Preventing Sex Abuse at Frum Sleepaway Camps & Other Orthodox Jews in the News

How a Multiracial Orthodox Rabbi is Using His Background to Create a Unique Community in Brooklyn
Growing up in the Orthodox community of Monsey, New York, as the son of an African-American mother who converted to Judaism and a white Ashkenazi father who became religious later in life, Isaiah Rothstein knows what it’s like not to fit in. The New York hamlet is known for its large Hasidic Jewish population and over 95 percent of its residents are white. Rothstein, who today identifies as Modern Orthodox and was ordained as a rabbi by Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, founded Union Street Sanctuary in Brooklyn last August.

As Denmark Considers a Ban on Circumcision, Some Jews Consider Leaving
In 2015, a jihadist killed a Jewish guard outside this capital city’s main synagogue, where Hannah Bentow was having her bat mitzvah party. Bentow and dozens of teenagers stayed inside for hours as police pursued and later killed the man who gunned down the volunteer guard, Dan Uzan. But Bentow said her decision to leave for Israel as soon as she finishes high school was sealed and reaffirmed by the precedent-setting steps undertaken this year in this Scandinavian country toward banning nonmedical circumcision of boys.

Lodge Bread Co. Expands With Kosher Hummus Spot Along Pico Boulevard
The group behind Culver City hit Lodge Bread Company is moving into Pico-Robertson next, offering up a Kosher hummus-focused restaurant called Hasiba. Reached for timing, Eater was able to confirm that the first day of opening will be this Friday, June 22. Much like Lodge Bread, expect Hasiba to be a casual spot with a focus on quality. The 1,000 square foot space will seat a few dozen people across communal seats only, with room for a tiny patio up front and a hearth to bake off pita to order.

Tackling Sex Abuse at Orthodox Summer Camps
This summer, as parents pack their children’s things for Orthodox Jewish sleep away camps, their soon-to-be counselors are preparing in a different way: By taking a sex abuse prevention course. The course, created two years ago by an Israel-based nonprofit called ASAP, will be in use this year at over a hundred summer camps, mostly in the U.S.

Vale: Why Orthodox Schools Are Thriving, While Others Are Not
Recently, I participated in a meeting at which issues important to the Jewish community were being delineated and prioritized. Close to two-dozen organizations, reflecting the spectrum of local Jewish life, were represented. The meeting’s chair contended that there is a crisis in Jewish education. He backed up his claim with the alarming statistic that day school attendance has declined 24% in the past 10 years. The chair prefaced this revelation by saying, matter-of-factly, that it applied only to non-Orthodox schools.

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