Media

Articles that were written without interviewing Abby directly are marked with a <. Recommended articles are marked with *.

TV Segments:

Fox - Chasing News: Free To Be Me

It was only three months ago that Abby Stein, formally a prominent Hasidic man from Brooklyn, started hormone therapy to fully transition into a transgender woman.

Huffington Post Live: Why This Trans Woman Left Hasidism To Embrace Her Gender Identity

Abby Stein explains why she left Hasidism to embrace her gender identity.

CNN - Great Big Story: Someone Brave: Transitioning to Freedom

Abby Stein was raised in the Hasidic community of Brooklyn, N.Y. When she left the community she was raised in, she transitioned to a different, secular life, and also came out as a woman. She hopes that her story will help others.

Vocativ - ShowTime: Dark Net: Growing Up Trans In An Ultra-Orthodox Community

Abby Stein discovered the internet and left behind Hasidism and the gender she was assigned at birth.

Daily Vice (Canada): Transgender Activist Abby Stein Shares Her Story

We meet transgender activist Abby Stein who shares her story that began in Brooklyn's conservative Hasidic Jewish community.
See below for the longer French version.
For outside of Canada, watch it on YouTube: Daily Vice (Canada) Interview

Concordia News - Julia Maman: The Two-Part Transition

Abby Stein, Columbia student, writer, rising activist and woman of trans experience, left the Hasidic community to pursue a proper education and explore her true identity. Her determination, strength and charisma are truly inspiring and allowed her to share her story to others.

News articles:

* New York Times: Amid a Shifting Tide of Tolerance, Transgender Jews Search For Faith and Community

Reconciling trans identity with Jewish tradition is a journey of highs and lows.
On a balmy afternoon in late December, Abby Stein sat in a café on the Upper West Side, surveying her glass of water with a mixture of amusement and surprise. A smudge of electric pink lipstick hugged the rim of the glass like a vibrant, personalized stamp. “Is this normal for everyone who puts on lipstick?” Abby asked, and laughed.

< Also: Trans Woman Who Also Left Hasidism, Blogs About double Trnasition

Abby Stein's transition from Ultra Orthodoxy to womanhood.

* Forward: Introducing Abby Stein

The first thing that Abby Stein wants the world to know is that she did not leave her ultra-Orthodox community solely to become a woman. Since she came out this past August, Stein has been garnering attention as the transgender ex-Hasid. Although she acknowledges that the two events in her life are “intertwined,” she says her initial leave taking from her Hasidic sect “had to do with beliefs. I was done with Judaism, and for over a year, I had nothing to do with it.”

New York Post: I Left Hasidism to Become a Woman

A man descended from a Hasidic “dynasty” is transitioning into a woman — enraging members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community she left behind.

New York Magazine: I Grew Up Hasidic and Trans. Here is how I Found a Community

Reaosns to Love New York. By Abby Stein As Told to Tim Murphy


Glaad: Interview: Abby Stein Talks About Being A Transgender Woman From A Hasidic Jewish Community

Abby Stein is a second year student at Columbia University's School of General Studies studying Gender Studies with a concentration in Political Science. Abby was born and raised within a Chasidic family of rabbinic descent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, attended Yeshiva, completing a rabbinical degree in 2011. Abby left the Chasidic world to explore different views of life, while struggling with gender identity. A few months ago, she came out as a woman of trans experience, and her goal now is to raise awareness to people going through a similar experience. Her story has since been covered by the New York Times, New York Post, Jewish Daily Forward, Huffington Post, CNN, Fox News, and more. She also founded a support group for trans people of Orthodox backgrounds, and is raising awareness for trans related issues within the Jewish community.


* The Jewish Week | 36 Under 36: A Voice For Transgender Chasidic Jew

Introducing the Millennials Who Are Changing the Face of the Jewish Community:
When Abby Stein began her transition from male to female at the age of 23, she could have chosen to stay under the radar. Instead, she came out on her blog, and when reporters started calling she responded, because she wanted to let other chasidic transgender Jews know they are not alone.


*< The Times of Israel: 9 Jewish LGBTQ activists you should know

From Stonewall to the US Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, Jews have been at the forefront of the fight for equal rights. Here are some of the most influential voices still making a difference:
“In the community that I was raised in, Trans did not exist, neither was it ever discussed,” Abby (nee Srully) Stein wrote on her blog last year.


* Canadian Jewish News (The CJN): Ex-Chasid Speaks Out About Being Transgender, Leaving the Fold

Abby Stein’s Facebook page looks like those of so many 20-somethings: there are ample selfies of the 24-year-old Columbia University student posing in a variety of outfits and makeup styles, there are playful shots of Abby with friends, and there’s the requisite throwback baby photograph.
But scroll back far enough through her photos and the pictures of Abby are suddenly very different: in them, Abby is not Abby.


* Daily Dot: For This Transgender Orthodox Jew, Blogging Was Her Lifeline

In May of 2012, tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men filled New York City’s Citi Field. They had not gathered for a Mets game or a religious ritual, but instead to hold a rally protesting the Internet. The New York Times covered the event, writing, "For the attendees, many of whom said they came at the instructions of their rabbis, it was a chance to hear about a moral topic considered gravely important in their community: the potential problems that can stem from access to pornography and other explicit content on the uncensored, often incendiary Web."

