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  • May 22, 2013
Ex-Hasidic Mother Loses Custody of Children

Special Report

Ex-Hasidic Mother Loses Custody of Children

By Shulem Deen

May 20, 2013 / 76 comments

Judge orders custody switch, citing concerns that the mother's influence might jeopardize the children's religious upbringing.

...

Making Families a Priority

Opinion

Making Families a Priority

By Leah V.

April 25, 2013 / 28 comments

Battling the ultra-Orthodox community's efforts to separate OTD parents from their children.

...

A Raizel by Any Other Name

Reflections

A Raizel by Any Other Name

By Shulem Deen

April 10, 2013 / 10 comments

“Sean?!” my mother asked. “That’s what you go by now?” Her disdain was obvious, but I needed a moniker that jibed with the ethnically neutral persona I now sought.

...

After the Double Life

First Person

After the Double Life

By Frieda Vizel

April 7, 2013 / 4 comments

It's hard to be a single ex-Chasidic girl, especially when your "gater" isn't well honed. Frieda Vizel finds out firsthand.

...

My Hirsute Pursuit

First Person

My Hirsute Pursuit

By Emma Rubinstein

February 28, 2013 / 8 comments

I posted an ad on Craigslist as a joke of some sort: I was looking for men with facial hair. The responses made me feel as if I had woken up the entire Hasidic community.

...

“My Name is Asher Lev”: The Pain and Passion of a Young Hasidic Artist

Theatre

“My Name is Asher Lev”: The Pain and Passion of a Young Hasidic Artist

By Sara Trappler-Spielman

February 26, 2013 / 5 comments

Asher Lev, a gifted young Hasidic artist — "a prodigy in payos" — is an unusual child. He is aware of only two things: an un-pretty, painful world and a burning need to draw.

...

  • Ex-Hasidic Mother Loses Custody of Children
  • Making Families a Priority
  • A Raizel by Any Other Name
  • After the Double Life
  • My Hirsute Pursuit
  • “My Name is Asher Lev”: The Pain and Passion of a Young Hasidic Artist
 
 

Special Report

Ex-Hasidic Mother Loses Custody of Children

May 20, 2013
By Shulem Deen
Ex-Hasidic Mother Loses Custody of Children

Judge orders custody switch, citing concerns that the mother's influence might jeopardize the children's religious upbringing.
Read more »

(76 comments)

Opinion

Making Families a Priority

April 25, 2013
By Leah V.
Making Families a Priority

Battling the ultra-Orthodox community's efforts to separate OTD parents from their children.
Read more »

(28 comments)

Reflections

A Raizel by Any Other Name

April 10, 2013
By Shulem Deen
A Raizel by Any Other Name

“Sean?!” my mother asked. “That’s what you go by now?” Her disdain was obvious, but I needed a moniker that jibed with the ethnically neutral persona I now sought.
Read more »

(10 comments)

First Person

After the Double Life

April 7, 2013
By Frieda Vizel
After the Double Life

It's hard to be a single ex-Chasidic girl, especially when your "gater" isn't well honed. Frieda Vizel finds out firsthand.
Read more »

(4 comments)

First Person

My Hirsute Pursuit

February 28, 2013
By Emma Rubinstein
My Hirsute Pursuit

I posted an ad on Craigslist as a joke of some sort: I was looking for men with facial hair. The responses made me feel as if I had woken up the entire Hasidic community.
Read more »

(8 comments)

Theatre

“My Name is Asher Lev”: The Pain and Passion of a Young Hasidic Artist

February 26, 2013
By Sara Trappler-Spielman
“My Name is Asher Lev”: The Pain and Passion of a Young Hasidic Artist

Asher Lev, a gifted young Hasidic artist — "a prodigy in payos" — is an unusual child. He is aware of only two things: an un-pretty, painful world and a burning need to draw.
Read more »

(5 comments)

Reflections

A Freshly Fallen Snow

February 7, 2013
By Fruma Biegeleisen
A Freshly Fallen Snow

It dawned on me that the Torah does not obligate you to be an asshole. There is no mitzvah to smack your wife or scream at your kids. It's only a chumra maybe.
Read more »

(9 comments)

Reflections

Turning Away

January 17, 2013
By Misyavni
Turning Away

I have broken many fasts, but never Yom Kippur. Now I have an exam the day after Yom Kippur, and I need that extra day of study. And to study I need food.
Read more »

(10 comments)

Opinion

The Frum Pedophile

January 15, 2013
By Ahuva Sable
The Frum Pedophile

Sexual repression in the frum world will lead some to follow aberrant impulses. It is time we talked about it.
Read more »

(24 comments)

Fiction

The Dealer

January 10, 2013
By Danny Hulkower
The Dealer

He treated his work like any profession, and was rewarded for it. “Rief de Ukraynisher” was the answer every Hasid gave when asked for a weed connection. And Vadim would deliver, Monday through Friday--even Friday night after dark on occasion.
Read more »

(23 comments)

Humor

And it Was Evening and it Was Morning. And His Pecker Hurt

January 7, 2013
By Jarrod Tanny
And it Was Evening and it Was Morning. And His Pecker Hurt

And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when the Lord gave to him a cleaver, some whiskey, a bandage, and a poorly drawn anatomical map.
Read more »

(4 comments)

Opinion

The Weberman Trial, or: The Wolf Who Cried Bias

December 31, 2012
By David Lerner
The Weberman Trial, or: The Wolf Who Cried Bias

The Satmar community sees itself as the victim in the Weberman case. Which brings to mind the saying in the Talmud: “They commit the act of Zimri and demand the reward of Pinchas.”
Read more »

(34 comments)

