Television’s enfant terrible, Lena Dunham, is back.

Hot on the heels of major memoir controversy, the trailer for season 4 of Girls has dropped, and it looks… promising, I think! (In case you’ve been trapped under a heavy sofa the last two weeks: a right-wing pundit argued that seven-year-old Dunham’s behavior toward her little sister was predatory and sexually inappropriate, and a lot of people agreed, while others thought the claims were outrageous.)

Hannah has left Brooklyn to pursue an MFA at the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Shoshanna is unemployed, Jessa’s getting arrested, and Marnie is knitting and hating on Iowa. I’m lukewarm about this MFA plot development considering the fact that we never knew Hannah was applying until she got in and we never see her write fiction, but OK! I’ll go with it! Who doesn’t love a good writing workshop parody? Perhaps the change of scene will do the show some good; I found season 3 was a lackluster (with some moments of brilliance).

Major questions prompted by the trailer: Will Hannah and Adam survive the distance? Will Shosh get a job? Will the friends’ hackneyed observations about the difficulties of adult life ever cease? Who knows. These things are certain, however: there will be group dancing, jelly wrestling, and healthy snacks. January 11, lovers and haterz.

http://youtu.be/kB8y4Zp9UNc

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Sukkot is probably my favorite Jewish holiday because we get to build a temporary structure, a sukkah, to live in—and decorate!—for a week. (More about why we do that here.) Traditionally, Jews adorn their Sukkot with posters of the ushpizin, the seven biblical “guests” who we invite to join us on each night of the festival. Not surprisingly, the ushpizin are all men: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David; the most revered dudes in the Torah. No ladies—until now.

Rather than invite seven biblical men to my sukkah, I decided I’d invite the Jewish female comedians and characters I’ve been most into this year, and throw together some posters to honor them.

I think the temporary/pop-up nature of Sukkot lends itself to a pop-culture influence, where the guests you welcome one year might not be the same ones you welcome the next. Last year I honored the cast of Girls. This year I’ve been pretty obsessed with Broad City, and continued to cultivate my enduring love for Lena Dunham, Sarah Silverman and others.

So without further ado, here are my ‘Ushpizienne: Class of 5775’: Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, Abbi Jacobson, Jenny Slate, Ilana Glazer, Sarah Silverman, and Yael Stone.

Don’t forget to ‘hack into booth city’:

And—why not—the cast of Girls, from last Sukkot:

Download large versions of all images for your sukkah (or permanent four-walled residence) here.

Ari Perlow is an antipodean Jewess who is obsessed with vegan analogues and digital media. She co-hosts the podcast Yeah Nah But and tweets at @ari_perlow.

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In her latest column for Glamour, actress Zosia Mamet has penned a frank, heartfelt call for more honesty and openness around eating disorders. The Girls star bravely admitted for the first time publicly that she has suffered from an eating disorder for several years and thinks of herself as “an addict in recovery”:

As a teenager I used to stand in front of the refrigerator late at night staring into that white fluorescent light, debilitated by the war raging inside me: whether to give in to the pitted hunger in my stomach or close the door and go back to bed. I would stand there for hours, opening and closing the door, taking out a piece of food then putting it back in; taking it out, putting it in my mouth, and then spitting it into the garbage.

My dad eventually got me into treatment. He came home one night from a party, took me by the shoulders, and said, “You’re not allowed to die.” It was the first time I realized this wasn’t all about me. I didn’t care if I died, but my family did. That’s the thing about these kinds of disorders: They’re consuming; they make you egocentric; they’re all you can see.

Mamet doesn’t describe the details of her diagnosis, but it’s clear her treatment and recovery was painstaking—a two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of challenge. She also takes the “media” to task for selling skinny as sexy:

I recently saw an ad featuring a nearly naked, thin model with the words love yourself written across her. Even this attempt at encouraging women to accept themselves was accompanied by an image telling us the opposite! We have to change the ideal.

