Me! Yours truly. Unfortunately, I wish it were under less "creepy" circumstances.
Heeb Magazine, a self-proclaimed take-no-prisoners zine for the plugged-in and preached-out, gave The Jew Spot the shout out for our two lovely posts on Shaindy.com (see below).
In regards to these articles, Heeb states , "If you’re going to be a pervert, please have the decency to be an honest pervert, and not a creepy one skulking around behind your spouse’s back. And if a website dedicated to cheating is creepy, a website dedicated to Orthodox cheating is creepy squared. Or cubed."
Amen. Read their salute to me here. If you missed what the heck we're talking about, read the following:
Meet Shaindy.com
Unkosher Sex: Underneath the Shaindy scandal
Jul 4, 2009
Jun 28, 2009
We usually don't get political here at The Jew Spot, but the photos coming from the Iranian protest are just too good to ignore. What are your thoughts on what's going on over there?
Send photos to FindMyJewSpot@gmail.com.
Send photos to FindMyJewSpot@gmail.com.
Jun 21, 2009
- EVENT -
Saturday, June 27
Voices from El-Sayed
(Oded Adomi Leshem | Israel | 75 min.)
New York Premiere!
In this charming and intelligent documentary,
the world’s largest community of deaf people is
suddenly given a gift that threatens to disrupt local heritage.
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory
Address: 232 3RD St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/ Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Filmmaker will be in attendance.
More info about the film at www.rooftopfilms.com.
Saturday, June 27
Voices from El-Sayed
(Oded Adomi Leshem | Israel | 75 min.)
New York Premiere!
In this charming and intelligent documentary,
the world’s largest community of deaf people is
suddenly given a gift that threatens to disrupt local heritage.
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory
Address: 232 3RD St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/ Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Filmmaker will be in attendance.
More info about the film at www.rooftopfilms.com.
Jun 5, 2009
Unkosher Sex: Underneath the Shaindy Scandal
What does it mean to religiously attend church, temple or synagogue, live in a community where G-d’s laws are first and foremost, and then deliberately go on the internet in order to break one of the most sacred of commandments: Thou shall not commit adultery?
It is no surprise that the internet has become an electronic meeting place for married men and women looking to have affairs; it may come as a shock, however, to learn that the web is also the hub for a growing number of ultra religious married people looking to start extramarital affairs with people who share their faith.
On sites like Craigslist and AshleyMadison.com (which carries the motto “Life is short. Have an affair.”) people who self-proclaim as “religious” can be found seeking out others of their faith tradition to be unfaithful with. In the past, philandering religious men went to strip clubs and so-called “kosher” brothels to retreat from their wives in secret. But there appears to be a trend of religious men and women seeking out affairs online; and one man has founded a website tailored specifically to his community’s needs.
“Every day I would see ads on Craigslist from the “frum” [religious Jewish] community. My wife and I started talking to them and realized there was a big need for this,” said Jerry (who does not wish to disclose his last name for safety), founder of Shaindy.com [read full interview with Jerry here]. Shaindy.com is tailored mainly to the religious and Jewish seeking extramarital affairs. Though the site is only two months old, Shaindy.com — with the tag line, “Jews Can Have Fun Too” — already has 2,500 members paying $99 annually for the right to log on and seek out other married people interested in having an affair.
“People always like to think that we are holier than thou,” Jerry said, who himself is a member of the Orthodox community. “Our community has the same needs as any other community — dating, drugs, cheating or whatever, and it’s silly to think we are ‘different.’”
In fact, many people are surprised these affairs are taking place within tight-knit religious communities. Jennie Rosenfeld, co-founder of Tzelem, a Yeshiva University sexual education program for the Orthodox community, said her initial reaction was sadness.
"Clearly they know it’s not Halachically permissible."
For whatever reason, they feel they are unable to leave the marriage and they are turning to this. This site is not a Jewish solution or a lasting solution, and not dealing with the underlying issues,” says Jennie Rosenfeld, co-founder of Tzelem, a Yeshiva University sexual education program for the Orthodox community.
