Bethany Mandel


Bethany Shondark Mandel is a conservative American author and political and cultural commentator who writes for The Federalist, The Jewish Daily Forward and Acculturated. She was named one of "36 under 36" by The Jewish Week in 2013, one of the "Forward 50" in 2015,, and one of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's "50 Jews everyone should follow on Twitter" in 2019. In 2014-2015, in the wake of the Freundel scandal, she served on a committee appointed by the Rabbinical Council of America to suggest safeguards against future abuses in the conversion process.

Early life and education

Mandel was raised by her mother near Rochester, New York, at times in poverty. Her mother died of lupus when Mandel was 16, at which time she was estranged from her father, and the guardians named in her mother's will appropriated much of her inheritance. Her father died by suicide when she was 19, after struggling with an addiction to opioid painkillers.
She transferred to Rutgers University in 2005 for its strong Jewish Studies department and Jewish student community, and worked full-time while a full-time student, graduating in 2008 with a degree in history and Jewish studies. During her college years, she adopted conservative views after finding that Medicaid and other government welfare programs she had expected to help her after her mother's death were inefficient and ineffective, as well as due to the influence of college friends and the writings of Ayn Rand.
Born Bethany Ann Horowitz, she changed her name at age 18 to Bethany Shondark Murphy, with Murphy being her mother's maiden name.

Career

Upon graduation, Mandel moved to Washington, DC and worked for Washington Hebrew Congregation while looking for a position in conservative politics. After reading about the Jay Pritzker Academy near Siem Reap in Cambodia, she wrote and asked to teach at the school, becoming a fifth grade teacher there for a year. Returning to Washington, DC in 2010 to pursue an Orthodox conversion to Judaism, she found work as a fundraiser and writer at the Heritage Foundation, and then as a marketer, editor and blogger for Commentary magazine, and a guest commentator on numerous radio and television shows. Her effective advocacy for conservative causes led to her being named as one of "36 under 36" individuals reinventing Jewish life by the Jewish Week in 2013.
Since 2013, she has been a freelance writer and commentator while working from home to raise her children.
In 2016, she was the target of online harassment after writing about her opposition to Donald Trump during his campaign for the Republican nomination for president.

Views

Comments on neo-Nazis

In August 2017, Mandel wrote a column for the Forward urging people to follow the examples of Daryl Davis, David Abitbol, and the classmates of Derek Black, who led neo-Nazis to renounce their previous ideology by first befriending them. The column was headlined, "We Need to Start Befriending Neo Nazis." She wrote a year later that her critics on the "angry left" had failed to read beyond the headline of her column and had caricatured her as a "Nazi-loving member of the alt-right," titling the piece “How the Angry Left turned me into a Nazi." She then began referring to herself as a Nazi on her twitter account.

Comments on liberal Zionists

In February 2020, Mandel wrote in a column in the Washington Examiner about the American election of delegates to the 38th World Zionist Congress that "the American Jewish Left is using this World Zionist Congress election to try to turn the financial support of the Jewish people against Israel," describing the aims of the left-leaning Zionist candidates as an "effort..to hijack a billion dollars in money meant to support Israel, not undermine it."

Opposition to coronavirus lockdown continuation

During the 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Mandel was outspoken in her opposition to the continuation of lockdowns after the initial month. In one tweet, she said:
Following this, the term "Grandma Killer" trended on Twitter, and Mandel added "Grandma Killer" to her Twitter bio.

Personal life

Mandel was born to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, and sought out Rabbi Barry Freundel for an Orthodox conversion that would make her Jewish status universally recognized. She completed her conversion in 2011, and in 2014 learned that the rabbi had filmed her naked while preparing her for conversion. She wrote an article entitled "The Convert Bill of Rights" that went viral, making her a spokeswoman for the many victims of the Freundel scandal, and the Rabbinical Council of America asked her to join a committee to prevent future such abuses. For this work, the Forward named her one of the "Forward 50" in 2015, and the Rutgers University Hillel honored her with its Young Alumni Award at its 2016 Annual Gala. She has said that after the revelations about Freundel, she and her husband stopped participating in Orthodox Jewish institutions, such as synagogues and schools.
She is married to Seth Mandel and the mother of 4 children.