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Howard Stern’s Daughter Became Orthodox ; Wells of Miriam

Listen to the entire radio interview here.

Like most people on planet earth, I’ve known who Howard Stern is for years, though, I’ve never really listened to his show or watched more than an occasional clip of “America’s Got Talent.” Then my friend Mayim Bialik was interviewed on his radio show last year and, of course, I had to hear it. What struck me most about their conversation was Mayim explaining Jewish ideas to Howard – like mikvah and modesty – publicizing these mitzvos to millions of his listeners. Howard challenged Mayim, wanting to know why she covers up so much – unlike most actresses in Hollywood – and Mayim explained that her body belongs to her, not Hollywood. Apparently, Howard was so struck by this idea that the next morning when he started his show he referenced it.

Howard Stern didn’t cross my mind again until a couple months ago, when I stumbled upon a poet whose work is featured in the LA Jewish Journal. A line in one of her poems jumped out at me “Why in the
 world why in the heavens
 when God says find a mate, 
Adam never stops to say, You, God. Us.
” It was so profound, I wanted to hear more. So I started clicking through to read more of her work and as I read, I got to an article which explained who her dad was. I was fascinated! Howard Stern’s daughter became an Orthodox Jew?! I reached out to her, we had a wonderful coffee meeting and told her I’d love to share her story and her art with the world.

Emily grew up Reform and “really did love it.” She sang in the choir, was close with the cantor, and always felt a connection with Judasim. But the ritual element was always missing. In her search to find a community that resonated with her, she stumbled upon Orthodoxy. She started out in the theater community majoring in theater at NYU, then at the age of 23, she randomly walked into a havdalah ceremony, hosted by the organization Romemu, in a yoga studio one Saturday evening. She had never seen a ritual that related to the world in such a grounded way. After that night in the yoga studio she found two ways of expressing her soul in the world authentically: by relating to matter through halacha, and infusing Judaism into her art. Inspired by the language of Torah, and wanting her writing to speak the same language, Emily joined an art fellowship at Drisha Institue (a seminary for Jewish education on the Upper West Side) and wrote a play there. While at Drisha she was lead to study at Nishmat, which is a center for advanced Torah study for women, in Israel.

Growing up on Long Island, Emily did not have much of an impression or interaction with Orthodox Jews. She always recognized a special light in the religious Jews she saw from afar. Seeing something as simple as a man wearing tzitzis always seemed holy to her. While becoming more observant, she thankfully was not met with too much pushback from her family and friends and found that most of them appreciated her journey. Perhaps the one exception was the first time her mother came to Israel and saw her praying; she expressed a fear about losing her daughter. Other than that, Emily says it was such a visible “emergence of her truth,” that her family could appreciate the changes she was making, which she was careful to make slowly.

Emily is passionate about exploring and publicizing Torah to the world through art. Creating art has always been a spiritual experience for her. It began in her childhood, when she found herself praying to calm her nerves before taking to the stage. Nowadays the spirtuality in her art manifests itself in more of a “constant conversation with the world and life itself.” Emily said that she’ll open to a piece of Torah at random and find that it fits with an exact character she’s writing or theme of one of her poems. She has produced several different types of art, including an album called “Birth Day,” which she describes as “the nature of divinity and the divinity of nature.” She has also written “Love Psalms” which are short devotional poems to God. After finding Torah at Drisha and Nishmat she went on to write a children’s song book based on Perek Shira. The book is called The World is a Song So Come and Play, and in it children discover their song like each of the animals and their unique praises of God in Perek Shira. Her latest venture is a photography project called “The Wells of Miriam.”    

The name of the project comes from the well that accompanied the Israelites in the desert, and provided them with water in Miriam’s merit. The project started when Emily first saw a water retention landscape (pictured below)– a sustainable form of water management –in Portugal in 2014. Water retention landscapes are created to “reverse desertification” and “look like paradise.” They are ditches dug in intelligent ways to model a pond or lake, and help with altitude and water circulation. They are made entirely of natural materials and when there is rainfall the water fills deeply into the earth and rehydrates the land. New vegetation grows, new animals come and new ecosystems form, in formerly barren wasteland. The final (and most fascinating) step is when the ditch is full to capacity…and becomes a mikvah. The retention landscapes are mikvaot (!) because they are entirely filled with rainwater. When Emily made this connection, she knew she wanted to explore the topic through photography. How apropos that a renewable, sustainable water source, is also a mikvah, the bastion of monthly renewal for Jewish couples. Just as these new waters renew and replenish an arid desert, so too the mikvah gives us a chance to renew our relationships and renews the possibility to bring new life to the world. Emily ended our interview by explaining one of her favorite parts of the Torah was where Hashem is called “Mikvah Yisrael,” the Hope/Renewer of Israel.”

