Haredi
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Israel News Ultra-Orthodox Anger Bubbles Over at Draft
(JTA) — Beneath banners invoking historic calamities from the Egyptian enslavement to the Holocaust, hundreds of thousand of haredi Orthodox men gathered on the streets of Jerusalem to recite psalms and penitential prayers as they inveighed against an enemy they consider on par with Hitler and the ancient pharaohs. “We endured Pharaoh. We endured the…
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Opinion When It Comes to ‘Ultra’ History Speaks for Itself
Getty Images In a recent essay in the Forward, I made the case for jettisoning the time-honored (if, to me, less than honorable) term “ultra-Orthodox.” I argued that, like “ultra-conservative” or “ultra-liberal” in domestic politics, the prefix implies extremism, something that isn’t accurate about most Haredim. What best to replace it with is less obvious,…
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Opinion Revenge May Drive Haredi Settlement Boycott
Ultra-Orthodox lawmaker Meir Porush at a Jerusalem polling station in 2008. / Getty Images A boycott of West Bank settlements is a favorite subject for discussion among Palestinian activists and Western liberals alike. Surprisingly, it’s getting some ultra-Orthodox Israelis talking too. In fact, a Haredi lawmaker has revealed that he’s coming under “tremendous pressure” to…
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Opinion The Haredi Community Isn’t ‘Ultra.’ Really?
Ultra-Orthodox bride Rivka Hannah (Hofman) at her Jerusalem wedding in 2014. / Getty Images About 20 years ago, when I was a staff writer for JTA, the editor and I were called into Agudath Israel of America for a meeting on the “ultra-Orthodox” issue. Rabbi Avi Shafran and other Agudah representatives were unhappy even then…
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Fast Forward Thousands of Ultra-Orthodox Arrive in Jerusalem for Draft Protest Rally
Thousands of haredi Orthodox men have gathered at the entrance to Jerusalem as part of a mass prayer rally and protest against a bill that would require yeshiva students to serve in the military. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in the protest, dubbed the “million man protest,” which was set…
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Fast Forward Lev Tahor Leader Lied in Refugee Application to Canada: Report
The leader of the controversial ultra-Orthodox sect Lev Tahor may have used false evidence to gain refugee status in Canada, a Canadian documentary reported. Ottawa’s granting of refugee status to Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans was based in part on testimony paid for by the sect, a boy involved at the hearing told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s…
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Opinion Why We Use the ‘U-Word’ to Describe Very Observant Orthodox
The debate prompted by Rabbi Avi Shafran’s request published last week — “Don’t Call Us ‘Ultra-Orthodox,’” as its online headline read — is not a new one, but this will be the first time in more than five years as editor-in-chief that I publicly provide an answer and an explanation. The Forward will continue to…
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Life Haredi Wives to Sara Netanyahu: ‘Be Our Esther’
Mazal Tov! Sara Netanyahu has been crowned Queen Esther of Israel. Eighteen wives of Haredi Members of Knesset penned a letter to Mrs. Netanyahu urging her to use her powers as Queen of the Israeli empire to influence her husband, Benjamin Netanyahu, Emperor of all Israelis. According to Israel National News, the women pleaded with…
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