What would you do if your friends and family were portrayed disparagingly in the media for the whole world to see? Would you silently shrug your shoulders in resignation, or would you do everything in your power to fight for them, to share the truth about who they really are?
That was my dilemma during the early summer of 2021 when Netflix’s My Unorthodox Life was being promoted before its release. From the interviews I read and the press I saw, it was clear that the show would be depicting Orthodox Jews and Orthodoxy in a very negative light. In an attempt to tell one woman’s departure from Orthodoxy, tropes, stereotypes and myths were flaunted as facts. As I read press interviews about claims made about Orthodox women and their supposed practices, it dawned on me: this isn’t true, and I, as an Orthodox Jewish woman, am being misrepresented. But what could I do about it?
Salon owner Adina Burstyn also collects and distributes Shabbat meals for families facing serious illnesses. Photo: Dina Brookmyer
The final straw was when a friend told me that after her married daughter binged the show with friends, she started questioning her own modesty standards. While I never thought I could influence world opinion about Orthodox Jews, maybe I could take this opportunity to strengthen my fellow Orthodox Jews. So, I took to Instagram and Facebook and posted the following challenge alongside my picture: “Everyone has their story . . . Who are you? Join me in sharing who you are as an Orthodox woman. Let the world know. #myorthodoxlife.”
Only Hashem knows how a social media post goes viral. I had only a few hundred followers on Instagram at the time, so it certainly had nothing to do with my reach. One person was inspired to post her story with a picture and that led to another. Frustrated by the misinformation shared via the show about their Orthodox lives and beliefs, women of all different religious backgrounds felt empowered—and a bit triggered—to tell their own stories as observant Jews. Orthodox women inundated Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with #myorthodoxlife posts. They were sharing their stories with the world.
TV writer and producer David Sacks has remained committed to his religion and hosts other Jewish people in the television industry for Shabbat. Photo: Zusha Goldin
And the world was listening. Florina G. posted on LinkedIn: “Tonight I wished I were an Orthodox woman. I am sure anyone seeing the beautiful, rich posts of Esther, Shany, and Shterny would wish that too!” And Nancy posted on Twitter: “I know it’s about to be Shabbat and most of them won’t see this, but seeing these #myorthodoxlife posts by amazing frum women makes me so proud to be a Jewish woman. Frum women deserve their autonomy and diversity to be accurately portrayed in the media.”
The final straw was when a friend told me that after her married daughter binged the show with friends, she started questioning her own modesty standards.
My phone was blowing up. A platform had been created to showcase the diverse experiences of Orthodox Jews while countering the show’s stereotypes. Secular and Jewish publications reached out for interviews. One of the calls I received was from the Orthodox Union. OU leadership saw value in the current movement and offered their public relations services to help publish articles written by Orthodox women about #myorthodoxlife in secular publications.
As is the nature of all viral movements, #myorthodoxlife tapered off two weeks later but left in its wake thousands of social media posts and a strong imprint on the internet (see my favorite article, “Netflix’s ‘My Unorthodox Life’ Spurred Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women to Talk Publicly About Their Lives” by anthropologist Dr. Jessica Roda, https://theconversation.com/netflixs-my-unorthodox-life-spurred-ultra-orthodox-jewish-women-to-talk-publicly-about-their-lives-165791) and on the hearts of all who participated.
HR professional Rachel Book co-hosts a podcast on leadership and is a career coach on the side. Photo: Abbie Sophia
Then the OU reached out again. I met with Moishe Bane, then-president of the OU, and OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer, zt”l. We discussed what we had learned from #myorthodoxlife: that we need to be telling the stories of proud Orthodox Jews. But we didn’t pitch to Netflix. We would create a social media initiative on Instagram and Facebook.
On March 21, 2022, we launched the Faces of Orthodoxy account. Our first “Face” of Orthodoxy was Batsheva Boehm, a lawyer, marathon runner, wife and mother and proud Orthodox Jew. We set out to put a human face on Orthodox Jews, telling their stories one face at a time. We wanted to share the journeys, struggles and triumphs of our everyday heroes of faith. In a time of rampant misrepresentation of Orthodox Jews in the media, we aimed to tell the stories of real-life observant Jews, educating the world about who we are and what we believe while also introducing fellow Jews to the role models in our midst. And as the world shifted post–October 7 and Jew-hatred became more public and pronounced, we felt more emboldened to share our Faces of Orthodoxy with the world.
