A response to Mick Brown's article in the London Telegraph: Yes, it is true that Chasidim form a close knit community, but please, keep it real. Leave nostalgic simplification to Norman Jewison.
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Opinion
A Rabbi, a Politician, and a Fitness Fanatic
Leaving Charediism
When will we read of a comprehensive investigation into the dark side of Charedi Judaism?
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Who Are We?
Who are we, us refugees from the Charedi world? Are we victims, broken people? Or are we wholesome assimilants to secular society?
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Opinion
The Self-fulfilling Prophecies of the Ex-Hasid
Do ex-Hasidim serve themselves well by establishing a community? Or does that only amplify the narrative of struggle and displacement, inevitably confining them to the fringes?
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Identity Not in Crisis
Despite being one of the most conspicuously Jewish Jews--a Chasid, the Jewish identity quandary that so many struggle with is not an issue for me.
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Square One
We like to do it, talk about it, and hear about who’s doing it with whom, illicit or otherwise. But it isn’t the be all and end all of human experience.
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One Giant Leap
Chasidishkeit manages to take everything exciting in life - food, sex, adventure, travel - and mangle it to a point where there's little left of their original allure. And it has a particularly vicious stranglehold on sex.
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The New Weavers
“How could you let one of your own go, without support and without love?” the cop asks the rabbi. The rabbi replies, “In our lives it is never about the individual. It is about the community.”
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Anonymous No Longer
An overview of anonymous and pseudonymous writing in the Chasidic world.
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From the Archives
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From the Sacred Texts of the Schmelves: Part II
On the eve of Yom Kippur we ask for forgiveness. If we have not wronged anyone, we slap someone and then we ask for forgiveness.
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Al Kiddush Hashem: A Purim Story
“Are you all ready to die al Kiddush Hashem?!” he thundered. “Yes!” The men cried in unison. Reb Shloimele grabbed the large silver-handled knife and waved it in the air, his face red as a beet.
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Keep your hair on, there!
Unpious = אהן פיאות is a hair raising equation. It is faulty. There are Unpious פיאות bearers and pious אהן פיאותניקס.
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A Raizel by Any Other Name
By Shulem Deen
“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.
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A Wonderful Goodbye
By A.M. Yehuda
He has not spoken to his wife in four days. This is tolerable. After 38 years of her mounting nervous energy, a little peace and quiet is not unpleasant.
FreiFem: The Unpious Double X
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Corpse Pose with a Mitzvah Tank
Apr 15, 2011 / 3 Comments
I’ve been obsessing about how the hell I’m going to care for a helpless creature, if sleepless nights are going to strain my marriage, and what if I suffocate my baby by mistake.
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Shviger Luck
Jul 6, 2011 / 1 Comment
Mother-in-laws: a second chance or a second dose of what you already had enough of?
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I Hate It Because I Love It
Mar 11, 2011 / 3 Comments
I know how to cook six things: salad, salmon, potatoes, toast, boiled eggs and microwave popcorn. That’s five things more than my father can, and fifty five million less than my mother.
ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB…
By Shulem Deen
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From Salon.com: How one little Panasonic radio tore apart my marriage -- and my faith.
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.
