Hevria is an American

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

arts and culture website and collective.

History

Hevria was founded as a group blog in April 2014 by writers

Elad Nehorai Elad Nehorai (born September 23, 1984) is an American writer, activist, and social and political commentator. A left-wing, formerly Orthodox Jew, his writing and activism typically revolves around social justice, mental health, religion, oppositi ...

and Matthue Roth. The site's name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the Hebrew words "''chevra''" (group or society) and "''briah''" (creation). Roth and Nehorai conceived of the project during an email conversation in 2012 with writer Chaya Kurtz, who had gotten attention for an ''

xoJane ''xoJane'' (also known as ''xoJane.com'') was an American online magazine from 2011 to 2016 geared toward women and founded by Jane Pratt and co-published by Say Media. Pratt was the founding editor of '' Sassy'' and '' Jane'' magazines. In l ...

'' article entitled
What Women's Media Needs to Know About Chassidic Women
"; the three theorized that a full website could give even more insight into

Hasidic Jews Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those affi ...

, and Nehorai subsequently recruited other blogging contacts to participate. Beginning as a collaborative group blog for personal essays, poetry, and fiction writing, the website evolved into a creative collective hosting communal gatherings, arts workshops, weekend retreats, "creative farbrengens", and other events. Other ''Hevria'' projects have included "Hevria Sessions", a series of live studio performances by up-and-coming Jewish musicians such as Levi Robin and Bulletproof Stockings, and ''Neshamas'', a sister site that publishes anonymous stories involving heavier topics such as

abuse Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

and

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

in the religious Jewish community. On January 2, 2020, Nehorai announced that he would be stepping down as editor of ''Hevria'', citing concerns that the attention he was receiving as an activist was distracting from the site's mission. He clarified that Roth would be taking over the site's leadership and that he would remain involved in a less visible capacity. In January 2022, Nehorai posted an article to his newsletter giving more details about his decision to leave ''Hevria'', in particular citing the backlash to an article he had written defending

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

in the Orthodox community as a culminating moment.

Projects

In 2016, Nehorai and filmmaker Matthew Bowman began producing through ''Hevria'' a five-episode

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

on the Israeli community of Bat Ayin, located in the

Gush Etzion Gush Etzion (, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural villages that were founded in 1943� ...

area.

''HevriaCast''

From 2017 to 2019, Nehorai hosted ''HevriaCast'', the website's official

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

, wherein he interviewed artists, writers, and other creatives in the Jewish world. The podcast was recorded at CLAL Studios in New York City, and the standard intro and outro music was the song "Voice Lessons" by

Darshan Darshan, a Sanskrit word meaning "sight" or "viewing", may refer to: Ceremony and religion * Darshan (Indian religions), the auspicious sight of a divine image or holy person; also a school of Hindu philosophy * Darshan (Judaism), a Scriptural ...

. Many ''Hevria'' contributors were guests on the show, as were Hasidic artist Yitzchok Moully, comedian

Mendy Pellin Mendy Pellin (born 20th century) is an American Chabad Hasidic actor and comedian with a web-based satirical news show, ''The Mendy Report''. "Mr. Pellin, a garrulous 25-year-old, was beginning yet another segment as the host of ''The Mendy Repo ...

, actress and filmmaker Amy Guterson, social media personality

Adina Sash Adina Miles Sash (born Esther Adina Miles) is an American Jewish activist and social media influencer. Sash gained notability within Orthodox Judaism for her stage character, FlatbushGirl, on Instagram. Her comedic brand of activism focuses on t ...

, and musicians Dalia Shusterman,

Isaiah Rothstein Isaiah Rothstein is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, musician and public speaker. He previously served as the Spiritual and Experiential Educator at Carmel Academy of Greenwich in Greenwich, Connecticut. Rothstein is best known for his e ...

, Bram Presser,

Jon Madof Jon Madof (born May 28, 1974) is an American guitarist, composer, and leader of the bands Rashanim and Zion80, who has performed extensively with other artists including John Zorn, Matisyahu, Marc Ribot, and Frank London. PopMatters' Sean Murph ...

Basya Schechter Basya Schechter is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, cantor, and music teacher. She is the lead singer and founder of the world/folk rock band Pharaoh's Daughter and has released two solo albums. She has ...

, and Eprhyme, among others.

Notable contributors

, blogger and commentator; co-founder and former editor * Matthue Roth, author and poet; co-founder and current editor * Lela Casey, columnist and assistant editor of ''The Wisdom Daily''; guest post editor *

Shais Rishon Shais Rishon, also known by the pen name MaNishtana, is an African-American Orthodox rabbi, activist, and writer. He has written for '' Tablet'', '' Kveller'', ''The Forward'', ''Jewcy'', and '' Hevria'', as well as writing a semi-autobiographi ...

, also known as MaNishtana, African-American Orthodox blogger and author * Chaya Kurtz, essayist whose ''

XoJane ''xoJane'' (also known as ''xoJane.com'') was an American online magazine from 2011 to 2016 geared toward women and founded by Jane Pratt and co-published by Say Media. Pratt was the founding editor of '' Sassy'' and '' Jane'' magazines. In l ...

'' article inspired ''Hevria'' * Andrea Grinberg,

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and creator o
Wrapunzel
* Merri Ukraincik, columnist at ''

New Jersey Jewish News The ''New Jersey Jewish News'' (''NJJN'') is a weekly newspaper. Coverage and scope In addition to other issues, it covers local, national, and world events; Jewish culture and the arts; and Jewish holidays, celebrations, and other topics of int ...

'' and author of ''I Live. Send Help.'', a history of the

Joint Distribution Committee Advert Where and how does this article resemble an advert and how should it be improved? See: Wikipedia:Spam (you might trthe Teahouseif you have questions). American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish ...

Peter Himmelman Peter Himmelman (born November 23, 1959, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and film and television composer from Minnesota, who formerly played in the Minneapolis indie rock band Sussman Lawrence befo ...

, musician and author * Rachel Kann, poet and spiritual leader * Saul Sudin, filmmaker, producer of '' Punk Jews'', husband of artist

Elke Reva Sudin Elke Reva Sudin (born 1987) is an American painter, illustrator, fashion designer, and lecturer. In 2010, her ''Hipsters and Hassids'' painting series premiered in New York City, comparing and contrasting the Hasidic Jewish and hipster Brooklyn ...

* Yocheved Sidof, founder of Lamplighters Yeshivah *

Salvador Litvak Salvador Alejandro Litvak is a Chilean-American filmmaker, author and social media influencer. He has written and directed three theatrically released feature films, '' When Do We Eat?'' (2006), '' Saving Lincoln'' (2013) and ''Guns & Moses'' ( ...

, filmmaker and social media influencer known as Accidental Talmudist * Shlomo Gaisin, Hasidic musician and lead singer of

Zusha The Zusha () is a river in Tula and Oryol Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka. The length of the river is 234 km. The area of its basin is 6,950 km².

* Sarah Tuttle-Singer, Israeli-American blogger and columnist *

Eric Kaplan Eric Kaplan is an American television writer and producer. His work has included shows such as '' Late Show with David Letterman'', '' Andy Richter Controls the Universe'', ''Malcolm in the Middle'', '' Futurama'' and ''The Simpsons''. He also w ...

, television writer for ''

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'', ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes. The ...

'', and ''

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References

{{Reflist Blogs about Jews and Judaism Internet properties established in 2014 2014 establishments in the United States American blogs