Frimet (third from right), holds up her Footsteps certificate with the other fellows. I am a Footsteps member and supporter. I am also an observant Jew. To the critics of Footsteps, a not-for-profit organization that helps those seeking to leave their ultra-religious communities, this statement may seem like an oxymoron. Until about a year ago,…
Though ineligible for our main list because of her anonymity (hence no photograph), the bravery of one young ultra-Orthodox woman merits special note. Despite massive communal opposition and threats she stood up for Orthodox victims of sexual abuse. Prior to the 2012 trial of Nechemya Weberman, the Satmar community raised $500,000 for the accused and…
I remember the first time I felt the cold, prickly air on my newly shaved head. I remember looking in the mirror. I remember staring at the pile of auburn hair in the vanity sink of the cozy basement apartment I now shared with my husband of less than a day. I remember my mother…
One balmy Sunday before Rosh Hashanah, I gathered my little troops — Shloimy, age 8, and Rachel, age 6 — for a day of heimishe baking. While my little ones were struggling to knead the challah dough into perfect heart shapes and ninjas, I got the kokosh cake underway. One of my favorite comfort foods,…
How do you get 15,000 Satmar Hasidim to vote in the New York City Democratic primary? That’s the question facing Satmar political activists from both of the dueling factions within the ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn sect, each of which have promised thousands of votes to mayoral candidates on September 10. The activists’ answer? Fliers, phone calls, and…
The young Orthodox woman whose testimony of sexual abuse was the basis for the arrest and conviction of counselor Nechemya Weberman was booed out of synagogue on Rosh Hashana, the New York Post reported Monday. The 18-year-old victim was praying in a Williamsburg synagogue during the holiday when a man reportedly yelled out: “*Moser *,…
We’re used to seeing adolescent-looking girls posing like wannabe porn stars in American Apparel ads. That probably makes Yoel Weisshaus the most unorthodox American Apparel model ever. His dark blond peyos long and bouncy, the Hasidic 32-year-old college student poses in what is surely the company’s most modest ad ever, wearing a white button down…
The political leaders of half of Brooklyn’s Satmar Hasidic community announced they would back New York City Democratic mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio today, setting the stage for an epic get-out-the-vote showdown in Williamsburg next week. “All in all we felt it’s a no-brainer, the shidduch between him and us,” said Isaac Sofer, a leader…
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