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.
Hasidic
The Latest
-
Opinion My Hasidic Family Got Into a Passover Fistfight — Over Cake
Lior Zaltzman illustration At the Passover Seder, we read about the four sons of the Haggadah, distinguishing them by the things they say. But the wicked and wise sons say essentially the same thing. Both ask: “What are these practices you keep?” The family of the wise son respects his question, while the family of…
-
Fast Forward Were Paintball Attacks on Jews Hate Crimes?
New York police are investigating whether two incidents in which Jews were struck with paint were hate crimes. Two Jewish teens reported being struck with paint Saturday night, and on March 22 a Jewish man reported that someone threw paint at him or shot him with a paintball gun, CBS New York reported. No one…
-
News Lessons of Crime and Punishment in New Square Yeshiva
A young father in the insular Skverer sect, Shulem Deen took the one job available to him: teacher. In an exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, “All Who Go Do Not Return,” which chronicles his painful journey from 18-year-old newlywed to being expelled from New Square as a heretic, he recounts how the need to…
-
Fast Forward Hasidim in Bloomingburg, New York Sue for Right to Vote
NEW YORK (JTA) – Hasidic residents of an upstate New York village are suing the county’s board of elections to have their voting rights restored. More than two dozen residents of Bloomingburg filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the Sullivan County Board of Elections alleging that the board was attempting to disenfranchise them. The…
-
Opinion Is WhatsApp Now ‘Hasidic Friendly’?
Ultra-Orthodox rabbis gather to condemn the internet in 2012 / Josh Nathan-Kazis A Forward tipster texted us this morning to report an odd spam message he’d received on his phone. Sent from a Spanish phone number, the spam read: “Check out WhatsApp Messenger for your smartphone. Hasidic friendly! Download it today…” Last year, I reported…
-
Opinion Cheating Hasids Out of a Future
An innovative lawsuit in Quebec offers an intriguing model for reforming the substandard secular education provided in many Hasidic communities. For years it’s been well known that many Hasidic yeshivas in New York fall far short of the state’s education department requirement that private school curricula be “substantially equivalent” to those in public schools. As…
-
Fast Forward New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Kisses Ring of Skver Rebbe David Twersky
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio appeared to literally kiss the hand of a controversial Hasidic leader last night at the rabbi’s son’s wedding in upstate New York, the Jewish blog JPUpdates reported. In videos and photos posted on the blog, de Blasio can be seen shaking the hand of Rabbi David Twersky, the…
-
Opinion Why Was Muslim Graduation Banned from Hasidic Montreal?
Officials in the Montreal borough of Outremont — which includes a sizeable Orthodox Jewish population — are defending a last-minute decision this weekend to nix a reception hosted by a Muslim organization at a city-owned community center. According to the Montreal Gazette, borough mayor Marie Cinq-Mars told reporters the event was presented as a graduation…
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
- 3
Opinion Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover
- 4
Film & TV How Marlene Dietrich saved me — or maybe my twin sister — and helped inspire me to become a lifelong activist
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Jews thought Trump wanted to fight antisemitism. Why did he cut all of their grants?
-
Opinion Trump’s followers see a savior, but Jewish historians know a false messiah when they see one
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
-
Opinion This Passover, let’s retire the word ‘Zionist’ once and for all
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism