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This Orthodox Jewish model made history at New York Fashion Week
(New York Jewish Week) — When disability activist Lily Brasch was asked if she would walk the runway as a model for New York Fashion Week, she didn’t know if she would be able to do it.
That’s not because she has a rare form of muscular dystrophy, which weakens muscles and limits her ability to walk. Rather, it was unfortunate timing: The show was set for Friday evening, when the weekly Jewish holiday of Shabbat begins.
But Brasch, who is Orthodox and goes by the stage name Lily B., quickly devised a workaround: She took her turn on the catwalk in Midtown at 5:00 p.m. and, instead of schlepping back uptown to her Morningside Heights apartment, quickly headed to a nearby hotel to welcome Shabbat with her sisters.
Brasch, center, and her sisters, who also live in New York, celebrated Shabbat at a nearby hotel after Brasch walked the runway. (Courtesy)
And so on Friday, Feb. 10, Brasch became the first model with muscular dystrophy to walk the runway unassisted at New York Fashion Week, and the second person with the condition ever to appear. (The first was actress and model Jillian Mercado in 2020, who used a wheelchair.)
“It felt really good — it felt freeing,” said Brasch, 22, who modeled a gold sari from the brand Randhawa, which specializes in modern South Asian style. “I definitely never thought I would do something like this.”
“I prioritize representing disability, and pride, and just bringing joy to that community, but I also prioritize remaining truthful to my faith,” Brasch said. “It was great teamwork to get me on the stage and represent disability, and then come right off to go celebrate Shabbat.”
When Brasch was 16, she was diagnosed with centronuclear myopathy, a rare form of non-progressive muscular dystrophy. She was told she would never be able to walk or lift heavy objects unassisted due to her disability. At the time she was disheartened — but she said she used the diagnosis as motivation to “prove barriers are meant to be broken.”
Walking in New York Fashion Week — which runs through Wednesday — is the latest in a series of triumphs for Brasch, who moved to New York last August to attend Columbia University. Last March, Brasch climbed Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona — a feat which she calls “My Everest.” She’s also competed in body-building competitions and loves going to the gym.
She also founded the Born to Prove foundation, which promotes disability awareness and breaking barriers.
Though the Chicago native has not always been outward about her Judaism in her activism — in fact, at first she was advised by friends and family not to bring attention to it — Brasch has come to realize how much her religion guides her.
“My Jewish identity has inspired me in that we’re all put on this earth for a reason. Every single one of us has a purpose and that’s what my religion has helped me find,” she said. Her purpose, Brasch added, is to represent strength and beauty for people with disabilities in the next generation.
She also wants to be an inspiration within the Jewish community. “There is a lack of representation in the Jewish community, at least in my Orthodox community, of people with disabilities actually achieving things,” she said. “It’s not really talked about and it’s looked down upon.” Groups like RespectAbility and the Rudin Family Foundation have been working to change that.
She was worried about posting on social media from Fashion Week, knowing her observant friends might question the timing around Shabbat. But Brasch said she was pleasantly surprised when so many congratulated her on representing disability and Judaism and staying true to herself on the runway. “That was one of the best things for me to see because that was my initial goal: to show that there are people with disabilities in the Jewish community and things are changing,” she said.
Brasch is also partnering with Movinglife, an Israeli manufacturer of folding mobility scooters — a deal she inked just before she found out she would walk in Fashion Week. The company partnered with rabbis as well as researchers from the Zomet Institute in Israel to ensure that their scooters could be used on Shabbat even though they are electric, said Brasch, who currently uses the scooters to get around.
With her modeling debut behind her, Brasch said she would walk in Fashion Week again — but she’d rather see other models with disabilities on the runways. “I hope that next time it’s not me — it’s the next girl,” she said.
“The feeling of overcoming something and the feeling of being put out there and being cheered on is something everyone should feel,” Brasch added. “Often, with a disability, I hear ‘poor you.’ It can’t be like that anymore.”
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The post This Orthodox Jewish model made history at New York Fashion Week appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Forverts podcast, episode 8: Israeli voices
דער פֿאָרווערטס האָט שוין אַרויסגעלאָזט דעם נײַנטן קאַפּיטל פֿונעם ייִדישן פּאָדקאַסט, Yiddish With Rukhl. דאָס מאָל איז די טעמע „ישׂראלדיקע שטימעס“.
אין דעם קאַפּיטל וועט איר הערן צוויי אַרטיקלען: מיכאל קרוטיקאָווס רעצענזיע פֿון שירי שאַפּיראַס בוך דערציילונגען, וואָס אַנטפּלעקן דאגות פֿונעם „מילעניאַל“ דור, וואָס איר קענט אַליין לייענען דאָ, און בני מערס פּערזענלעכן עסיי, „דאָס אײַנפּאַקן אַ טאָרבע פֿאַרן לויפֿן אין שוצקעלער האָט עפּעס דערוועקט אין מיר“, וואָס איר קענט לייענען דאָ.
צו הערן דעם פּאָדקאַסט, גיט אַ קוועטש דאָ.
שירי שאַפּיראַס דערצײלונגען
The post Forverts podcast, episode 8: Israeli voices appeared first on The Forward.
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Tidbits: The first director of the Polin Museum is back
Tidbits is a Forverts feature of easy news briefs in Yiddish that you can listen to or read, or both! If you read the article and don’t know a word, just click on it and the translation appears. Listen to the report here:
דער ערשטער דירעקטאָר פֿונעם „פּולין מוזיי פֿון דער געשיכטע פֿון די פּוילישע ייִדן אין וואַרשע“ — דאַריוש סטאָלאַ — איז לעצטנס ווידער באַשטימט געוואָרן ווי זײַן דירעקטאָר. אַ צאָל אָבסערוואַטאָרן האַלטן אַז דאָס איז אַ סימבאָלישער נצחון פֿאַרן ייִדישן אָנדענק אין פּוילן.
