Between mitzvot (commandments) and customs, living as an Orthodox Jew affects your life down to nearly the second.  From food to dress to prayer, here’s a window into daily Orthodox Jewish life.

What’s Kosher?

Although the word kosher can actually refer to things besides food, when someone refers to “keeping Kosher” they are referencing a way of eating.  It means abiding by dietary laws derived from the Torah.  The Torah includes a bunch of these laws, and then like virtually everything in Judaism, rabbis expanded on it, giving us the system that people hold by today.  I always get asked if something being kosher mean it’s been “blessed by a rabbi.”  That is not what it means.  There are different parameters of “kashrut” (what’s kosher) depending on the type of food it is.  Here’s just a taste of them, no pun intended.  Read more…

Dress

A big part of daily life for an Orthodox Jew is comprised in how you dress.  Jewish law and guidelines shape your life from the most private to the most public ways in which you live, and dress is no different.  From head to toe, life as an Orthodox Jew shapes what you wear.  Some of this is obvious to anyone looking in.  Have you ever seen someone wearing a black hat or kippah (yamulka/skull cap)?  This is one of the most blatant “Yo, I’m Jewish” things you can wear, right?  I bet you never thought, though, that the specific design of hat or kippah that they’re wearing, or even if their socks are tucked in or out, had anything to do with their religious philosophy.  Well, think again.  Read more…

Praying

In Judaism, like in many religions, people are supposed to develop their own relationship with G-d.  And how can you have a relationship with someone/something you never talk to!  Prayer is all about talking to G-d, thanking him for things, asking him for things, and so on. While there is certainly personal prayer, we also have many structured prayers, all pretty much in Hebrew, that you say in a certain order at certain times of day, or certain days of the week, and on certain holidays.  Read more…

Inside a Jewish Home

Most aspects of a Jewish home would just look like any other, but if you know what to look for, you might find some differences.  Read more…