On the top shelf of our living room buffet sit some of our once-a-year religious accoutrements: a Passover matzo set, a white tablecloth for the sukkah and a white apron. This is not your typical kitchen apron; it is my vase shirtsl — literally, white apron: a small, square-shaped, hand-embroidered cotton apron made of fine…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. He grew up among the ultra-Orthodox Satmar Jews in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, in a childhood with rules so strict that playing Frisbee at summer camp was considered a radical move. Today he serves as the spiritual leader of a small, relatively young, progressive Orthodox synagogue…
If you live in a Jewish neighborhood like I do, you may periodically hear the wailing of a shofar in the distance in the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah. It is a common daily practice among Orthodox Jews, a reminder that the High Holidays are not far off. The evening air, at one time…
A New York City firefighter killed in a weekend blaze earned accolades in the Satmar Hasidic community for saving a 7-year-old boy’s life just weeks before his tragic death in a Brooklyn public housing high-rise. Lt. Gordon “Matt” Ambelas was among the firefighters who rescued Mendy Gotlieb after the Satmar boy’s head and arm were…
Recently my 9-year-old son came home from school demanding I sign him up for sleep-away camp, which, he insisted, his best friend is attending for the entire summer. I nearly fell off the chair imagining my kid, who often forgets to remove his pajamas before he puts on his shorts on summer mornings, fending for…
Signs that appear to call for gender segregation on streets in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel have raised some hackles. The color-coded signs posted along Forest Road — blue for men and red for women — designate separate sides of the street for men and women. The signs were made by a private individual…
American Apparel’s idea of an Orthodox man What is “Orthodox”? Is it “Haredi”? Is it “Modern”? Is it “Ultra”? Is it “Yeshivish”? These days, the Orthodox world is a confusing place. Fifty years ago, Orthodox Jews (who had been known at the turn of the 20th century as “Traditionalist”) talked about three flavors of Orthodoxy:…
Frimet Goldberger and her mother at her wedding // Courtesy of Frimet Goldberger When I close my eyes and try to picture my childhood, I see my mamme steering a 12-quart boiling pot of peaches compote. The peaches arrived in a box, all eight pounds of them old and already rotting, costing a grand total…
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