Is Britney Spears hot for Hasidic beards?
The popstar posted a cryptic Instagram admiring the whiskers of Chabadniks playing chess
Britney likes the beard. Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
By PJ Grisar September 29, 2025
To paraphrase megastar Britney Spears, and the Chabad youth now out in droves on the streets, “A guy like you should wear tefillin.”
In a weekend Instagram post, Spears shared a photo of a group of Haredi men gathered around a chessboard. Her caption: “I like the beard !!!”
This out-of-context message, beamed to Spears’ 41.9 million followers, is somewhat baffling, prompting comedian Eitan Levine to wonder, “Does Britney Spears have a Chabad fetish.”
While Spears has yet to state this in such terms, Levine was intrigued by the pop star’s’ use of a photo credit for the image, which directed to COLlive official, a Chabad account that posts a lot of engagement announcements (often with couples at the Ohel, the site of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave), Jewish music and other simchas. Its bio includes an invitation for submissions from the community.
What are we to make of the fact that Spears — who doesn’t appear to follow the account — stumbled upon this? Is she considering a life change? Or merely admiring the whiskers of some cerebral yeshiva bochers.
We can’t say for sure, but it may have more to do with chess. Spears’ Instagram is a weird mood board of her emoji-covered nudes, floral art projects, anime, black-and-white photos of children and AI-generated images of jewel-encrusted jungle cats, bunny rabbits in dresses and luminous clouds.
But it also features several images of kids playing chess or stock images of chess pieces. While most simply have a credit line, one from two weeks ago, showing a vintage image of a chess tournament, with a young person squaring off against old and middle-aged men, had the following text appended:
“Don’t know how to play this game but I’m willing to learn but people with the word ‘red’ in their name can rarely be taught !!! I see from a distance it’s sacred. Some respect it, some destroy it. Most enjoy the intense range of intelligence in it … Some like it done in silence … Some like how loud the silence gets … Some are just bored. Some like me have never tried and honestly don’t care to !!! But why do my eyes feel like I go to another world when I see the game ??? Is it because people care ???”
I don’t really know what all that means, but I think it’s safe to say that she is interested in the game that takes 10 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. It’s possible she wants a bearded Orthodox Jew to teach her.
Could this be the start of the Yentl remake we’ve all been waiting for?
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
