A thorough dissection of the frum community through the lens of its literature
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Arts & Culture
Book Review
Book Review: Strictly Kosher Reading
Film
From Rebel Teenager to “Off the Derech” Filmmaker
Anna Wexler describes the journey that led to the making of her feature documentary film, “UNORTHODOX: A Jewish Journey.”
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In Conversation
An Interview With Shalom Auslander
Leah Vincent speaks to Shalom Auslander about raising children, genocide, and Jews as the original shit-stirrers.
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In Conversation
An Interview With Basya Schechter
Leah Vincent interviews Basya Schechter, former Bais Yaakov girl and acclaimed singer, songwriter and the bandleader of Pharaoh’s Daughter.
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Book Review: Yiddish Civilisation
A fresh look at Jewish history.
Yiddish Civilisation by Paul Kriwaczek is not a new book (it was published in 2005), but I happened to spot it in a small independent bookstore two weeks ago, the first I’d ever seen or heard of it. What a lucky find. The book offers a running history...
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Peddlers of Ecstasy
Movie Review: “Holy Rollers”
Does it matter that Hasidim in film bear little resemblance to Hasidim in real life?
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Thorns and Roses
Hasidic historiography, inter-sectarian violence, the struggle against Breslov, and the case of Yitzchak Nachum Twerski.
Ne'echaz Basvach
By David Assaf
Mercaz Zalman Shazar
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“Punk Jews”: Film, Movement, and Party of the Summer
Several year ago, still sporting payess and a more-or-less Chasidic appearance, I met a girl in Greenwich village who stopped me on McDougal Street to tell me, “I think Hasidic Jews are so fucking cool. Those curls…
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Identity Not in Crisis
This weekend I read a book called Fiedler on the Roof, a collection of essays about literature and Jewish identity by Leslie Fiedler. I received this book from a cyber-friend who, unaware that Ruchy Fiedler is a pseudonym, imagined…
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Bringing Up a Hasidic Generation
BOOK REVIEW: Unlike most books, which I approach with an objective eye and mind, books about Hasidim instinctively arouse my jaundiced cynicism. My cynicism is justified: nearly every article or book or film about Hasidim gets it wrong. Most of these works are informed by presuppositions and stereotypes, and tend to overuse/misuse kitschy “Jewish”...
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CONNECT
Editor's Picks: From the Archives
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Green Tuesday
Chaim Mayer’s mother usually calls in on Thursdays to remind him to pick up the lokshen kugel for Shabbos, or of a family member’s shulem zucher, which s’volt gepast that he attend.
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The Departed
A report on the Footsteps organization and the lives of those who leave the ultra-Orthodox world. Article by Orli Santo.
ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB…
From The Brooklyn Ink
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Article on Jacob Gluck of Hasidic Williamsburg Tour and Unpious contributor Yakov Yosef.
From The Village Voice
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Profile of Brooklyn's Shomrim patrol groups, featuring Luzer Twersky. To read some of Luzer's essays, click here.
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.
By Shulem Deen
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From Tablet: A former Hasid moves to hipster Brooklyn. But what he gains in nightlife, he loses in camaraderie.
Latest News (Google News)
- Gur Hasidim and sexual separation - Haaretz
- Charedim and the Costa Concordia Captain - Algemeiner
- Charedim plan free school - Jewish Chronicle
- Politics Thwart Brooklyn Housing - Gotham Gazette
- Shelly Adelson's Kosher Caucus and the End of Fantasy - Esquire (blog)
- HACHNASAT ORCHIM (INVITING GUESTS) - Community Magazine
- Williamsburg Affordable Housing Plan Halted - The Jewish Week
- VIDEO ROUNDUP: Israeli Police Beat Charedim As Protesters Shout 'Nazi' & 'Hitler' - Yeshiva World News
- Opinion: Right Is wrong - The Jewish Journal of Greater L.A.
- Israel's real Charedi revolution - Jewish Chronicle
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