Author: Chatzkaleh Kofer
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Aryeh’s Story
Aryeh is 21 and was raised in Seattle. Today, Aryeh considers himself to be an atheist, but a human before anything else. In many ways he identifies more with his hunter gatherer, primate, and non-mammalian ancestors than his more recent Jewish ones but feels a cultural kinship not related to religion for his fellow Jews.…
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Why I left – A personal documentary by Eli
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Seder Questions
By C. It’s that time of the year again. It’s nearly midnight, the table is laden with silver, the family is gathered around expectantly, and everyone is hungry. My father, resplendent in his kittel and shtreimel, claps his hands and intones “Kan haben shoiel”, as he calls upon my youngest brother to begin the mah…
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Tell Us About Your Resources
On the Off The Derech website, you will find links to many resources, such as support organizations, meetup groups, Facebook groups, etc. Please let us know what you think should be added by leaving us a comment. Thanks! Your Off The Derech webmasters
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Ezra’s Story
Ezra is 23 years old and lives in New York City. He tries to bring Orthodox non-believers together through his blog, FreethinkingJewboy.com. How would you describe your religious upbringing? I’d say my upbringing was in between Modern Orthodox and the frum right-wing. I’ve been called “MO” by right-wingers and “yeshivish” by MO people. I had…
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The High Price of Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Life
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/magazine/the-high-price-of-leaving-ultra-orthodox-life.html
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Documentary on BBC about Stamford Hill OTD People
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04n1x7p
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Steve Miller’s Story
Steve is 25, married, and has 3 kids. He was raised Chassidic and turned Atheist two years ago. Hi Steve, could you describe your family’s religious background to us? My parents are part of the Ultra-Orthodox Hasidic sect, called Bobov. As in most other Hasidic sects, we grew up sheltered from the outside world. Movies…
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Carlo Strenger – A renegade Jew with a Universal Message
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Welcome to our new website!
This site is dedicated to the memory of Deb Tambor, a young mother who was rejected by her family and community for the ‘sin’ of following her own path and exercising her right to religious freedom. Dedicated on Chanukah, the festival of lights, this site aims to spread light to those who are left in…