Bethany Mandel is a convert to Orthodox Judaism and converted under the auspices of the Washingon D.C. Beit Din in 2011. After the arrest of her sponsoring rabbi, Barry Freundel, she penned a viral blog post on the Times of Israel "A Bill of Rights for Jewish Converts." She has become a leading voice on Orthodox conversion in the United States and was one of two converts on a committee the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) formed in order to reevaluate conversion protocols and best practices following the Freundel scandal. She is a writer and stay-at-home mother, and was recently named one of the Forward 50. She lives with her husband, the op-ed editor of the New York Post, in New Jersey.