Lauren Hakimi
@laurenhakimi.bsky.social
I cover Truro for the Provincetown Independent. I've also written for The Forward, Hell Gate, Gothamist, City Limits + more
Ahead of her upcoming trip to Provincetown, I spoke to Fran Lebowitz about her aversion to summer verbs and her enviable talent for reading and eating at the same time provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2...
Fran Lebowitz Does Not ‘Summer’ - The Provincetown Independent
Author and essayist Fran Lebowitz, who will be at Provincetown Town Hall on Aug. 13, is perhaps best known for her curmudgeonly brand of being a New Yorker. Born in […]
provincetownindependent.org
At a time when Great Neck was still mostly Christian, Temple Beth-El “was an essential sign that Jews could live in Great Neck and that there were enough of them... to make it safe and desirable for others to try it out,” wrote historian Judith Goldstein. @forward.com forward.com/news/818938/...
A pioneering Reform synagogue makes way for a booming Iranian Jewish community
I came home to Great Neck, N.Y., to get to know Temple Beth-El’s shrinking Ashkenazi congregation
forward.com
"I remember vividly the day I read my sister’s diary. I don’t remember what she wrote, but I remember the anxious urgency with which I turned each page, determined to cram as much reading in as possible before someone discovered my crime..." provincetownindependent.org/local-journa...
The Guilty Pleasure of the Anti-Memoir - The Provincetown Independent
I remember vividly the day I read my sister’s diary. I don’t remember what she wrote, but I remember the anxious urgency with which I turned each page, determined to […]
provincetownindependent.org
"One day, when Sabrina Hakim was out for a walk with her father, he started speaking a language she could not understand. Sabrina figured he must be speaking Judeo-Kashi, a variety of Judeo-Iranian. Her father spoke this language as a child in the Iranian city of Kashan before he moved to Tehran."
Could dementia be the key to saving endangered Jewish languages?
Sometimes when people's short-term memories begin to falter, they recall the first languages that they learned.
forward.com
This is wild: "Since dementia affects shorter-term memory more than longer-term memory, it’s not unusual for multilingual people with dementia to begin speaking the language they learned first." Via @forward.com and @laurenhakimi.bsky.social.
The Forward@forward.com · 12mo ago"One day, when Sabrina Hakim was out for a walk with her father, he started speaking a language she could not understand. Sabrina figured he must be speaking Judeo-Kashi, a variety of Judeo-Iranian. Her father spoke this language as a child in the Iranian city of Kashan before he moved to Tehran."
I wrote about how dementia is helping some people preserve rare Judeo-Iranian languages. It's a story of intergenerational partnerships and how family bonds can get stronger even in the face of an awful disease. Check it out! @forward.com @jewishlanguageproj.bsky.social forward.com/culture/7739...
Could dementia be the key to saving endangered Jewish languages?
Sometimes when people's short-term memories begin to falter, they recall the first languages that they learned.
forward.com
Do you go to a Halachic Egal or Trad Egal minyan? I'd love to hear from you for a story I'm working on. Chat me here or email: keene at forward dot com -Louis
For @forward.com, I wrote about my newest favorite book, brought to me by the highbrow literary icons of.... you guessed it... TikTok forward.com/culture/book...
Why a little-known Jewish writer from Belgium went viral — and why you should read her too
Harpman, a Belgian-Jewish writer who survived the Holocaust, wrote the novel 'I Who Have Never Known Men,' which has become a TikTok sensation
forward.com
For @forward.com, I wrote about a bougie Williamsburg barber shop where Bukharian barbers cut hipster and Hasidic hair alike. Check it out!! forward.com/culture/7551...
On the border between hipster and Hasidic, a Brooklyn barbershop specializes in Orthodox haircuts
For the Bukharian Jewish barbers at Kent Avenue Barbershop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, payot are no problem.
forward.com
Huge earrings, a vintage beehive coiffure, men in matching sparkly gold blazers. A new film full of bright colors and authentic throwback looks captures the rich history of Las Villas, the "Latino Borscht Belt." I wrote about "Villa Encanto" for @timesunion.com www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley...
New film captures history of New York’s ‘Latino Borscht Belt’
“Villa Encanto” — financed by Lin-Manuel Miranda — tells the story of Ulster County’s Las Villas on the big screen.
timesunion.com
Have you seen the Naomi flyers floating around Brooklyn? Though not a Naomi myself, I made it my business to infiltrate their flock and report back to the non-Naomi community for @jta.org New York Jewish Week. Check it out: www.jta.org/2025/06/05/n...