“Clearly, they are aware that having an affair outside of marriage is not Halachically [lawfully] permissible. Something is deeply wrong, problematic in the marriage they are in. For whatever reason, they feel they are unable to leave the marriage and they are turning to this,” Rosenfeld said.
“This site is not a Jewish solution or a lasting solution, and not dealing with the underlying issues,” Rosenfeld says. Perhaps the people using it, she says, are part of the observant community in form, but not in feeling.
Read the entire article orginally posted at www.BustedHalo.com.
Former Blossom girl gets a makeover
Mayim Bialik, star of the super wonderful sitcom Blossom, was in desperate need of a makeover after her frum attire did not fly with What Not To Wear after a Chelsea Lately appearance.
Check out the story and clip by Simona Kogan at
www.FashionIsrael.com.
May 31, 2009
American Girl goes Jewess
Rebecca Rubin is a spunky, conflicted, compassionate and determined 9-year-old girl, writes the Jewish Journal. And she's a Russian immigrant, too! I think we're soul sisters.
Today was the day Rebecca was introduced to the world. What do you think of her? How can one put a price tag on such a Jewess?
May 28, 2009
Who said Jewish boys can't rap?
Meet Matt Bar: Bible Raps
Learn Torah, bit by bit, from alphabet, to sentences, to pages, with phrases from sages oh baby…
Rapper and educator Matt Bar infects his students with Torah. He’ll take a lesson plan, spin it on its head, and bust out rap lyrics that get kids crazy about learning. These lyrics from his song “Rabbi Akiva and Raquel: Learn Torah” not only teaches the story of Akiva’s struggle to study, but also teaches students they can learn anything if they try, bit by bit.
Incorporating passages of Torah, commentary and Midrashim, Bar may get the prize for developing a curriculum that get students running in Hebrew school doors to learn. Bar thought using his hip hop talent would just make his job a little easier, but instead he became the unofficial “Best Hebrew School Teacher Ever.” Now other educators are looking to follow suit, starting a phenomenon – a Bible Raps phenomenon.
“We feel rap is the perfect genre to carry on that tradition in a modern midrashic pursuit as rap is the most popular genre of music today and really allows you to say a lot of words, tell a whole long story, in a short period of time,” Bar says.
Just take a listen to “Cain and Abel: Am I my brother’s keeper?” Bar introduces the idea of social action and presents injustices that still go on today since that time.
No - I ain't feelin' that, turn on the news and the news is revealin' that.
Single mom going crazy, working two jobs can't provide for her baby
People in Darfur like "Who's gonna save me? Enslave me?"
Am I my Brother's, my brother's keeper?
I'm all about my people, I'm all about my people.
Ha Shomer Achi Anochi.
Finding himself focused a lot more on Sunday school preparation than his big city performances, Bar said he realized being a Jewish educator was a better fit for his passions than a “rock star.” He decided to take his five or so Bible Raps to PresenTense and see what they could do.
Through the PresenTense Institute, Bar met his musical partner in this project Ori Salzberg, and was able to receive funding to begin a tour. Bar is now on tour across camps, schools and Birthrights, performing his full-length Bible Raps album. Twenty schools across the country are piloting his new curriculum program, incorporating the CD in classrooms with the help of a teacher’s guide.
The program also provides a rap lyrics writing workshops, which is one way to get students thinking about their Jewish identity even if that means helping a student express they have no clue what Judaism is about, Bar says. For others who know Torah well, they can use the writing of lyrics as a gateway to the sources, he says.
For Bar, rap was always a tool and outlet for expressing himself and his identity (i.e. “I’m not white, I’m Jewish” lyrics). “Rap has allowed me to become close friends with a lot of people I wouldn’t otherwise get down with,” Bar says. “It’s allowed me to be part of a culture...I am hip hop by the very fact that I couldn’t articulate myself without using hip hop language.”
Bar uses hip hop language for his own Torah learning. As a self-labeled high-holiday Jew, Bar says he always intuitively knew he was Jewish to the core and had an active relationship with the mystery of it all. But, he realized, if he is going to do Bible Raps for real, he needed to learn Torah more comprehensively. So he went off to Pardes, an Institute for Jewish Studies in Israel.
