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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The Schmooze Oprah Chats With Hasidic Families
Back in October, The Shmooze mentioned that Oprah Winfrey had been sighted visiting a mikveh in Brooklyn. Now, this coming Sunday, we will get to see exactly what she was up to amid the Hasidim. That is when the “First Look: America’s Hidden Culture” episode of the “Oprah’s Next Chapter” show will air on Winfrey’s…
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Culture Escape from Williamsburg
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots By Deborah Feldman Simon & Schuster, 272 pages, $23 Deborah Feldman’s memoir, “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” begins with Feldman describing her father, a mentally disabled Hasid employed by pitying community members to preform simple tasks, like picking up people from the airport. Sometimes…
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Opinion Following Ultra-Orthodox Money Trail
You’ve already heard about the wave of violence by ultra-Orthodox zealots in Israel: grown men spitting on and cursing terrified little girls trying to walk to school; harassing women who refuse to move to the back of public buses; stoning those buses, private cars and the police, and starting full-blown riots. But did you know…
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News Shorn Matisyahu Takes Different Path
No one noticed Matisyahu when he climbed onstage at a downtown Manhattan concert venue in early January, drinking a cup of tea under dark red lights. It wasn’t until the onetime Hasidic reggae superstar took off his fleece cap, revealing a velvet yarmulke, that fans connected the gaunt, stubble-faced man with the yeshiva boy who…
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News Meet Chaya Mushka, Again and Again
If in the coming weeks you happen to meet a young woman called Mushkie, here are a few things you should know: Mushkie is probably younger than 24. She is most likely consumed with her upcoming wedding or her young children. One more thing: “You have to say the last name when you are talking…
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The Schmooze Beard-Gate, a Matisyahu Shaving Roundup
Never in the field of human barbery has so much been written by so many, about so few… hairs. One shave and we’re Shmoozing, of course but we’re not only Shmoozing, we’re Thinking too. But it’s not only the Forward that has gone stark raving beard bonkers, over at religiondispatches.org they’ve taken some time off…
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The Schmooze Matisyahu Shows Off Startling New Look
Reggae star Matisyahu has shaved his long beard, posted photos of his startling new look on Twitter, and is now saying that he is disavowing the Hasidic life he has led for the past decade. Tuesday morning, with the photos, he tweeted a somewhat cryptic line that seemed to explain at least part of his…
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Life Adina Bar Shalom: Courageous Haredi Leader
Adina Bar Shalom is often introduced as a rabbi’s daughter or a rabbi’s wife, but it’s really her own mind that makes her so extraordinary. A pioneering leader within Israel’s tight-knit Haredi community, the 66-year-old Bar Shalom has been making headlines by espousing courageous views about religion and state in Israel. She is emerging as…
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish אַ פֿאָלקסטימלעכע שטימונג אויפֿן אַמסטערדאַמער ייִדיש־סימפּאָזיוםA folksy approach to this year’s Yiddish symposium in Amsterdam
דער שוועדישער פֿאַרלעגער ניקאָלײַ אָלניאַנסקי האָט דערציילט ווי ער האָט אָנגעהויבן אַרויסגעבן קינדערביכלעך אויף ייִדיש.
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Books A New Jersey congregation was already falling apart. Then came Oct 7.
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News Most Jewish voters rate Mamdani poorly, new poll finds
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Fast Forward After a Maryland teacher’s death, her 200-piece Judaica collection finds new life in a Jewish museum