The Filmmaker Who Created a Modern Orthodox ‘Friends’ & Other Orthodox Jews in the News

Cholent and Challah at Happy Hour: Tech Co-Working Space Caters to Haredi Taste
There is a buzz as the food arrives at Ampersand, a co-working space on the 21st floor of a high-rise in Bnei Brak. It is almost 1:30 p.m. on a Thursday, time for happy hour, something many co-working spaces organize to celebrate the end of the week. Instead of wine and cheese and sandwiches, there is piping hot cholent along with freshly baked challah bread, beers and cold drinks.

Local Mom Launches Kosher Delivery Service
Chef, wife and mother of three Yael Friedman worked long hours at some of Los Angeles’ top high-end restaurants including Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Beverly Hills and Sang Yoon’s Asian fusion restaurant Lukshon in Culver City. But making meals at work and at home became a difficult juggling act for her and her husband, who also worked full time.

Teaneck Watergun Creeps Mess With Wrong Guy on Shabbat
Moments before the end of the late Shabbat minyan at Young Israel of Teaneck this past Friday, a silver Honda Accord careened around the corner, and approached the shul in a semi-remote cul-de-sac. Taking video with their phones, the car’s passengers aimed guns at a grandfather in his 60s, and started shooting. The man was soaked by a stream of liquid, which he only later learned was water.

A Muslim and an Orthodox Jew Talk Modesty and Feminism
Can modesty and feminism coexist? With recent news of model Halima Aden landing the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in a hijab and burkini – there’s been a lot of buzz, particularly in the “modest community,” about the return of more conservative clothing to the fore in a post-MeToo society.

Summer’s Hottest Zara Dress is a $70 Sack
The summer’s hottest outfit is a shapeless spotted shmatta that costs $70. It’s “the Zara dress,” a black-and-white polka-dot, long-sleeved, ankle-length number that’s as ubiquitous as last winter’s Amazon coat and as sought-after as an Hermès Birkin bag. And if you want to nab one, good luck: It’s sold out both online and in several NYC shops.

The Filmmaker Creating “Friends” For Modern Orthodox Jews
Most Orthodox Jews date explicitly for the goal of marriage rather than for personal exploration, Modern Orthodox Filmmaker Leah Gottfried says. Navigating this paradigm while chasing a film career supplied a gold mine of artistic fodder for a web series shedding light on a group that rarely gets screen time.

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