World’s Oldest Man, Holocaust Survivor Yisrael Kristal, Dies One Month Shy of His 114th Birthday Yisrael Kristal, a Holocaust survivor who was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s oldest man and one of the ten oldest men who ever lived, passed away today in his home in Haifa. He […]

  Wearing Skirts Over Pants Helps Me Straddle Two Worlds Orthodox young women, many of whom traditionally wear only skirts outside the house as an expression of modesty, increasingly wear pants under those skirts. This gateway between the world of skirts and the world of pants — clothing items that, for some Orthodox Jews (though […]

Inside Israel’s Only Glatt Kosher Art Gallery In a public bomb shelter is the Art Shelter Gallery, the only gallery in Israel, and presumably in the world, that operates in a Haredi neighborhood and that is deemed appropriate for that public. Meet the artists and curators seeking to vitalize Haredi art world, and if possible, […]

Though he may be the only hasid in the world to boast bleached-blond peyos, singing at the White House and appearing in a Pepsi commercial, Lipa Schmeltzer  (also known as “The Jewish Elvis,” and “The Lady Gaga of Hasidic Music”) had a rather typical hasidic upbringing in terms of religion. Emotionally, there were challenges. Growing up […]

  Film Review: Keep Quiet “Keep Quiet” is a fascinating documentary featuring Csanad Szegedi, a prominent, unabashedly anti-Semitic leader of controversial extremist groups whose political career derails when it emerges that his own family was Jewish not so long ago — even falling victim to the same Holocaust he and his cronies have denied.  Abruptly […]

Does Orthodox Judaism promote compassion and non-judgment or fire and brimstone? As a secular Jew growing up, I believed it represented the latter. There was nothing appealing to me about it. Then, I began to learn and meet Orthodox Jews and discovered that the Torah is “D’rachecha darchei noam v’chol n’tivotseha shalom.” (Its ways are those of […]