Jericho Vincent is an American author and speaker. They are best known for their books, ''Cut Me Loose'' and ''Legends of the Talmud''.

Early life and education

Born Leah Vincent, they were raised in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

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. They were kicked out of their ultra-Orthodox Jewish home at the age of 16. They were a student at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

from 2002 to 2007. They graduated from Harvard's

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

with a

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degree as a Pforzheimer Fellow in 2009.

Career

In their 2014 memoir, ''Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood'', Vincent describes their own experience leaving the Haredi Jewish community, and how they came to lead a self-determined life. They were named one of Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 in 2014. Vincent is an advocate for "reform" within the Haredi Jewish community. They have spoken out on issues of abuse in the religious community. Vincent is both a member and a board member of Footsteps, an organization that serves former Haredi Jews who seek to enter or explore the world beyond the Jewish communities in which they were raised.KatieCouric.com: Leah Vincent", ''KatieCouric.com'', May 7, 2012. Their essays calling for reform have been published by the Huffington Post, Unpious,Leah Vincent, "The Post-Ultra-Orthodox Death Prophecy", ''Unpious.com'', October 7, 2013. and Zeek.Leah Vincent, "Victims Protest: Rabbis, Protect Our Children", ''Forward.com'', May 7, 2012. In July 2013, in partnership with Footsteps and the

UJA-Federation of New York UJA-Federation of New York ( United Jewish Appeal⁣ – ⁣ Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, Inc.) is the largest local philanthropy in the world. Headquartered in New York City, the organization raises and allocates funds annual ...

, Vincent co-ordinated and hosted an event with a panel of rabbis from across the spectrum of progressive Jewish communities; the title of the event was "Beyond Romanticization and Vilification". Vincent's speech and the ensuing panel discussion were broadcast by Shalom TV."Footsteps Panel: Vilification/Romanticization ," ''

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'', May 7, 2012. In 2016, Vincent participated in a project called Real Women Real Stories founded by

Matan Uziel Matan Uziel (; born 21 April 1985) is an Israeli former high-tech entrepreneur and documentary filmmaker. He is also the founder of the Real Women Real Stories channel on YouTube. Discovery of Elsagate videos (2017–present) November 2017 On ...

. Rav Jericho Vincent is the Rabbi of Temple Of The Stranger, a radical Jewish Space based in New York City.

Personal life

Vincent was thrown out of her ultra-orthodox family at the age of 16. In 2019, Vincent came out as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

, and changed their first name to "Jericho".

Publications

*''Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood'', New York:

Nan A. Talese Nan Talese (née Ahearn; born December 19, 1933) is a retired American editor, and a veteran of the New York publishing industry. Talese was the senior vice president of Doubleday. From 1990 to 2020, Talese was the publisher and editorial directo ...

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

, January 2014,

References

External links

Jericho Vincent's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Jericho 1982 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American memoirists 21st-century American non-fiction writers American non-binary writers American religious writers American bloggers Brooklyn College alumni Former Haredim Harvard Kennedy School alumni Jewish American activists Jewish American memoirists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish bloggers Orthodox Judaism in the United States Religious autobiographies Writers from Pittsburgh Non-binary Jews American secular Jews