Orthodox Jewish All Stars honors extraordinary achievers on a ‘modest red carpet’
NEW YORK – If Hollywood were to meet the Orthodox high society of Long Island’s Five Towns or Brooklyn’s Borough Park, it would look like this. Kosher wine from boutique wineries spilling into shiny glasses, designer dresses and custom wigs, schmoozing with VIPs, waiters offering Glatt gourmet dishes and photographers who try to capture all this glamour in their lens.
Welcome to Jew in the City’s fifth annual Orthodox Jewish All Stars Premiere Party.
The event took place on Sunday night just beside Times Square, honoring an “accomplished and diverse group of individuals who have achieved great success in their relevant fields while maintaining a Torah-observant lifestyle.”
With nearly 500 guests (many of whom paid the full price of $125 a ticket) it was the largest All-Star party yet organized by Allison Josephs, the founder and director of Jew in the City.
This year’s honorees were David Mazouz, teen star of Fox’s Gotham Batman franchise television show; businessman Ahmed Zayat, owner and breeder of the Triple Crown winning racehorse American Pharoah; Neil Schloss, vice president and chief financial officer, Mobility, Ford Motor Company; and the Honorable Ruchie Freier, the first Hassidic female judge. Other current honorees included David A. Adler, best-selling author of the Cam Jansen mystery books; Frayda Ginsburg, former director of legal affairs at Burberry Americas; Chaim Lebovits, CEO of Brainstorm Technology (a pioneer in initiating a phase III trial in a treatment for ALS); and Sam Rascoff, former director of NYPD’s Intelligence Analysis Unit.
Each one of the “stars” went on stage to get a statue from Josephs and give a short speech. All of the winners talked about their Orthodoxy and Jewish identity.
“Make Kiddush Hashem [sanctification of the Name] out there, because the opportunities are incredible,” said Freier in her speech. The mother of six, who was elected a judge in Brooklyn in 2016, said: “Each and every one of us – be the most you can be, and with your emuna, with your faith, you will be successful.”
Relating to her fellow winners, she said, “We are all different people; we come from different backgrounds and different communities, but we all have our own standards. Stick with them. Do not feel for one second that you have to compromise any of your religious standards.”
In the lobby outside the hall, Israeli pop in the background, decorative stars swing from the ceiling. This created the “star boulevard” of American Orthodoxy, and soft spotlights revealed that every star had the name of a man or a woman who was among last years’ winners: Ilana Wernick, co-executive producer of prime time TV shows; best-selling novelist Faye Kellerman; former US senator Joe Lieberman; professional boxer Dmitry Salita; former US ambassador Norman Eisen, and others.
Jew in the City is active on social media, with 90,000 followers. Its goal, Josephs told The Jerusalem Post, is to “change the meaning of the word ‘Orthodoxy.’ The word ‘Orthodox’ is only used when people are talking in the media about people who are molesting children or throwing rocks. When you do something good, you’re just a person or just Jewish, you are never Orthodox. We want to use it davka [deliberately] in a positive and good way.”
When asked who she would consider Orthodox, Josephs paused to consider. After thinking about it, she said she wanted “a big tent” of observant Jews.
This year, Jew in the City collected donations for a relatively new project, Makom, which focuses on people who left Orthodoxy and are still looking for a Jewish identity and a community. Joseph said the story of people who went “off the derech” (off the path) has often also been told in a distorted way that paints the Orthodox community negatively. She had the same criticism of the documentary series One of Us, broadcasted recently by HBO. “Since One of Us came out, we’re having a demand that we cannot handle,” she told the Post.
Orthodox All Stars seems to be a good start at addressing the issue. According to Josephs, she has already received great praise for the event.
“One person told me, Josephs said, ‘It was amazing. The only thing I can say is that such a Kiddush Hashem should be held in Citi Field stadium,’” home of the New York Mets baseball team.
Josephs’s response? “I think I just accepted my next challenge.”