For the first two seasons of Shtisel, I feared that featuring so many dysfunctional Haredi Jews who live such stringent and strict lives would be off-putting to Jews from less observant backgrounds. The lifestyles are unappealing in many ways, the stringencies not required by Jewish law. For anyone considering a life of more observance, the […]

Romi Cohn Saved 56 Jewish Families. Coronavirus Took His Life Mr. Cohn was only 15 when he began rescuing Jewish families in Czechoslovakia in 1944. He was resourceful enough to supply Jewish refugees with housing and furnish them with false Christian identifications, stamping them with German seals provided by a cooperative Gestapo source. In all, […]

Judge Ruchie, the Hasidic Superwoman of Night Court Ruchie Freier is a 52-year-old Hasidic Jewish grandmother who has blazed a trail in her insular religious community with so much determination that the male authorities have simply had to make room. Eleven years ago, she became one of the first Hasidic female lawyers in Brooklyn, and […]