But how? Well, Mamet is urging her fellow sufferers—in a firm, tough-love sort of way—to ‘fess up about their struggles and help destigmatize the disease. Everyone, she says, can benefit from being reminded that they’re beautiful, regardless of their looks or body shape.

We all suffer in some small way; we are all a little bit ashamed of that second cupcake. Let’s diminish the stigma. Let’s remind one another that we’re beautiful. Maybe you’ll help a friend. Maybe you’ll help yourself. And if you’re reading this and you’re suffering, please know you’re not alone. Tell someone: The people who love you will listen, I promise. And you’ll feel better.

It’s easier said than done, but good to be reminded. Thanks, Shosh.

Read the full piece here.

Related: Zosia Mamet Writes About Her Anxiety and Insecurity

(Image: Zosia Mamet backstage at the Rebecca Taylor fashion show on September 7, 2013 in New York City. Vivien Killilea/Getty Images.)

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War, what is it good for? Policing female bodies, apparently.

COLlive.com reports that women in the Chabad enclave of Crown Heights, New York are organizing a tznius (modesty) contest for girls “in the merit of the safety of Israel.”

Beginning July 20, Project EDEN (which stands for “Eat Ice Cream and Defend Eretz Yisroel Now”) will encourage day camp attendees between the ages of 3 and 12 to wear modest clothing that keeps “necklines, elbows, knees and feet covered at all times.” The clothing compliant will then receive cards they can trade in for “great prize incentives,” like ice-cream and raffle entries. Why? Well, the Lubavitcher Rebbe saw a direct correlation between modesty and God’s protection, so… encouraging pre-pubescent girls to cover themselves up in the peak of summer seems like the natural next step towards a ceasefire, no? Because as we all know, there’s a causal relationship between the collarbones of 4-year-old girls and Hamas’ weapons cache.

Meanwhile, female visitors to the rabbinate in Ashdod, Israel, were initially blocked from entering the building’s bomb shelter on modesty grounds. MK Stav Shaffir told The Forward that her staffer observed a sign on the door that read “For men only.” Turns out the women’s shelter “was just a regular room, with windows and plaster walls and no indications of protection from rocket attacks.” SO NOT A SHELTER AT ALL, THEN. Writes Elana Sztokman:

In response to women’s exclusion from the bomb shelter in the Ashdod rabbinate, MK Stav Shaffir filed an urgent complaint with the Religious Affairs Ministry, demanding to put an immediate halt to the segregation. “The idea that women seeking shelter from a rocket barrage are met with a closed door is untenable,” she told Yediot Ahronot. “Discrimination against women is unacceptable under any circumstances, but when this discrimination prevents women from protecting themselves, it’s not only unacceptable but also dangerous.” Apparently the administration of the rabbinic courts was unaware of the exclusion, and responded to Shaffir’s query with embarrassment. “It was a local initiative of an employee acting without formal authority,” they responded. “The rabbinical court views such attempts at gender segregation in a very severe light and will take serious actions against those involved.”

Just keep those elbows covered, ladies.

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Ah, Jemima Kirke and Michael Mosberg! Glam-Jewy-indie couple extraordinaire! You either want to be them, or you— wait, no, you pretty much just want to be them. That’s the only option.

First, we saw the inside of their Brooklyn home and read about their Shabbat dinners. Now, a new slideshow up at Refinery 29 provides an intimate glimpse into their 2009 wedding. Each photo is accompanied by commentary from Kirke, and first few slides—in which she describes falling in love with Mosberg—are pretty swoony:

I loved his gentility, but his kindness was what struck me. He had this patience and stoicism; I had never met anyone like him… He just felt so much more awesome than any guy I’d ever dated. Every guy I dated before had been abusive and made me feel like shit. I was like, “Wow, this just might be the person I deserve.”

