This is the Forward’s coverage of Hasidic Judaism, a sub-group of Haredi Judaism that adheres to the historical traditions of Eastern European Jews, including communicating in Yiddish.
Hasidic
The Latest
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News Her Journey From Hasidic Rabbi To (Happy) Transgender Woman
Abby Stein is almost certainly the only ordained Hasidic rabbi who is also a woman. Stein wasn’t female when ordained, of course. She was a young man, soon to be married to a woman also from the strict Satmar community in which they were both raised. While Stein – then named Yisroel and nicknamed Srully…
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News It’s Chabad vs. Lithuanian Jews in Fight Over Holocaust Funds
Holocaust restitution money is supposed to heal wounds. But the Lithuanian government’s payment of $40 million to the country’s small Jewish community has reopened a decades-long dispute between Lithuania’s Jewish leadership and a Chabad rabbi from Boston. Arguments over the money have swelled into a debate about who better represents Lithuanian Jewry — a Hasidic…
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Fast Forward WATCH: Wild Melee Erupts Between Hasids and London Traffic Cop
A wild brawl erupted between a group of Orthodox Jewish men and a London traffic officer after the cop allegedly ran over a man dressed in traditional Jewish clothing with his moped. “He revved up his bike and drove straight towards him at full speed,” a witness told The Sun. The witness said the traffic…
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Fast Forward Mystery Hasids Swap Hats and Dance With Senators Lindsey Graham and Al Franken
On the way to a Senate vote yesterday, Lindsey Graham stopped a group of Hasidic Jews to compliment their hats. What ensued was a general swapping of fedoras, to judge by a photo that Graham’s Senate colleague Ben Sasse posted on Twitter. On the subway to the vote, Lindsey literally struck up the conversation with…
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Fast Forward Bloody Pig’s Head Carved With Swastika Dumped at Ukraine Pilgrimage Synagogue
– Unknown individuals broke into a synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Uman, sprayed red paint on the walls and left behind a pig’s head with a swastika carved into its forehead. The attack occurred on Tuesday night, DS News reported. The synagogue is part of the Ohel complex, built near the gravesite of the…
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News Hasidic Leaders Who Backed Clinton Now Claim They Were With Trump All Along
Leaders of the Skver Hasidim have an unusual message to their devoted followers: We may have backed the losing ticket for president, but it was all part of our plan. “We gave our endorsement to Hillary on the website ThinkingYid.com. In the message, Spitzer appears to be speaking on behalf of spiritual leaders who want…
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News Ben Zion Shenker, a Master of Melodies, Made from Music a Life of Meaning
There are very few people who may honestly be referred to as “national treasures” — someone whose contributions are not to one or another group within our community, but to all of us together: old and young, wise and simple, religiously observant and less so. Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker, who died November 20 at the…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker, Composer of 500 Hasidic Melodies, Dies at 91
— Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker, who composed more than 500 Hasidic melodies, or niggunim, including some recorded by Itzhak Perlman, has died. Shenker died Nov. 20 in Brooklyn, New York, at 91. He reportedly suffered from heart problems. Shenker, who was an ordained rabbi, was associated with the Polish Modzitzer Hasidic sect. He recorded his…
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