It has been both heartbreaking and also oddly unsurprising to see so many women in my Facebook feed identify as victims of sexual assault and harassment. I say unsurprising because, tragically, there is a human propensity to fall prey to the ugliest trappings of patriarchy. Also unsurprising because we’ve been here before – this story…
Most of a rabbi’s roles can be halachically and effectively assumed by women, and have been for many years. A rabbi must be learned in Jewish texts and the practical laws pertaining to daily Jewish life — and Orthodox women’s seminaries teach thousands of young Jewish women those laws, and do a top-notch job of…
Across the spectrum of Orthodoxy, some women are “checking out.” Whatever the baseline of a given community, from the most conservative to the most “open,” there are some women who want more: For some, this might mean that they wish their education had enabled them to help their young sons with Torah homework, while others…
Remember Mindy Meyer — the young Orthodox Jewish lawyer who ran for New York State Senate with a hot-pink-themed campaign, inspired by Legally Blonde? Well she’s back. Alongside her partner Sara Shulevitz, Meyer, 26, stars in a Barcroft TV ten-minute reality special. The real-life lawyers have opened a criminal defense firm, the Meyer-Kessner and Shulevitz…
She’s known for her trademark headband wig, an unlikely uniform on Israeli prime-time news. Sivan Rahav Meir: Tall, rectangular glasses, modestly dressed, Meir is often either conducting exclusive interviews — Sara Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, the late rabbi Ovadia Yosef — or offering her own unwavering commentary on her night show. Born and raised in…
Five Israeli ultra-Orthodox rabbis released a statement this past summer, blasting wigs made of human hair for their idolatrous origins (which has long been a dispute among rabbis). As is well-known, in the year 5764, the rabbanim and great poskin [ruler] in our generation have ruled that wigs which contain any human hair from India…
Perhaps no other garment defines religious Jewish women as much as the shell — the tightly-fitting layering top used to make immodest clothes modest. And no other brand has come to personify the shell as much as the Turkish brand Kiki Riki. Kiki Riki has become so synonymous with the layering shell, that many frum…
Orthodox women are disappearing. Over the years, Orthodox magazines and newspapers have placed a strict ban on any images of women. And ironically, this erasure has emerged at a time of the community’s increased access to a luxury lifestyle: Orthodox women, decked out in glamorous wigs and haute couture, will ultimately pick up glossy religious…
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