* Kveller: Getting to Know Abby Stein, the Ex-Hasidic Jew Chronicling Her Transition to Womanhood

There are few people I was more excited to interview than Abby Stein. I first became acquainted with Abby when she was featured in the NY Post–which briefly chronicled her transition as a woman. Stein was assigned male at birth, and raised in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Hasidic family in New York City. At 20, Abby Stein came out as a woman–she was tired of hiding and not living the life she was meant to lead. Unfortunately, when she opened up to her community, the reaction was largely negative.

< Also: This Woman Left Hasidism So She Could Become a Woman

To say Abby Stein is brave would be an understatement. She is transitioning into a woman, but coming out to her Hasidic family has meant she’s not only outraged many, but is no longer welcome, according to a feature in the NY Post. So while she is finally living her dream, it’s coming with some pretty steep consequences.


McGill Daily: Abby Stein Tells Students "You Are Not Alone"

Stein shares her experience to help others struggling with gender identity.
On March 14, around 150 people gathered in the McIntyre Medical building to attend a speech given by Abby Stein, a trans woman studying Women’s and Gender Studies at Columbia University.
Stein came out as a trans woman through her blog The Second Transition in August 2015. Her posts about her struggles with gender identity as a woman from an ultra-orthodox background have gone viral.


* Huffington Post: How This Ex-Hasidic Woman Lost And Found Her Judaism

Abby Stein wanted nothing to do with God after she left her Hasidic community. But she soon realized that something was missing from her life.


* The Forward Organization: Abby Stein's Visit With Forward in Montreal

You may have recently had the opportunity to hear from Abby Stein, a former New York Hasid who has emerged as a woman, when she recently came to Montreal to help us raise awareness about our cause.


< Trans Faith: Leaving A Narrow Place: Abby Stein's Path Back to Faith

In the June 2016 Huffington Post article entitled How This Ex-Hasidic Woman Lost and Found Her Judaism, Carol Kuruvilla profiles Abby Stein, a 24 year old trans woman who left her tight-knit Hasidic community having sworn off religion -- and her return to faith.


Also: Trans Jewish Leaders Get Recognition

Abby Stein has been featured by Transfaith recently for her story of dual transition, both through gender and community.
Even with increasing visibility, trans people are so often left out of the opportunities to have our vibrancy and influence shown, and so we celebrate the work of Jazz Jennings and Abby Stein along with Times of Israel.

< Pink News, UK:This Trans Woman Got Some Serious Hate When She Left Hasidism Behind

Abby Stein, a second year student at Columbia University announced that she was leaving her Hasidic dynasty behind, and that she would transition into a woman.

< Transgen Inside: Abby Stein Says She Hopes The Orthodox Community Becomes More Accepting

Daily Mail, UK: EXCLUSIVE: Hasidic Groom Was Wed in a Traditional Ceremony Wearing a Black Rope and a Shtreimel Hat. Four Years Later She Is Called Abby, and Wears Figure-Hugging Dresses

Abby Stein, 24, has rejected her ultra-Orthodox upbringing, divorced and began hormone therapy to transition into a female. In a year’s time the slender brunette will undergo a full gender reassignment operation. Abby having felt like a girl trapped in a man’s body since the age of six. 'At nine or ten I would take a needle and try to hurt my private parts'. Her extraordinary sex swap has stunned the Hasidic Jewish community in which she was raised without access to the internet, TV or even books written in English. Abby's marriage at 18 was arranged by a matchmaker and was, in Abby’s words, a ‘done deal’ before they had even met.


< Also: Hasidic Jewish man, 24, leaves Orthodox community and divorces the mother of his child to live as a transgender woman [sic]

Also in: Capital Bay


* Patheos - Friendly Atheist: A Descendant of the Founder of Hasidic Judaism Just Came Out As an Atheist Trans Woman

When I read about Abby Stein in a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article, I knew I wanted to talk to her. She’s 24, a student in Brooklyn, and the descendant of a founder of Hasidic Judaism, Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer (also known as the Baal Shem Tov). Four years ago, she left the Hasidic faith in which she was raised, and about a month ago, she came out publicly — including to her conservative family — as a transgender woman.


< The Cougar Chronicle (CSUSM): Transgender activist recounts memories of transitioning, hopes to serve as inspiration to others

CSUSM students listened to an hour long presentation from Abby Stein as she recounts her childhood struggle with gender identity in the Gender Equity Center.
Also in: A Wider Bridge


< Jewish Talagraphic Agency (JTA): Member of prominent Hasidic family from Brooklyn comes out as transgender

A 24-year-old Brooklyn descendant of one of Hasidic Judaism’s founders has come out as transgender.

< What Is Gender: Big News For Trans Hasidic Jews

Very recently, Abby Stein came out as a transgender woman. Why does this matter? Well Abby is a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov (Rabbi Ysroel ben Eliezer), one of founders – if not THE founder – of Hasidic Judaism (Hasidism).


