This is the Forward’s coverage of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City home to a major population of Hasidic Jews.
Brooklyn
The Latest
-
The Schmooze Brooklyn Yeshiva Plays Big Brother
At Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel, an all-boys yeshiva in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, everything — food, behavior, clothing — must be kosher. If school officials get their way, they’ll soon be adding one more thing to that list: at-home Internet browsing. “We are following the dictates of our [rabbis] — that as human beings, we…
-
The Schmooze Orthodox Record Executive Gunned Down in Liquor Store
Yoseph Robinson, a 34-year-old Jamaican-born hip-hop artist and record executive who converted to Orthodox Judaism, was shot to death yesterday at a kosher liquor store in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. According to eyewitness accounts, Robinson, who was on duty as a store clerk at the time, was fatally shot in the chest and arms…
-
The Schmooze Vodka Ad Too Sexy For Brooklyn Hasidic Community
Is a bikini-clad bum offensive? Does a clothed booty constitute an “inappropriate” image? Probably not in hip-hop videos, vacation ads or swimwear promotions. But on the side of a New York City Transit bus that travels through heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, it’s a different story, a crusading rabbi says. And the Metropolitan Transportation Authority seems…
-
The Schmooze A Funky Little Yiddish Princess
It’s hard to beat Yiddish Princess’s own self-description (as per their MySpace page): “Melodramatic Popular Song” “Kick Ass Yiddish Power Ballads” “Influences: Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Mina Bern, Molly Picon, Pat Benatar, Suki & Ding” “Sounds Like: Celine Dion (if she went to Kheder)” Not all of this is strictly true —…
-
The Schmooze Five Torahs Valued at Up To $250,000 Stolen From Brooklyn Synagogue
Five torahs valued at up to $50,000 a piece were stolen from a synagogue in Brooklyn yesterday morning, saddening congregants and the area’s Jewish community. Police said the burglar may have entered the Karlsburg Synagogue (also known as the Khal Yirei Hashem Synagogue) in the Borough Park neighborhood through either an open or unlocked window….
-
The Schmooze Pastrami With a Side of Sustainability
In the world of Jewish food, the iconic deli and the sustainable food movement seem like strange bedfellows. But in a post-Alice Waters world such is no longer the case, at least according to an article by Julia Moskin, “Can the Jewish Deli Be Reformed?” in today’s New York Times. Delis, which once thrived on…
-
The Schmooze ‘Chasidim on the Fringe’: New Edgy Website
A frum friend recently suggested I take a look at Unpious.com, a website of “news, commentary, and writings by and for Hasidim on the fringe.” The word “fringe,” in this case, is not a reference to tzitzit, but to the type of Hasid who supposedly writes for Unpious—ambivalent and sex-obsessed. The essays on Unpious.com tend…
-
Books A Gangster Grows in Brooklyn
Somehow I missed this when it appeared in November, but Purim seems as good a time as any to catch up on a book whose title character (sort of) is named “Shushan Cats.” “The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats” is a novel by Hesh Kestin (previously the European bureau chief for Forbes), which takes place…
Most Popular
- 1
Culture She was a dancer who leapt to the top of her field — then the Trump administration fired her
- 2
Fast Forward Cory Booker has long embraced Jewish tradition. Now he has married a Jewish woman.
- 3
Culture RFK Jr.’s poems to Olivia Nuzzi are peak cringe — so were King Solomon’s
- 4
News DNA test kits spark a surge of online conversions to Judaism in the U.S.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new White House ballroom architect is a Jewish immigrant who has advocated for refugees
-
Art It’s time to reconsider what we know about Jewish birthing rituals
-
Looking Forward My favorite Christmas scene in literature — and why it makes me feel so Jewish
-
Opinion Americans are waking up to right-wing antisemitism. We’re still ignoring the root problem
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism