When my father was in the final weeks of his life, languishing in Cornell hospital, I found myself reaching my breaking point. I was the only relative nearby that could come to the hospital on a regular basis. As a single parent, I was away from my kids for five Shabbosim in a row. It was […]
I was raised in an extreme religious environment that stressed fear and punishment over love and joy. Anti-Semitism was taught as a rebuke from a vengeful God. And it’s followed me everywhere. Because of this negative messaging, my relationship with Judaism was fraught from a young age. By early adulthood, I found myself drifting away. […]
During a life-threatening crisis, you might expect a man dressed in rabbinic garb to pray for you, but you probably wouldn’t think he’d be the one to save you. With ZAKA, Israel’s primary rescue and recovery organization, whose volunteers are mostly religious Jews – a majority of them Haredi – you get both! ZAKA was […]
’93Queen’: Film Review | Hot Docs 2018 Forget Supergirl and Wonder Woman. To see a real female superhero in action, check out Paula Eiselt’s documentary concerning the creation of an all-female, Hasidic EMT corps. 93Queen centers on Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, the co-founder of the organization that gives the film its title, and watching this intrepid […]
Recently, in a school in Israel, a child was hit by a rebbe for “misbehaving.” According Kikar Shabbos News, this older teacher struck the student quite hard and has a history of similar acts of violence against children. The boys’ parents called the police and a complaint was filed against the teacher. It was an awful […]
Meet New York’s Hasidic Jewish Bagpipe Player Not every bagpipe-playing altar boy considering joining the priesthood grows up to be a Hasidic Jew — but Ian Sherman did. Ian, known today in many circles by his Hebrew name Ephraim Eliyahu, was born to a Scottish Catholic mother and an Eastern European Jewish father, and was […]