19 Naomis, 0 nametags: What happened when a group of Naomis met in Prospect Park - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A mysterious flyer brings a group of Naomis to Brooklyn to discuss Naomi Klein's "Doppelganger."
jta.org
My newest for @forward.com: On its busy calendar of speed dating events, belly dancing performances and fundraisers for Palestinians, Brooklyn’s Barzakh Café has also hosted Jewish events, including interfaith Shabbat dinners and Mimouna celebrations forward.com/culture/7207...
At this pro-Palestinian cafe, you can practice your Hebrew and imagine you're in Mauritania
El Atigh Abba's Brooklyn cafe is an in-between place influenced by its owner's favorite cafe in his native Mauritania.
forward.com
Ottessa Moshfegh's toothbrush, a signed box of laxatives, a fake Birkin bag, and more literary treasures will be up for auction on Tuesday in Manhattan. My story for @gothamist.com gothamist.com/arts-enterta...
New Yorkers can bid on Ottessa Moshfegh’s toothbrush, Eddie Huang's boxers
The live auction is April Fools’ day, but it’s no joke.
gothamist.com
I wrote about how Trump is using a 1950s antisemitic law to target pro-Palestine student activists. For @forward.bsky.social forward.com/news/702427/...
State Department plan to deport ‘pro-Hamas’ students relies on a 1952 law that targeted Jews
Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet sympathizers were subject to the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act.
forward.com
"We were instructed to dress in 'fetishwear,' but I’m a fuddy-duddy Long Island girl whose only fetish is being attracted to men. Thankfully, the greeter didn’t seem to mind, or notice, my decidedly un-kinky Kate Spade loafers." My latest for @forward.bsky.social forward.com/culture/7004...
At a 'Sinners' Shabbat' in Brooklyn, the faithful gather for fire massages and human sushi platters
When I arrived at the Brooklyn nightclub, a greeter checked my outfit. “Those jeans are black, not blue, right?” she asked. “Right,” I promised. For tonight’s “Sinners’ Shabbat” event, we were instruc...
forward.com
A new Hasidic community grows in Brownsville: Fleeing high housing costs in Crown Heights, some Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim are moving east to the formerly Jewish, now predominantly African American neighborhood. My latest for the New York Jewish Week www.jta.org/2025/03/06/n...
A new Hasidic community grows in Brownsville, Brooklyn - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Fleeing high housing prices in Crown Heights, some adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement are moving further east to the formerly Jewish, now predominantly African-American neighborhood.
jta.org
thank you for including me!!!
Luke Burns@lukevburns.bsky.social · 2y agoIn last week's newsletter, @jamesfolta.com & I highlighted great writing by: Bobbie Armstrong in @newyorker.com @oktulio.bsky.social in @mcsweeneys.net @laurenhakimi.bsky.social in @hellgatenyc.com @damnhellasskings.bsky.social in @thehardtimesnews.bsky.social Check it out & subscribe below 👇
This is a great read about one of the many delightful things people invent to celebrate our city and its quirks.
Lauren Hakimi@laurenhakimi.bsky.social · 2y agoFor @hellgatenyc.com, I wrote about Mr. Marathon: a 26-mile run in honor of Mr. Fruit, a grocery store chain known for its cheap produce. "I will literally leave the USA if Mr. Kale closes," said one organizer as we trotted through Bed-Stuy at an 11-minute mile pace hellgatenyc.com/mr-marathon-...
For @hellgatenyc.com, I wrote about Mr. Marathon: a 26-mile run in honor of Mr. Fruit, a grocery store chain known for its cheap produce. "I will literally leave the USA if Mr. Kale closes," said one organizer as we trotted through Bed-Stuy at an 11-minute mile pace hellgatenyc.com/mr-marathon-...
Mr. Marathon Is a 26-Mile Tribute to Cheap Produce
Mr. Marathon involves visiting all 13 stores in the Mr. Fruit chain, and buying (and consuming) a thematically appropriate product at each one.
hellgatenyc.com
A new exhibition heaps praise on oft-criticized NYCHA, calling upon the authority’s proud origins to express a vision for what public housing might still be, despite challenges posed by climate change and chronic underfunding. @citylimitsnews.bsky.social citylimits.org/2025/01/16/n...
New Exhibit Explores NYCHA’s Open Spaces, Which Once Made Neighbors Jealous
When first created in the 1930s, NYCHA devoted more attention to open spaces than other American housing authorities.
citylimits.org
