Welcome to 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.
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Culture How Judy Brown Learned To Love Her Little Brother
Judy Brown used to say her little brother was “crazy as a bat.” Nobody in her community or even in her family understood the boy who terrorized baby sitters and flapped his hands in the air. Even Brown wished he would go away. If Hashem performs miracles, she wondered, why couldn’t He “cure” her brother?…
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Breaking News Hasidic Girl’s Uplifting Poem Goes Viral
A poem by an 11th grade girl from a Hasidic family in Crown Heights has gone viral on social media. “Worst Day Ever?” by Chanie Gorkin was first posted last year on the Poetry Nation website, where Chanie is a member. She was a semi-finalist in the website’s July to December 2014 contest and the…
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News Faigy Mayer’s Brave Life and Shocking Death
Faigy Mayer left the Belz community, a Hasidic enclave in Brooklyn’s Boro Park, in 2010. She was 24 years old. Five years later, having finally made the move to Manhattan, she was seemingly self-sufficient. She had an undergraduate degree from Touro College under her belt, and she was pursuing her master’s in accounting and computer…
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News Closing Arguments Made in New Square Hasidic Abuse Trial
The defense and prosecution made their closing arguments on July 24 in the trial of a prominent Hasidic man from the upstate New York community of New Square who stands accused of sexually molesting a young neighbor from the age of eight till shortly after his bar mitzvah. “Let no man be judged by one…
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Opinion Why Faigy Mayer’s Death Should Haunt All Jews
(JTA) — In September 2013, I gathered with a group of friends to share feelings and reflections on the suicide death of one our friends, Deb Tambor, who had been struggling with a variety of issues related to leaving the insular Hasidic Jewish world. Next to me sat Faigy Mayer, a friend and fellow ex-Hasid….
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Breaking News Faigy Mayer Slammed Hasidic Lifestyle in Essay — Week Before Suicide
Faigy Mayer, an ex-Hasid who leapt to her death, had recently shared with a friend “the first draft of an opinion article” outlining her problems with Hasidic Judaism. Mayer’s friend Chaim Levin shared the 1,500-word draft with the media on Tuesday, one day after Mayer, 30, jumped from a rooftop bar in Manhattan. Mayer opened…
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Life Is Orthodox World Really To Blame for Faigy Mayer’s Suicide?
In bright pink paint, the words “Life is Beautiful” are splashed in graffiti on a wall in New York’s High Line, next to a young 30-year-old woman named Faigy Mayer brandishing a paint roller with a mischievous grin. The cover photo which illustrated countless tabloid news articles on Mayer’s death Tuesday, topped a Facebook timeline…
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News Woman Who Left Hasidic Community Jumps to Death From Rooftop Bar
A 30-year-old tech entrepreneur who left her Hasidic community jumped to her death from a 20th-floor rooftop bar in Manhattan’s trendy Flatiron District. READ: Why the Whole Orthodox World Is Complicit in Faigy Mayer’s Death Faigy Mayer, 30, plunged off the roof of 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar on West 27th Street Monday night in an…
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
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News What Mike Huckabee’s ‘Kids Guide to Israel’ says about his views
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