We introduced our followers to artists, doctors, educators, chefs, producers, psychologists, musicians, entrepreneurs, podcasters, fashion designers, authors, activists, comedians and CEOs—all of whom are Orthodox Jews. We shared the human stories of people who had overcome professional, personal, emotional and physical challenges. We took pride in this space we created on the internet, where we celebrated and learned from others. People cheered on our Faces and reached out with a private message or a comment on a post to tell us how much a profile meant to them. And that meant so much to us. To know that these stories were landing somewhere and making a difference to real people behind their screens.
Attorney Tzadik Womack enjoys reflecting on what it means to be both Black and Jewish. Photo: Dina Brookmyer
One of my favorite pieces of feedback from a follower was in response to our profile on David Sacks, a Torah-observant Hollywood producer. She said, “Thanks for sharing your story. There is a narrative that if you are brilliant and talented, you are naturally not religious. Your life story counteracts that completely.”
And another one was about Shalom Goodman, a former editor at the Wall Street Journal who has a significant speech impediment: “I love to follow this page so I can learn more as a non-Jew. And you speak beautifully and I’m so glad you shared your voice. It’s so important for all groups that a diversity of voices and experiences are shared. Thank you for your courage.”
Only Hashem knows how a social media post goes viral.
But the piece of feedback that was perhaps the most revelatory to me was from a Chareidi journalist in Jerusalem: “Faces of Orthodoxy is one of the most brilliant creations of our time. Getting to be inspired by so many people, many of whom are so different from each other yet all have Torah and Hashem in common, is an opportunity we didn’t have in such a way before.” Perhaps the greatest contribution of this project is the portrayal of Orthodox diversity. Ashkenaz, Sephardi, converts, frum from birth, ba’alei teshuvah, women, men, younger, older, Chassidic, Yeshivish, Modern Orthodox and everything in between. Each story is accompanied by a “hero shot” taken by a talented Orthodox photographer, along with a carousel of personal life photos. Indeed, Faces of Orthodoxy has taught us so much about people we ordinarily never would have met.
What I understood as we embarked on this project, and what I understand even more clearly now, is the power of our shared humanity. When people can become vulnerable enough to share parts of their human journey, while maintaining their sense of privacy, others respond. We have no idea the impact that one chapter of our story can have on another. So many of the individuals I approached to be featured told me the same thing: “But I don’t have a story.” Oh, but you do. Everyone has a story. There is something in every person’s journey that will resonate with another.
I’ve also learned that people are yearning for role models who can provide meaning and context to their lives. Our most warmly received profiles on Faces of Orthodoxy were not necessarily the most “successful” people. It was the profiles of people who shared their struggles and moments of failure, of people who had mountains to climb to get to where they are today. Similarly, the stories of people with religious journeys—the seekers, the converts, the returnees to faith—resonated greatly with our audience. Ultimately, it’s the grittiest people who put in the work to achieve their goals that our audience found the most inspiring, instructive and meaningful. Because we’re all trying to live life doing the best we can, and learning about others doing the same resonates most deeply.
In July 2025, four years after the release of My Unorthodox Life, Faces of Orthodoxy came to a close. We featured over 160 individuals in fourteen seasons. We told the stories of people from Cleveland, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Jerusalem, Chicago, Dallas, South Florida, New Jersey and Toronto. Our objective was to empower Orthodox Jews to tell their stories with pride, and we felt that, though there is still much work to be done, we had inspired many people to do so.
Faces of Orthodoxy would never have been created without the vision of the OU. I am particularly grateful to have worked on this project with EC Birnbaum, the OU’s creative director, and Rivki Schwartz, the OU’s chief marketing officer, who both expertly guided this project’s mission and execution. It has been a privilege to work with the OU, an organization that steps up to fill the needs of the Jewish community in real time. To learn more about Faces of Orthodoxy, visit @faces.of.orthodoxy on Instagram and Facebook. And if you’ve learned anything from this project, keep telling your stories. They are worthy of being told.
Alexandra Fleksher is the dean of academics at Chaviva High School for Girls in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a writer and speaker on contemporary Jewish topics.