I was pleasantly surprised upon recently seeing an ad dedicated to bnos melech – frum Jewish girls and women – exhorting them to be more careful in the area of tznius. The ad, placed in a widely read Jewish paper, had a simple message: don’t wear a cross-body bag when you’re not wearing a coat or jacket. Doing so can unnecessarily delineate certain body parts that are attractive to men, putting them in serious danger of being nichshol. Fighting back against even innocuous instances of pseudo-pritzus is to be applauded. However, I was also left troubled. My concern is not with the ad, but rather in the fact that similar advertisements aimed at boys and men simply don’t exist. And they should.

An open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: Dear Mr. Netanyahu, I am writing to you for a very simple reason, the reason being that I assume you would like to win the next election. As I am sure you are more than aware, for five elections the right and left blocks ended up in a stalemate. This past election the right wing finally reached a majority – primarily due to a left-wing party missing the electoral threshold. What if I suggested an idea that would simply increase the right-wing voter bloc? Surely it would make your life easier, and would hopefully ensure your future political legacy, and the long-term success of the right-wing. I don’t know if you’ve taken at the number of frum Israeli yordim on your recent trips to various European capitals.

Dear Editor, I am writing to express my deep anger and frustration about the recent idea being promoted in an ad by a local paper. As a single girl within the Orthodox Jewish community, I have experienced firsthand the difficulties and frustrations of the shidduch crisis. It is disheartening to see so many of my peers struggling to find a suitable match and to see the community at large struggling to address this issue. However, the idea of being promoted by an organization calling themselves “RedSeaSingles” is nothing short of horrifying. For those who may not be aware, the idea is that Pesach programs should host eligible young men free of charge on the condition that they are there to date.

To the mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, sisters, and brothers of Bnos Yisoel, It was reported that there were serious discussions recently among senior Roshei Yeshiva regarding the shidduch crisis and the indisputable fact that the age gap plays a major role in creating and perpetuating the crisis. Many options were on the table on how to deal with the problem, but no conclusion has yet been reached. I plead with each one of you to approach every Rosh Yeshiva you know and very respectfully explain to them what you are going through. Don’t be ashamed to tell them that your amazing daughter is in the parsha for a year, two, three or more and she has not gone out on even one date.

If anyone had any doubt about it, today confirmed what we already subconciously knew: Yair Lapid, like his father Tommy, yemach shemo, is a self-hating Jew who hates us all with sinas maves. Tommy regularly referred to religious Jews as “parasites,” “barbaric primitives,” “idle fanatics” and “enemies of progress.” On Thursday, Yair echoed his father’s vitriolic hate in condemning the government over its heavy-handed tactics to control often violent leftist protesters. “The violence against protesters this morning is growing. Government of Israel — the responsibility is on you,” he tweeted after at least one incident in which protesters were attacked with pepper spray.

We’ve all laughed, but what was once a harmless joke is just not funny any more. Today, with the explosion of social media, there’s really no such thing as a “private” joke. Nothing is private and a joke is no longer just innocent. Sadly, it’s not us but the times we live in. A cute or semi-insulting picture or WhatsApp post often finds its way onto social media and is immediately misconstrued as frum Jews as being racist, xenophobic, or worse. The unthinking actions of one individual cause many of us to shake our heads and hide in shame. We can & must do better. It’s no longer just a “Frum” thing. By now we really should understand that every action, big or small, has a potential reaction.

I am so ridiculously fed up. Why does Purim have to be this way? I flip though magazines, I scroll through websites, and all I see are insanely expensive mishloach manos gifts being hawked and peddled to the frum community. I don’t have a problem with expensive things; I enjoy the finer things in life too. But this is beyond the pale. In the past week alone, I have come across advertisements for $5,000 meat boards, $1,000 meat platter (different than a board, apparently), and a $2,500 “King Achashveirosh” platter. Those are at least the ones I can remember off the top of my head. I’m afraid we’ve all fallen on our heads. Just a few years ago, Purim was a day of celebration.

Dear Society, I am writing this letter not to society as a whole, but to each individual, and yes primarily YOU. Imagine the scene: a couple is out on a date night and one of them is on his/her laptop. A mother is putting her kid to bed with the TV screen on for her in the room. Two friends are chatting, but one is just as much in Thailand as on the bench with her friend. That’s extreme, right? Who would do that? Not me! Not in our community! But that’s literally what a phone is. A mini laptop and TV screen. Which means it takes away just as much of your attention. My heart breaks when I pass the playground and see a parent pushing their child on the swing with eyes on the phone. This all also applies even if the phone is not a smart phone.

There is a big problem in our midst, and we are all very aware of it;  It is a problem felt by all, and the term “crisis” is no exaggeration. We are witnessing a devastating situation that is seemingly getting worse each day, and for some inexplicable reason, nothing substantial is being done. I am sorry to bore you, but yes, I am referring to the shidduch crisis. Our holy Chachomim made many leniencies when it came to agunos (meeshum eeguno hekeelu). There is a well-known story of one of the gedolai haposkim from a previous generation to whom an aguna shaalah came. He worked tirelessly and delved into the depth of the sugya and all the relevant halachos to try find a heter, but he was unsuccessful and gave up. Soon after, however, he successfully came up with a heter.

The “goldene medina” that was America back in the 1800s and early 1900s was a sad place as it pertained to Jewish life. Unfortunately, many people were unwilling, unable, or simply didn’t know better regarding keeping all of our beautiful mitzvos. One mitzvah in which Jews in America were severely lacking was that of shaatnez – not wearing wool mixed with linen. For many decades, this mitzvah was pushed aside, with nary anyone to care for it. That changed in the mid-1900s and it is now commonplace for suit stores to have in-house shaatnez checkers to ensure that those buying merchandise will not be nichshol. This is all wonderful. However, I think there is one area that people do not realize or understand the obstacle that they face on literally a daily basis.