000 other applicants to replace the high priestess of advice, Eppie Lederer (a.k.a. Ann Landers), as The Chicago…
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Life How Do I Stop My Dad From Feeding Ham to My Kosher Son?
Dear Ayelet, I grew up in a secular home, but now consider myself Modern Orthodox. My husband and I keep a kosher home, but we are less strict about the laws of kashrut out of the house. When we go to my father and stepmother’s house, my 18-month-old son gets string cheese and cut up…
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Life Coming Clean About JDate
Dear Ayelet, For the past year, I’ve been dating a man I met on JDate. I’d venture to say that he’s “the one” — and we’re already talking about engagement, marriage, children (hopefully in that order). Here’s the thing: We haven’t been honest with most of our friends and even some of our family members…
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Life Help! Our 6-Year-Old Son Is More Observant Than We Are
Dear Ayelet, My husband and I send our 6-year-old son to a private, Jewish school that is significantly more traditionally observant than we are. It is important to us that our son have a good Jewish foundation, and he loves the school he attends. However, now he’s coming home wanting to do things that we…
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Life Ayelet Waldman on Encouraging Your Child To Choose a Jewish Spouse
Dear Ayelet, We live in such a great, multi-culti time. I want my school-age children to have friends of every race, creed and color — and so far, they do. On the other hand, I want them to grow up and marry Jews! Why? Because I love Jews and want our people to continue. I…
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Yiddish װאָס קען מען זיך אָפּלערנען פֿון מאָלי קראַבעפּלס בוך װעגן „בונד“?What can we learn from Molly Crabapple’s book about the Bund?
דאָס בוך איז גרונטיק געפֿאָרשט, לעבעדיק אָנגעשריבן — אָבער אידעאָלאָגיש באַפֿאַרבט