Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City home to a major population of Hasidic Jews.
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Fast Forward Will Haredi Jews Embrace Pre-Nups Protecting Women from Becoming Agunot?
Breaking up, as the classic song notes, is generally hard to do. But in the Orthodox community, divorce can be particularly trying, especially for women. That’s because intransigent husbands can hold up the process by refusing to give a get, or a religious writ of divorce. In some cases, husbands use the get as a…
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News Fund to Assist Parents With Day School Tuition Set up In Sassoon Children Name
A fund to assist parents who cannot afford to pay day school tuition has been established in memory of the seven children who died in a Shabbat house fire in Brooklyn. The Sassoon Children Memorial Fund will be administered by the New York-based Jewish Communal Fund. In addition, according to Yeshiva World News, a Torah…
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News After Brooklyn Fire, Assessing the Risks of Shabbat Technology
Every Friday before sundown, in countless observant Jewish homes across the United States, someone turns on a hot plate or a gas stovetop, and then doesn’t turn it off again for twenty-five hours. The practice is so common that it blends into the background of traditionally observant Jewish life. But since a malfunctioning Sabbath hot…
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Fast Forward Jewish Community United in Grief After Brooklyn Blaze Kills 7 Children
(JTA) — It was New York’s deadliest blaze since 2007, and there were only two survivors: mother Gayle Sassoon, 45, and daughter Tziporah, 15, who jumped from second-story windows to escape the flames sparked by a malfunctioning Shabbat hot plate in their home in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. The other children could be heard screaming…
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Fast Forward Netanyahu, Rivlin Send Condolence Letters to Brooklyn Family After Fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a condolence letter to the father who lost seven of his children in a house fire in Brooklyn. The children, ages 5 to 16, were buried in Jerusalem on Monday. “Each one of your children was a world unto him or herself, unique and special. There is no greater…
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Opinion Of Sabbath Fires, Safety, Hate and Love: A Reply
It seems some readers saw my Saturday night post about the deadly Brooklyn fire that killed seven children and decided it was a bigoted attack on Orthodox Judaism. In case you missed it, I wrote that this is not the first time Sabbath fires — hotplates, candlesticks — have gotten out of control and killed…
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Fast Forward Hundreds Attend Israel Funeral of Seven Kids Killed in Brooklyn Fire
Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral and burial in Israel of seven children who died in a house fire in Brooklyn. “God Almighty took seven roses,” said their father, Gabriel Sassoon, in a eulogy at a Jerusalem cemetery on Monday afternoon, according to Ynet. “He took my children and my future grandchildren, maybe 70 or…
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Opinion Stop Using Brooklyn Fire To Stoke Anti-Orthodox Hatred
An Orthodox man looks at the scene of the fire in Midwood, Brooklyn / Getty Images You never want Shabbat to end on a tragic note. Yet among the the rush of messages that blipped across my phone when I turned it on Saturday night was news of the death of seven children in Brooklyn’s…
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