Carlen Altman
Photo by Mike Garten
For centuries, the Catholic faith held monopoly on the single coolest religious accessory, but that’s all changing now with the advent of the Jewish rosary. Twenty five-year-old Oberlin graduate and aspiring comedian Carlen Altman has decided it’s time to take the prayer beads, worn by devout Catholics Pete Doherty and Madonna in the ’80s, and add stars of David, chais and hamsas. Already featured in Lucky Magazine and InTouch, Altman operates out of her Brighton Beach home, which is now piled to the ceiling with bulk orders of glow-in-thedark beads and silver-metallic rosary cases from China.
