The Haredi Organization That Destigmatizes Sexual Abuse Victims & Other Orthodox Jews in the News

Rachel Creeger: Comedian With a Perfect Job
This summer, Rachel Creeger will be packing her bags, saying goodbye to her family, and heading to Edinburgh to perform her much-celebrated show, It’s No Job For a Nice Jewish Girl. She is the only Orthodox Jewish comedian on the UK Comedy Circuit.

Rabbi’s Lifework is Teaching Us To Love and Respect Each Other
Twenty years ago, Rabbi Tzvi Muller, then a yeshivah student in Israel, had a chance encounter on a Jerusalem street that shook up his Jewish conceptions — and forever altered the course of his life. This one brief conversation with a random stranger sent Muller on a decades-long quest to enhance the way Judaism’s Golden Rule — to “love your neighbor as yourself” — is understood and applied in everyday life.

Montauk Seasonal Synagogue Opens, Allowing Surfing and Shabbat
An East Hampton-based Orthodox synagogue has expanded to Montauk, offering a space for observant Jews who want to surf but also attend Shabbat services this summer. Chabad of Montauk, a temporary space that one worshipper likened to a popup synagogue, started hosting services and community events Memorial Day weekend and will continue through Labor Day.

11-Year-Old Japanese Orthodox Jew Wrestles to the Top
An Israeli Olympic judo hopeful is on the rise. Except that he’s a Japanese Orthodox Jewish wrestler named Noah Leibowitz. Confused yet? The 11-year-old prodigy took the wrestling world by storm this week when he won the All-Japan youth championship on his first try, going head-to-head with two defending champions.

Israel Boosts Funding for Ultra-Orthodox Tech Entrepreneurs
Israel’s Innovation Authority, in charge of setting out the nation’s technology policies and funding startups in their earliest stages, said it was expanding its support for ultra-Orthodox tech entrepreneurs, to make it easier for them to access funding and integrate into Israel’s booming tech scene. A statement from the Ministry of Economy and Industry said that under the revised terms of a program that has been in force since 2014, technology enterprises at least 33 percent-owned by ultra-Orthodox entrepreneurs will be eligible for funding for two years: 75% of their R&D expenses for the first year and 70% for the second – up to NIS 4.5 million.

Ultra-Orthodox Group Looks to Banish Stigma From Community’s Sex Abuse Victims
There are two people who Rabbi Zvi Gluck credits with helping him bring the topic of sexual abuse into the ultra-Orthodox mainstream: His father, and the late Jewish philanthropist Mendy Klein. Gluck is the co-founder and director of Amudim, which means “Pillars” in English. It is an organization dedicated to educating, preventing, and helping victims cope with addiction and sexual abuse in the Jewish community – subjects long ignored — intentionally — as taboo.

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