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
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Opinion The Hasidic Community Is Not a Cult
At a recent talk I gave on my new book, “The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles With America,” a friend in the audience came away with some rather sharp comments, agreeing with some of the points I made, but finally dismissing Hasidim with the words “They’re a cult.” Although the book…
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News $20 Million Hasidic Mortgage Fraud Suspect Bribed Witness in Nechemya Weberman Case
One of the men arrested in a $20 million Satmar family mortgage fraud conspiracy is the same man who was convicted of trying to intimidate a witness against notorious Hasidic sex abuser Nechemya Weberman, the Forward has learned. Abraham Rubin is fresh out of prison after serving three months for trying to bribe into not…
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News $20M Hasidic Fraud Suspects Claimed To Be Millionaires and Paupers — at Same Time
They told the banks they were millionaires, and the welfare agencies that they were broke. Fifteen members of a prominent Satmar Hasidic family were charged in a sprawling fraud case in New York on Thursday, accused of lying to obtain $20 million in mortgages while also receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in public benefits….
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Fast Forward Satmar Hasidic Family Busted in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
FBI agents reportedly arrested more than a dozen members of Hasidic communities in Williamsburg, Monsey, and Kiryas Joel this morning in connection with a mortgage fraud investigation. An FBI spokesman confirmed the arrests to the Forward. Neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has made an official…
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Life When the Mikveh Is an Ordeal of Faith
Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh The first time I prepared to immerse in the mikveh, the Jewish ritual bath, I was 18 years old and four days away from my wedding. I sat naked in a white bathtub as the mikveh attendant scrubbed my back with a washcloth and a dollop of baking soda. “You’re lucky…
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Life So a Jewish Woman Got on an El Al Flight …
So a man boards his El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv, but when he sees that Elana Sztokman is in the seat adjacent to his, he refuses to sit next to her. Was she holding a howling baby? Did she have a hacking cough? A touch of Ebola, maybe? No. The problem,…
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Culture The Hasidim of Brooklyn Are Ready for Their Close-Up
The art at the Brooklyn Public Library branch on Grand Army Plaza just got a little more frum and a little more Japanese. Through February, the library is featuring a black and white photo exhibit depicting the life and rituals of Crown Heights’ Chabad Lubavitch hasidim. The exhibit, entitled “The Hasidim of Crown Heights, Brooklyn;…
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Fast Forward Ex-Gangster Turned Hasidic Rabbi Busted for Impersonating Cop
(JTA) — In 1995, Latin Kings gang member Roberto Eddy Santos was sentenced to prison for multiple violent robberies. Upon his release from Sing Sing Correctional Facility a decade later, Santos emerged a changed man. Literally. Santos reportedly converted to Judaism, changed his name to Avroham Gross, and assumed the identity of a rabbi. Unfortunately,…
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Opinion Why is Netanyahu poised to OK a ceasefire that’s favorable to Hamas? One word: Trump
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion Gaza ceasefire is the result of political machination — not Donald Trump
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Looking Forward Why the hostage and ceasefire deal is both reassuring and terrifying
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Opinion Is peace really coming? What about the West Bank? 5 crucial questions for Israel post-ceasefire
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Fast Forward Isak Haleva, Turkey’s chief rabbi and face of Jewish minority, dies at 84
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