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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Breaking News Wiretapped Yiddish Small Talk Could Derail Wideranging N.Y. Corruption Trial
A sprawling New York state corruption trial could reportedly be seriously delayed or even derailed by some 300 recordings of an upstate Hasidic wheeler-dealer chatting in Yiddish. A federal judge is considering his options after defense lawyers for disgraced state Sen. Malcolm Smith complained that they had not had a chance to listen to the…
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Life What ‘10 Things’ Taught Me About Secular World
Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ I would be remiss if I let 2014 whoosh by without pausing to commemorate the 15th anniversaries of three of the most seminal coming-of-age stories of our time. I’m referring, of course, to “She’s All That,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” and…
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Culture Why Rabbi Schneerson Was Good For Jews But Bad For Biographers
Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History By Joseph Telushkin HarperWave, 640 pages, $29.99 My Rebbe By Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz Maggid, 250 pages, $24.95 At the end of time, when climate change or an asteroid or the Messiah’s arrival has rendered moot Pharrell Williams, the Affordable…
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The Schmooze Why I Use ‘Yeshivish’
In my writing, I very purposefully label my ultra-Orthodox non-Hasidic community of origin the “Yeshivish” community or sect, although I know it is a strange label for some, like Ezra Glinter, who in a footnote to his thoughtful and thorough essay “Ex-Hasidic Writers Go Off the Path and Onto the Page,” questions my use of…
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Breaking News Russia Court Demands 7 Hasidic Trove Books Back — Sets 50K-a-Day Fine
A Russian court demanded on Thursday that the U.S. Library of Congress hand back seven precious Jewish texts to Moscow – and, in a tit-for-tat ruling, said it should pay a massive fine for every day it delays. The so-called Schneerson collection, claimed by both Russia and the New York-based Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch group, has become…
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Culture When Auschwitz Was a Jewish Town
Of all the things and places to give an endearing Jewish name, Auschwitz would seem the most unlikely. Oshpitzin — which comes from the Aramaic word for guest, ushpizin, and is the name of a traditional Sukkot prayer that welcomes guests — was how Jews once referred to Oswiecim, the Polish town that would become…
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Life The Perils of Working Out While Hasidic
Thinkstock One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, after we had returned from our Passover getaway in Orlando, we had a family weigh-in in the master bedroom of our rented ranch. After all the matzos and steak and gooey potato starch and almond meal based cookies we consumed, the digital scale was guaranteed to be…
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News Debut Crime Novel Set in Boro Park Hasidic Community
● Invisible City By Julia Dahl Minotaur Books, 304 pages, $24.99 About a week or so after I published my first short story in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, I learned an embarrassing lesson about the importance of getting things right. Scoring a publication credit in EQMM, the longest continuously running, and arguably the best magazine…
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Culture At 95, Shaindel Schreiber is still dispensing babka and advice on the Lower East Side
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