Credit: Flickr/Lab2112 Your Brooklyn is different from my Brooklyn. Both of our Brooklyns have 2.6 million people. They both contain many different cultures and ethnicities. It is ironic that its motto from the original Dutch settlers is Eendraght Maeckt Maght, or “Unity Gives Strength.” Brooklyn has so many groups that unity is nearly nonexistent. Read More »

When I was eight, I decided that I no longer believed in God. I had been going to Catholic mass with my Irish-born nanny my whole life, praying that He’d speak to me, but I had heard nothing. Read More »

Strictly Kosher Reading: Popular Literature and the Condition of Contemporary Orthodoxy (Jewish Identity in Post Modern Society) By: Yoel Finkelman Academic Studies Press, 250 Pages I have a confession to make: I, Leah Vincent, possessor of six years Read More »

Credit: Ollie Crafoord He pressed all the weight of his body onto mine, climbing onto me in the passenger seat. His head touched the beige interior of the car, as I put my feet up around him on the dash. It was warmer than usual, but still an unbelievably cold December night. Read More »

Did I ever think that I’d be making a film about leaving the Orthodox Jewish community? Putting my most personal memories—my home videos, excerpts from my diary—on the big screen? Definitely not. I began the film when I was a sophomore in college. If you’d met me then, you wouldn’t have known that I’d grown up in the Orthodox Jewish community. Read More »

The room was dark, aside from the glow of the screens and the soft light of the bedside lamp. My brother was lying on the bed, his skin a collage of greens and browns, only a pale shadow of his once rosy cheeks remained. White foam framed his mouth, which was held open by oxygen tubes. His eyes, half open were those of a dead man. Read More »

Credit: Feliz Paloma Often, on her way to the welfare office, Mrs. Stein drove through the Syrian neighborhood. It was full of large opulent houses, the same ugly Mercedes station wagon in every driveway and dozens of Mexican housekeepers. Her friends joked that they only taught Spanish in Syrian yeshivas so the students could speak to their maids. Read More »

Photo: Rachel F. Young/Fotolia …. Ever since I met Yitz and his friends, I’ve been struggling with the question: How do I explain Williamsburg to my mother and Alabama to the Chasidim? When I first mentioned my new friends to my mother, she was less than thrilled. “These don’t seem like your people ,” she said. Read More »

Hundreds of people find Unpious each day, coming from many different sources. Some arrive, we imagine, completely unintentionally through the magic and brilliance of search engines. Read More »

…. Hey Yitzi, it’s H. I know you sat waiting last night, probably drank your coffee as you scanned the page we were supposed to be studying, looking at the clock wondering if I’ll show up (hoping perhaps that I won’t — do you do that too?). Read More »

credit: Biggaboss He has not spoken to his wife in four days. This is tolerable. After thirty-eight years of her mounting nervous energy, a little peace and quiet is not unpleasant. They are driving through the empty streets of Forestfield. The dark car is filled with the heavy odor of her perfume. Read More »

Dear Posek: I’m an OTD girl, former Bais Yaakov student, etc… etc…, and now I’m dating a secular Jewish guy. We’ve been dating for a year now, and my parents want us to get married. My parents aren’t happy that I’m OTD, but they’ve come to accept it. And they say they want the ‘nachas’ of seeing me build a family. Read More »

credit: Story Accents Sparking the ambitions of every kiruv/celebrity-hungry chabadnik, Oprah visited a mikveh and a family in Crown Heights (and a family in Borough Park), for a segment on her new show. Read More »

We are now accepting submissions for the  Unpious November Shorts Contest: “Beyond the Metchitza: Moving beyond boundaries and enclosures.” This contest is for women to tell their stories of moving beyond the confinements and restrictions that have kept them enclosed, literally or figuratively. Read More »

credit: tsmall I was thirteen years old. My stepbrother was visiting for the weekend and he was sleeping in my room. My stepbrother’s relationship with his father and my mother had been shaky. My mother told me he had been violent. He had thrown furniture at her the night that he was sent away. Read More »

Check out some of the old Unpious favorites! This week,”Disturbed by the Bubble ” by Samuel Katz: No more gas, in the rig, can’t even get it started Nothing heard, nothing said, can’t even speak about it All my life, on my head, don’t wanna think about it Feels like I’m going insane, yeah Yes, I’m going insane. Read More »

Some are funny, some are intriguing, some are just spot-on, and some, well, are so damn idiotic that we can’t help liking them. The following are this week’s gems that we find worthy of repeating. Read More »

Credit: brains the head Every so often Yoelish wakes up in the morning especially enthused, the birth of a brilliant idea rousing him from his deep slumber. “You know what just occurred to me that we do?” he’d say to this snoozeaholic. “Listen to this great plan for a minute. It’s about you, us!” Then he’d explain. Read More »

Hundreds of people find Unpious each day, coming from many different sources. Some arrive, we imagine, completely unintentionally through the magic and brilliance of search engines. Read More »

Credit: gotamistllc (flickr) Every revolution needs a bus ride. The civil rights movement had Rosa Parks’ bus ride on December 1, 1955 and the Freedom Riders in 1961. Now the revolution I always wanted to see has a bus ride too. Read More »