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
The Latest
-
Life Bintel Brief: Rabbi Irwin Kula on Israel and the Dilemmas of Jewish Power
Hello Rabbi, I am a convert to Judaism, or Jew-by-choice. Many elements contributed to my decision to join a synagogue and go to the mikveh. Of course, my wife, her family, our children together and the rabbis I’ve learned from are significant drivers of my decision. Our commitment to family and community, our faith in…
-
Life Bintel Brief: Rabbi Irwin Kula Helps a Poor Orphan Girl
Dear Rabbi Kula, I am 15 years old and in need of a consistent father figure in my life. It is not that I do not have a wonderful father — I do! It is just that he is rarely around. He is always working, traveling and at the office. It is quite upsetting. Please…
-
Life Bintel Brief: Rabbi Irwin Kula Addresses a Reader’s Burial Bind
Dear Rabbi Kula, My grandfather, to whom I have always been very close, has put me in an impossible situation. He was born Jewish but was never at all religious. His wife, my grandmother, is a devout Catholic. They raised their children as Catholics. Now, totally out of the blue, he has confided in me…
-
Life Bintel Brief: Rabbi Irwin Kula Answers Your Questions
Last month, we re-launched the Forward’s famed Bintel Brief advice column with the legendary Dr. Ruth Westheimer answering readers’ questions. Now, Rabbi Irwin Kula is taking the Bintel Brief reins as our next guest advice columnist. Kula, president of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, is the author, most recently, of “Yearnings: Embracing…
-
Life Bintel Brief: Dr. Ruth Says ‘Staying Married While Having Extramarital Affairs Is Not a Viable Option’
Dear Dr. Ruth, What would you say to a married woman whose husband has not slept with her in over 15 years? The couple is relatively healthy and in their late 50s. The lack of sex began because of diabetes-related impotence on the part of the husband, but he has learned to overcome this handicap….
-
Life Bintel Brief: Dr. Ruth on *Beshert* Troubles
Dear Dr. Ruth, Some years ago, I met the person I believe to be my beshert. This person is long married. I resisted marriage because I did not feel it fair to my now-spouse to marry while I still carried the sense of a beshert elsewhere. Finally, however, realizing that the other would never be…
-
Life The Bintel Brief Is Back: Dr. Ruth Dishes on Marriage Pressure and More
EDITOR’S NOTE: This column marks the return of the Forward’s famed Bintel Brief. after an absence of several decades. New installments of the advice column will appear Mondays on the Bintel Blog. We are delighted to kick off the return of this legendary Forward feature with the legendary Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Dear Dr. Ruth, I…
-
Life In the Beginning…
In the beginning, there was the Bintel Brief, the Forward’s legendary advice column. Launched in 1906 by Forward editor Abraham Cahan, the Bintel Brief — literally a “Bundle of Letters” — helped waves of Yiddish-speaking immigrants find their footing in 20th-century American life. But the Bintel Brief was more than just an advice column. It…
Explore
Most Popular
In Case You Missed It
-
Antisemitism Decoded Why Trump’s antisemitism crusade is causing ‘apoplexy’ for some conservative lawyers
-
Culture Great news! The rapture is coming on Rosh Hashanah
-
Fast Forward Fire at Florida Chabad center before Rosh Hashanah investigated as potential hate crime
-
Fast Forward Tucker Carlson tells story about murder of Jesus at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, igniting criticism
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