The traditional, Orthodox Jewish ceremony took place at the bride’s mother’s beach house, under a “driftwood chuppah covered in flowers.” Kirke was untraditionally—but gloriously—pregnant. She wore a rad vintage Jill Stuart dress which she purchased a few days before the wedding for $200, and immediately after the ceremony, the bride and groom jumped into the water. The guests ate “bagels and lox and cereal,” it was over by noon, and everyone lived happily ever after. Sounds like a dream.

Related: ‘Girls’ Star Jemima Kirke and Husband Michael Mosberg Do Shabbat, Have Many Tattoos, Are Very Beautiful

Image: Not the actual wedding (via HBO.com)

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Season 4 of Girls is in full production and filming throughout the streets of New York City. By the picture up top we see that Adam and Hannah are still going strong, despite her imminent trip to Iowa for her creative writing degree. All the while, the paparazzi have done their job of following the cast around their shoots, most recently capturing Dunham rockin’ her short shorts, and Queen Jemima being beautiful in her adorable outfit; worn lace boots, a floral dress and a cardigan…she’s just too cool.

To entertain season 4 rumors, it’s been speculated that Lena is in talks with her “bestie” Taylor Swift to not only play a character in the show, but also to write music. Maybe Taylor will play Marnie’s BFF. I could see that, could you? It’s also speculated that killer-eyebrows-girl/model Cara Delevingne will also cameo. Maybe a Bushwick model/junkie? Who knows. We shall see!

(Image: Getty)

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Be still our beating Jewish hearts! Girls star, artist, and Brooklyn mom Jemima Kirke does Shabbos dinner. (Yep, she plays Jessa, the one with the British accent.) Turns out Kirke is the granddaughter of Jewish-British-Iraqi real estate developer Jack Dellal, and her husband Michael Mosberg (who just got the go-ahead to build a fancy, for-profit rehab center in Red Hook, Brooklyn) is Jewish too.

In the March 10 issue of New York Magazine, Kirke explained:

We do Shabbat sometimes. Mike went to Yeshiva law school. He’s super-Jew and super-corporate. That’s why I was so attracted to him when I met him: the contradiction.

Other things we learned from the voyeuristic slideshow: Mosberg likes to grab her butt, she doesn’t have a mommy group (“God forbid”), and they are both ridiculously good looking and have a bunch of tattoos.

The end.

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Drawing a blank right now? Here’s a visual aid to jog your memory:

Happy Purim, everyone. Be safe. And remember: NOTHING SMALLER THAN AN ELBOW.

Related: A hundred-year-old Hamantaschen Recipe

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Lena Dunham is hosting Saturday Night Live this week. Here’s the official promo with cast member and fellow young feminist, Kate McKinnon. For your convenience, we have included a transcript of the most aspirational and inspirational part of the video! (But there’s a good shirtless bit too, so keep watching you lecherous bastards.)

Lena Dunham‘s Goals For The Week:

1. Be on time,
2. Wear comfortable shoes,
3. Don’t ask too many questions,
4. Be present at all times,
5. Take deep breaths,
6. Have some sort of vegetable serving every day,
7. Focus on what I like about myself rather than what I don’t like about myself,
8. Stretch every morning,
9. Have two cups of coffee max per day,
10. Relax,
11. And have fun.

Kate McKinnon‘s Goal For The Week:

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The rise and rise of Lena Dunham continues. Variety reports that the creator and star of HBO’s Girls will be hosting Saturday Night Live on March 8. Indie rock band The National will be special musical guests. (Fun Jewy fact: guitarist and songwriter Aaron Dessner studied Jewish history at Columbia and worked in Yale’s Holocaust archive.)

We are very excited, but probably not as excited as Ms. Dunham:

Thank you for the SNL love. Dream come true. Can’t wait to debut my character “girl who googled serial killers all night & has lots to say”!

— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 25, 2014

(Photo credit: Robyn Beck/Getty Images)

Also on the topic of SNL: See Fred Armisen’s Un-aired SNL Impersonation of Ira Glass

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