“You can never stop wearing masks,” said Lipa Schmeltzer, eyes on
everything but the road, “you can only choose what mask you want to
wear.” A few hours into a recent day, Schmeltzer had taken off his
entertainer mask—through which he constantly posed and smiled and
shouted, to make others laugh—and transformed into a proud Columbia
University student. (“I never even heard of the Ivy Leagues!” he said.)
His love of “secular knowledge” burst forth like a broken dam. Here was
Schmeltzer, quoting an important essay about the nature of identity.
“That’s from an essay I’m reading, by Wendy Doniger,” he said, referring
to her essay “Many Masks, Many Selves.” “I love the way she writes.”
The idea was to capture a typical day in the life of the most
recognizable Orthodox Jewish singer in the world, a man whose “Mizrach” music video
garnered more than 1.4 million views on YouTube, a Jewish figure who
appeals to all types of Jews, regardless of gender, affiliation, belief,
or politics. Raised ultra-Orthodox in the Skverer sect, Schmeltzer
quietly left his community in 2010, when he moved from New Square to
Airmont, New York. He remained Orthodox and observant but no longer
follows the strict rules of the sect he grew up in, especially in regard
to secular studies and interactions with women and non-Jews, among
other lifestyle choices. Now at the end of his second semester at
Columbia University—secular higher education remains a rare occurrence
for Skverer Hasidim—he was embarking on a new stage of his already
storied life, exploring the boundaries and capabilities of a fluid
religious identity. [...]
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