Last month we released “The Skin Gap,” a YouTube video which humorously conveys a pervasive gender inequality that no one ever talks about: the societal expectation for thin, young girls and women to show off more skin than their male counterparts in the same social settings. We received a lot of support for this video, […]

If you were to picture a man about to become an Orthodox rabbi and accountant, the image of a pasty, frail guy, pouring over an endless tower of books might come to mind. And then there’s Akiva Neuman: a smiling, boundless ball of energy who does one-handed pull ups and cartwheels in between his Talmudic […]

Meet the Orthodox “American Ninja Warrior” Training to be a Rabbi Akiva Neuman might be a rabbi-in-training, accountant-in-training and youth director by day, but by night, he’s a fierce competitor on the hottest reality TV contest around. See how he is changing the perception of fitness for Orthodox Jews. Author’s Roundabout Journey to Orthodoxy Includes […]

“I never thought about being a role model as an Orthodox Jew, but maybe this experience has given me something to think about.”  

As I rode the bus on the way home from work, I tried to grade papers, but given the close quarters, it was hard not to overhear the conversations of the other riders. Most of them discussed the weather with their seatmate or spoke with a friend over their cell phone. After several new passengers boarded at […]

While Orthodox women are often thought of as the ones who are stuck in the kitchen, for Rabbi Hanoch Hecht, who hails from a large and renowned rabbinic family, this has never been the case. “My father went into the kitchen [to cook] from time to time, and I grew up with that as a […]