באַלד ווי דער מוזיי איז געגרינדעט געוואָרן אין 2014 האָט סטאָלאַ, ווי דער דירעקטאָר, שטאַרק באַטאָנט דעם חיובֿ פֿון פּוילן צו אָנערקענען איר פֿאַרטיליקטע ייִדישע פֿאַרגאַנגענהייט. דער געוועזענער קולטור־מיניסטער פֿון דער נאַציאָנאַליסטישער פּאַרטיי, וואָס האָט דעמאָלט געהערשט אין פּוילן, האָט אים אָבער באַשולדיקט אין „פּאָליטיזירן“ דעם מוזיי.
סטאָלאַ האָט למשל אַרויסגערופֿן פּראָטעסטן בײַ די הויכע באַאַמטע פֿון דער רעגירונג צוליב אַן אויסשטעלונג אין 2018, וואָס האָט דאָקומענטירט דער רעגירונגס אַנטיסעמיטישע קאַמפּאַניע אין 1968, וואָס האָט פֿאַרטריבן ייִדן פֿון זייערע שטעלעס און געצוווּנגען בערך 13,000 פֿון זיי צו פֿאַרלאָזן דאָס לאַנד.
הגם סטאָלאַ האָט דעמאָלט געוווּנען אַ קאָנקורס צו פֿאַרלענגערן זײַן קאַדענץ האָט דער קולטור־מיניסטער אים פֿאַרטריבן פֿונעם פּאָסטן.
מיט אַ יאָר פֿריִער, אין 2018, האָט פּוילן דורכגעפֿירט אַ געזעץ, וואָס פֿאַרווערט דאָס באַשולדיקן פּוילן אָדער די פּאָלאַקן אין קאָלאַבאָרירן מיט די דײַטשן. שפּעטער האָט מען עס געביטן פֿון אַ פֿאַרברעכן וואָס דראָט זיצן אין תּפֿיסה אויף בלויז אַ ציווילער געזעץ־ברעכונג. קריטיקער טענהן אַז דער גאַנצער ענין האָט אָבער שטאַרק געשטערט דעם געביט פֿון פֿאָרשן די געשיכטע.
איצט איז סטאָלאַ ווידער באַשטימט געוואָרן ווי דער דירעקטאָר פֿונעם מוזיי דורך דער קולטור־דירעקטאָרין פֿון דער הײַנטיקער צענטריסטישער רעגירונג, מאַרטאַ טשענקאָווסקאַ. רעדנדיק צו סטאָלאַן האָט זי דערקלערט: „אין 2019 האָט דער מיניסטער פּיאָטער גלינסקי באַשלאָסן צו איגנאָרירן די רעזולטאַטן פֿונעם קאָנקורס. מע האָט אײַך דעמאָלט, מיט זעקס יאָר צוריק, געדאַרפֿט באַשטימען פֿאַר דעם אַמט. טײַערער פּראָפֿעסאָר, זאָל זײַן מיט מיט מזל!“
סטאָלאַ האָט זי באַדאַנקט און געזאָגט: „די מיסיע פֿונעם מוזיי איז נאָך וויכטיקער הײַנט צוליב די פֿינצטערע כּוחות וואָס פֿאַרקרימען דעם אָנדענק פֿון דער פּויליש־ייִדישער פֿאַרגאַנגענהייט.“
צו זען דעם אַרטיקל אויף ענגליש, גיט אַ קוועטש דאָ.
To see the article in English, click here.
The post Tidbits: The first director of the Polin Museum is back appeared first on The Forward.
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Assault of Hebrew-speaking Israelis in San Jose, Calif., spurs outcry and investigation
(JTA) — Jewish leaders in California are condemning an assault of Hebrew-speaking Israelis outside a San Jose cafe on Sunday that has sparked viral video and a police investigation.
J. The Jewish News of Northern California obtained multiple videos of the assault and its immediate aftermath and spoke to the Israeli men, who said the two groups had not interacted before the incident. One of them said he recalled hearing one of the assailants say “f—ing Jew” during the attack.
The videos show three men punching an older man as diners look on, some shouting but none intervening. One of the assailants loses his shoe and retrieves it before he and the other two men with him run off along Santana Row, a thoroughfare lined by outdoor dining. The videos do not show what happened immediately before the assault began.
The J. also spoke to multiple witnesses, including a retail worker whose parents were born in Iran and said he heard one of the assailants speaking Farsi, the language spoken there.
The incident comes at a time of high alert for Israelis and Jews because of the U.S-Israel war on Iran, which has a record of staging attacks on Jewish targets around the world. It also adds to a string of incidents, many in Europe, in which Israelis abroad say they have been assaulted because of their national identity when someone has heard them speaking Hebrew.
Police in San Jose say they are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. No arrests have yet been announced.
“Antisemitism and all acts of hatred have no place in San Jose,” Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. “I have been in touch with our police department and leaders in the local Jewish community regarding this deeply disturbing incident and will continue to monitor the situation closely as the investigation continues.”
Jewish Silicon Valley, a nonprofit serving the region, said it was working with a range of local groups and officials to respond to the incident, including Chabad of Almaden, where the Israeli men said they first met; the Israeli consulate; and County of Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, whose online biography also notes that he has also been the president of his local synagogue.
“Unfortunately, we are ready for these types of moments,” Jewish Silicon Valley said in a message to constituents. “Our longstanding relationships with law enforcement and elected officials allow us to mobilize immediately in moments of crisis.”
The post Assault of Hebrew-speaking Israelis in San Jose, Calif., spurs outcry and investigation appeared first on The Forward.