Culture

Research

Survey: Haredim proud of their hospitality, less proud of their gossip

Respondents also rated the community high on chesed and tzedakah.

Culture

The Tisha B’Av-friendly films this year include stories of October 7

Films portray efforts to help tragedy victims and people becoming more religious.

Culture

‘Kissing Girls on Shabbat’: new memoir traces a lesbian’s path out of the shtetl via two marriages to men

“I almost wanted to write it as a PSA: you cannot marry away the gay,” author Sara Glass told Shtetl.

Haredi Life

Heimish psychedelics: a quiet revolution

Haredi interest in psychedelics is no longer relegated to renegade Hasidim.

Gender

‘For Women and Girls Only’: new book explores Haredi women artists and performers

Author Jessica Roda charts a trend in which Haredi women's art and creativity has transcended schools and summer camps

Courts

RICO suit against rabbinical courts brought by founder of ‘Kindlein’ children’s magazine

Mendel Paneth, the visionary artist behind the wildly popular Yiddish-language kids’ magazine, claims rabbinical courts colluded with his former partner to sabotage his business in retaliation for defying a rabbinic order

Theatre

Hasidic-born actors star in new Yiddish play about a former Hasid turned Christian missionary

With starring roles in “The Gospel According to Chaim,” actors Melissa Weisz and Sruli Rosenberg describe the Hasidic world as offering more leeway to pursue unconventional paths

Haredi Life

Year end reflections on Shtetl’s first ten months of reporting: the top issues of 2023

With the intimate familiarity of insiders but free from the usual top-down oversight of Haredi media, we reported on everything from the Satmar rebbe's bragging about deceiving legislators to Agudah's efforts to keep the Times from winning a Pulitzer

Israel

Hasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer responds to controversy around his performances for IDF soldiers

In a video filmed at the gravesite of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the late rebbe of Satmar, Schmeltzer acknowledged that he and others had performances canceled for appearing to support Israel and its military

Jewish Life

After attacks in Israel, Matisyahu ponders a return to wearing a beard and yarmulke

Oct. 7 attacks “just smacked me in the face” and his ‘pintele Yid’ was awakened, the musician said, as he reconsidered an outward expression of his Jewish identity

Israel

Hasidic musicians face controversy over pro-Israel messages and appearances

Singers Motty Ilowitz and Berry Weber appear to draw criticism after a pro-Israel video poem and a DC rally prayer service