(JTA) — A New York woman who has been identified as an ex-Hasid jumped 20 floors to her death from a rooftop bar in Manhattan.
Faigy Mayer, 30, grew up as a Belz Hasid in the Williamsburg community of Brooklyn, New York media outlets reported.
According to reports, she climbed a ledge and jumped Monday evening during a party on the roof of the 230 Fifth restaurant and lounge in the Flatiron District, just south of midtown. Some bar patrons continued to drink after the woman jumped and police cordoned off the area.
Mayer, who worked as an iOS developer at Appton, identified herself on her Twitter feed as “Former #hasid who codes in #iOS. Love#coding, #beacons, #bacon, the#appleWatch and life!”
Among the organizations with likes on Mayer’s Facebook page, renamed “Remembering Faigy Mayer,” is Openly Off the Derech, a support group for formerly religious people.
The Gothamist also reported that photos on her Facebook page showed her with members of the group Footsteps, which helps former haredi Orthodox Jews make the transition to the secular world.
Mayer was featured in a 2012 National Geographic documentary titled “Only For God: Inside Hasidism,” which profiles several people discussing how they left the tight-knit community to live a secular lifestyle.
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