First Person

First Blush of Sin

December 27, 2012
By Miriam Curie
First Blush of Sin

“Once you start, there is no turning back,” they said to me. And now I am a bundle of nerves, not sure if I am ready for this. I tuck away a rebellious curl peeking out from under my wig, then close my eyes...
Read more »

(24 comments)

First Person

Men in Black

October 15, 2012
By Sury Neuvelt
Men in Black

“Hubby’s home,” I type swiftly, my fingers dancing across the soft keys. I turn off the phone and let it fall to the side of my pillow just as he walks in. He suspects nothing.
Read more »

(45 comments)

First Person

From Hasid to Headbanger

September 4, 2012
By Eli Mandel
From Hasid to Headbanger

How I overcame my fear of tattooed metalheads and braved the mosh pit.
Read more »

(27 comments)

Obituary

Shulamith Firestone: OTD Feminist and Writer, Dead at 67

September 2, 2012
By B.A. Newmark
Shulamith Firestone: OTD Feminist and Writer, Dead at 67

For Shulamith Firestone, the Orthodox life was as crushing as the world outside of it.
Read more »

(15 comments)

Reflections

Crossing Marcy

August 27, 2012
By Melanie Beaudette
Crossing Marcy

To those who ask this non-Jewish writer: "Why the interest in all-things-Hasidic?", she responds: "Why not?"
Read more »

(49 comments)

Fiction

Seedy Business

August 14, 2012
By Luzer Twersky
Seedy Business

The thought of someone dying of cancer because of my masturbatory habits made me uneasy. Whoever it was, that poor person had no idea what hit him.
Read more »

(15 comments)

First Person

Brother’s Keeper

July 30, 2012
By Jesse Miller
Brother’s Keeper

A young man feels helpless to save a brother from a frighteningly familiar path.
Read more »

(11 comments)

Obituary

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Leader of Charedi “Yeshivish” Community, Dies at 102

July 18, 2012
By A.M. Yehuda
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Leader of Charedi “Yeshivish” Community, Dies at 102

A look at how Elyashiv transformed Yeshivish Judaism.
Read more »

(25 comments)

Reflections

Odd One Out

June 14, 2012
By Elana Cohen
Odd One Out

Last Thursday night, at the annual Footsteps Celebrates event, I was the odd one out just when I should've fit right in.
Read more »

(9 comments)

Book Review

Between Paris and Williamsburg: “I Am Forbidden,” by Anouk Markovits

June 3, 2012
By Zackary Sholem Berger
Between Paris and Williamsburg: “I Am Forbidden,” by Anouk Markovits

Suppressed desire, menstrual obsession, and fear of death, coexist in the same book as deep joy and brilliant light.
Read more »

(22 comments)
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From the Archives

  • Vil’amsburg Diaries: Late to Work Vil’amsburg Diaries: Late to Work

    By Hershy Tam

    The shower stall used to be clean and simple, one bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo. Now it looks like a pharmacy.

  • An Image of God An Image of God

    By Kelsey Osgood

    A teenage girl, hospitalized for anorexia, finds herself strangely captivated by her Hasidic ward-mates, and wonders about our religious and psychological obsessions with food.

  • Fitting In Fitting In

    By Shpitzle Shtrimpkind

    Celebrities flit around a Chasidic wedding.

  • And it Was Evening and it Was Morning. And His Pecker Hurt And it Was Evening and it Was Morning. And His Pecker Hurt

    By Jarrod Tanny

    And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when the Lord gave to him a cleaver, some whiskey, a bandage, and a poorly drawn anatomical map.

  • Connected

    By Shulem Deen

    At first glance it might seem like the Shabbos table of an ordinary Chasidic home. Until someone’s phone rings.


MORE IN ESSAYS

FreiFem: The Unpious Double X

  • Advice to Our Daughters Advice to Our Daughters

    Apr 8, 2011 / 2 Comments

    Thoughts on what I learned from my mother, and how that differs from what I would teach my daughter.

  • Choosing Ceremony Choosing Ceremony

    Aug 8, 2011 / 3 Comments

    An athiest chooses to celebrate in shule.

  • Dreams and Ghosts…

    Mar 15, 2011 / 2 Comments

    It was my father’s birthday yesterday. I didn’t call him to wish him happy birthday. We’ve had another falling out (can you fall out of something that’s barely there?).


MORE IN FREIFEM

The After Life Podcast

From our friends Sol and Ushi: Lighthearted reflections on life after leaving Hasidic Judaism.

  • #008 Looking Back, Looking Forward
  • #007 The Wicked Ones
  • #006 What Is It About Music? Part II
  • #005 What Is It About Music? Part I
  • #004 The Games We Play
  • #003 Too Shul for School
  • #002 Build It and They Will Stay Out
  • #001 Oh, The Food You'll Eat

Learn more at TheAfterLifePodcast.com.

Doodle Dept.

Oy Vey Cartoons

Another project by the multi-talented Ms. Shtrimpkind. Check it out.

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB…

The Sound of Sin
By Shulem Deen
.
From Salon.com: How one little Panasonic radio tore apart my marriage -- and my faith.
Life After Hasidism
From The Brooklyn Ink
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Article on Jacob Gluck of Hasidic Williamsburg Tour and Unpious contributor Yakov Yosef.
The Shomrim: Gotham's Crusaders
From The Village Voice
.
Profile of Brooklyn's Shomrim patrol groups, featuring Luzer Twersky. To read some of Luzer's essays, click here.
Venturing Beyond The Ultra-Orthodox World
From NPR: All Things Considered
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An interview with Samuel Katz about his journey into the secular world. To read some of Samuel's essays, click here.
It Gets Besser
By Leah Vincent and Samuel Katz
.
Photo montage of lives in transition.

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