"Mikvah hatikvah: water retention landscape" from "The Wells of Miriam" by Emily Stern. Portugal 2014.
“Mikvah hatikvah: water retention landscape” from “The Wells of Miriam” by Emily Stern. Portugal 2014.

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13 comments

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  • Avatar photo jay bull says on June 11, 2015

    Interesting article for sure but my take away is she’s fortunate enough to have an incredibly wealthy father. This enables her to go to NYU and study theater and from there indulge her passions while on her “Journey” of finding ways to give meaning to her life, something most folks who work for a living never get to do. But good for her either way.

    Reply
    • Avatar photo Allison Josephs says on June 12, 2015

      Thanks for your comment, Jay, but a lot of people are fortunate enough to go to college and study theater and many people end up as artists and I don’t know about you, but I personally have no idea about strangers’ financial situations…Also – there are people in all walks of life who search for meaning. So even if a person were supported by a parent, that does not make them uniquely equipped to find meaning. If anything, you could argue that coming from a place of privilege means that it’s harder to have values.

      Reply
  • Avatar photo harriet says on June 12, 2015

    Interesting woman

    Reply
  • Avatar photo ira kellman says on June 12, 2015

    A question.I was always led to understand that Howard Stern was not jewish because his mother wasn’t.Did he marry a jewish woman ? Fascinatingstory.

    Reply
    • Avatar photo Allison Josephs says on June 12, 2015

      He is Jewish and his first wife is.

      Reply
  • Avatar photo Michael says on June 12, 2015

    How could you speak to Howard Stern’s daughter and not speak about how her father’s points of view are so diametrically opposed to her own? I mean, nice interview and all but she’s only unique in that her father is a heathen.

    Reply
    • Avatar photo Allison Josephs says on June 12, 2015

      Thanks for your comment, Michael, but Emily is a wonderful person and deserves attention in her own right, so my interest was to publicize to the world what she’s chosen in life. I think everyone already knows a lot about her father. This was a chance to meet her.

      Reply
    • Avatar photo Chaya says on June 12, 2015

      the interview is about her journey, not her father’s POV.

      Reply
    • Avatar photo SA says on September 13, 2015

      You are wrong. Howard Stern is VERY pro Israel and has spoken out many times on behalf of Israel’s right to defend herself. There are very few Jews in the entertainment industry that are willing to do this…and Howard Stern has.

      His public persona is just that….a persona.

      Reply
  • Avatar photo Robert says on June 12, 2015

    This is an awesome interview! I can really see “middah keneged middah” (a turn for a turn). Her father always made fun of the mikvah and women going there. He referred to it as the “milk bath”. He and his sidekick Robin would make fun of the entire concept of a Jewish women immersing herself prior to marital relations. Way to go Emily! Keep up the great work. Love the picture….very powerful.
    Shabbat Shalom

    Reply
  • Avatar photo sama says on June 18, 2015

    Her father off the air is actually very insightful and respectful of the orthodox culture and anyone who lives it in today’s day and age…on the air nothing is sacred but that’s fine…off the air he was impressed by the self imposed discipline that shabbos…kashrus…davening etc represent…and more importantly the level of
    belief behind it…his daughters like seriously deep and clearly smart but she’s very good at making her thinking which is kind of eclectic,engaging and accessible…in other words she’s a really good communicator…hmm wonder where she gets that from?

    Reply
  • Avatar photo Saba says on June 25, 2015

    Actually, if your description of it is correct, the Water Retention project does not qualify as a “Mikvah” due to technical requirements. a)It is not a natural spring etc. b) A Mikvah must completely hold its water that has accumulated within it, with no seepage.
    This is a beautiful article. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Avatar photo Allison Josephs says on June 25, 2015

      Thanks for your comment, Saba, but just to clarify there’s no more leakage into the surrounding areas by the time it fills. It is entirely self contained. Emily confirmed that it’s a kosher mikvah with rabbis and teachers at her seminaries.

      Reply

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