< Fox29: Meet the Transgender Person Who Left Her Hasidic Community To Transition

< Specturm: Transgender Jewish Woman Leaves Hasidic Community Behind

< Jweekly: Trans Woman From Hasidic Dynasty

Meet Abby Stein — a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of hasidism) who has come out as a trans woman.


Also: Hassidic-raised trans woman to speak about her journey

When the father of 19-year-old Stein heard about his child's atheism, he responded: “No matter what happens, no matter how you are, you are still my son.”
Given that Stein grew up in a Hassidic community in Brooklyn and was a 10th-generation descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, this was as much as she could have hoped for. While most who choose to leave the community are scorned, Stein continued to speak to her parents daily and was still welcomed home for holidays and simchas.

< New Now Next: Transitioning to Freedom: How Abby Stein Left Orthodox Judaism To Become A Woman

< TG Forum: The Week in Transgenderism

Here’s one from the “Proof That Trans People are Everywhere” file. Conservatives like to brand trans people as some kind of immoral troublemakers. They say we’re not “normal” whatever that means. But trans people are very normal and they crop up in many places you wouldn’t expect to find them if you subscribe to the conservative belief system. One example is Ms. Abby Stein who was born into an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family and came out as trans. Read her story in the Times of Israel.

Hebrew:


ידיעות אחרונות: :שרולי החסיד הפך לבחורה: "שנים חשבתי שאני משוגעת*

היא גדלה בבית חרדי כשרולי, בחור ישיבה. בגיל 18 נישאה והולידה ילד - אך משהו בתוכה לא נתן לה מנוח: שנתיים לאחר שעזבה את הקהילה החסידית בוויליאמסבורג, החלה בטיפול הורמונאלי - ולאחרונה חשפה בבלוג שלה את המהפך. "המחשבה, התחושה, הבלבול, אף פעם לא עזבו אותי"

Yiddish:


Yiddish Forward - פארווערטס: אויס מאַנצביל - No Longer a Man

מיט אַ יאָר צוריק האָט אַבי אָנגעהויבן שטודירן אין „קאָלאָמביע‟־אוניווערסיטעט — גאָר אַ לאַנגער מהלך פֿון דער וויזשניצער ישיבה. ווי זי האָט דערקלערט, איז דער „איבערגאַנג‟ אָנגעקומען שווער, אָבער אַ דאַנק דער הילף פֿון די אַנדערע געוועזענע חסידים און איר אייגענעם ווילן, איז עס געוואָרן אַ דערפֿאָלג.

French:

> La Presse: La Fabuleuse histoire d’Abby Stein

Quand Abby Stein a mis les pieds dans une épicerie hassidique de Montréal cette semaine, elle a senti tous les regards se tourner vers elle. « J’ai eu l’impression tout d’un coup que tous les gens du supermarché me regardaient et chuchotaient ! », raconte-t-elle en rigolant.
Bien que new-yorkaise, Abby, ex-juive hassidique transgenre de 24 ans, n’est pas inconnue de la communauté ultra-orthodoxe d’ici. Elle y a de la famille. Un de ses oncles est rabbin à Outremont. Son passage à Montréal cette semaine, à l’invitation de l’organisme Forward – un groupe de soutien aux juifs ultra-orthodoxes désirant quitter leur communauté dont je vous reparlerai –, n’est pas passé inaperçu.


VICE du Jour Canada: Les défis d'une activiste trans reniée par sa communau

Vidéo.


The Times Of Israel - FRANÇAIS: Neuf militants juifs LGBTQ à connaître

De Stonewall à la Cour suprême, les Juifs américains sont en première ligne pour défendre les droits LGBTQ.

Portuguese:


*Revisit Marie Claire: "Deixei minha comunidade para me tornar mulher", relata judeu ortodoxo em blog

Há quatro anos, Abby Stein se separou da antiga esposa e deixou comunidade para viver seu "verdadeiro eu". "Na comunidade em que fui criado, o termo trans não existe", diz

Chinese:

*Itanzi: 4年前他还是神秘豪门高富帅,现在你只能叫“她”时代女强人

今天我们要介绍一位实打实的高富帅,乌克兰哈西德派王朝的贵族后裔Yisroel Stein。这是他当年大婚时的照片,庄重的婚礼长袍、传统礼帽,还有精心修剪的胡须,相当滴意气风发!

Radio Podcasts:

J-Air Radio: Gentile and the Jew with Yiscah Smith and Abby Stein - S02E03

Nomi and Louise celebrate Midsumma Festival 2016 by discussing transgender rights in the Jewish communtity with two trans activists - Yiscah Smith and Abby Stein. (Abby starts at minute mark 37)


CBC Radio's Homerun (Canada): Leaving The Fold: Abby Stein and Joey Tanny

Abby Stein and Joey Tanny talk about their experiences growing up, and leaving, Ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Judaism.

ICI Radio Canada: Les âmes perdues du hassidisme (In French)

Pour Abby Stein, qui a laissé sa communauté, les Vishnitz, après avoir affirmé son identité transgenre, trouver ses repères peut prendre un certain temps.

Check out my YouTube channel.

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