The tradition of Jewish thought is an amazing well of wisdom that has an ongoing dialogue between the generations about the mystery of it all going back 3,000 years, Bar says. “I love shouting down into this well and hearing how the echo returns. Sometimes I record this echo and call it ‘curriculum,’” he says.
The curriculum, Bar believes, crosses all denominations. We’re about Torah, he says. We trust the core texts’ gravity. “It’s your world and your orbit. We just wanna focus your lense, inform the choice of the reform, trade favorite Rashi readings with the Orthodox. No limit,” he says.
Written by Monica Rozenfeld
Learn Torah, bit by bit, from alphabet, to sentences, to pages, with phrases from sages oh baby…
Rapper and educator Matt Bar infects his students with Torah. He’ll take a lesson plan, spin it on its head, and bust out rap lyrics that get kids crazy about learning. These lyrics from his song “Rabbi Akiva and Raquel: Learn Torah” not only teaches the story of Akiva’s struggle to study, but also teaches students they can learn anything if they try, bit by bit.
Incorporating passages of Torah, commentary and Midrashim, Bar may get the prize for developing a curriculum that get students running in Hebrew school doors to learn. Bar thought using his hip hop talent would just make his job a little easier, but instead he became the unofficial “Best Hebrew School Teacher Ever.” Now other educators are looking to follow suit, starting a phenomenon – a Bible Raps phenomenon.
“We feel rap is the perfect genre to carry on that tradition in a modern midrashic pursuit as rap is the most popular genre of music today and really allows you to say a lot of words, tell a whole long story, in a short period of time,” Bar says.
Just take a listen to “Cain and Abel: Am I my brother’s keeper?” Bar introduces the idea of social action and presents injustices that still go on today since that time.
No - I ain't feelin' that, turn on the news and the news is revealin' that.
Single mom going crazy, working two jobs can't provide for her baby
People in Darfur like "Who's gonna save me? Enslave me?"
Am I my Brother's, my brother's keeper?
I'm all about my people, I'm all about my people.
Ha Shomer Achi Anochi.
Finding himself focused a lot more on Sunday school preparation than his big city performances, Bar said he realized being a Jewish educator was a better fit for his passions than a “rock star.” He decided to take his five or so Bible Raps to PresenTense and see what they could do.
Through the PresenTense Institute, Bar met his musical partner in this project Ori Salzberg, and was able to receive funding to begin a tour. Bar is now on tour across camps, schools and Birthrights, performing his full-length Bible Raps album. Twenty schools across the country are piloting his new curriculum program, incorporating the CD in classrooms with the help of a teacher’s guide.
The program also provides a rap lyrics writing workshops, which is one way to get students thinking about their Jewish identity even if that means helping a student express they have no clue what Judaism is about, Bar says. For others who know Torah well, they can use the writing of lyrics as a gateway to the sources, he says.
For Bar, rap was always a tool and outlet for expressing himself and his identity (i.e. “I’m not white, I’m Jewish” lyrics). “Rap has allowed me to become close friends with a lot of people I wouldn’t otherwise get down with,” Bar says. “It’s allowed me to be part of a culture...I am hip hop by the very fact that I couldn’t articulate myself without using hip hop language.”
Bar uses hip hop language for his own Torah learning. As a self-labeled high-holiday Jew, Bar says he always intuitively knew he was Jewish to the core and had an active relationship with the mystery of it all. But, he realized, if he is going to do Bible Raps for real, he needed to learn Torah more comprehensively. So he went off to Pardes, an Institute for Jewish Studies in Israel.
The tradition of Jewish thought is an amazing well of wisdom that has an ongoing dialogue between the generations about the mystery of it all going back 3,000 years, Bar says. “I love shouting down into this well and hearing how the echo returns. Sometimes I record this echo and call it ‘curriculum,’” he says.
The curriculum, Bar believes, crosses all denominations. We’re about Torah, he says. We trust the core texts’ gravity. “It’s your world and your orbit. We just wanna focus your lense, inform the choice of the reform, trade favorite Rashi readings with the Orthodox. No limit,” he says.
Written by Monica Rozenfeld
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