This is the Forward’s coverage of mikvahs, Jewish ritual baths.
Mikvah
The Latest
-
Fast Forward Israeli Chief Rabbinate Will Review Rabbi Freundel’s Conversions
(Haaretz) — The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is reviewing the validity of conversions performed in recent years by Rabbi Barry Freundel, the Orthodox American rabbi charged with secretly filming women in his synagogue’s ritual bath, Haaretz has learned. “We are appalled by the accusations against Rabbi Barry Freundel and wish to stress that the acts attributed…
-
Opinion The Rabbi Freundel Scandal Is Our Fault, Too
Rabbi Barry Freundel / PJC Media (Haaretz) — Kesher Israel, a prominent Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington D.C., is reeling from a terrible scandal. Their rabbi, Barry Freundel, was arrested on charges of voyeurism and it is alleged that he installed a camera in the equivalent of a women’s locker room where he filmed potential converts…
-
Life After Mikveh Scandal, Make Us Feel Clean Again
It’s time for Simchat Torah, but I don’t feel much like dancing. A promise I made long ago has been broken. In the summer of 1986, I wrote what many consider the first piece about non-Orthodox women using the mikvah. Published in Lilith Magazine, in “Take Back the Waters” I proposed a feminist re-appropriation of…
-
Fast Forward Rabbi Barry Freundel Pleads Not Guilty To Taping 6 Women in Mikveh
Rabbi Barry Freundel recorded secret videos of at least six women women showering at the mikvah in his synagogue, according to allegations filed by authorities at his arraignment on Wednesday afternoon. Freundel, 62, pleaded not guilty to a charge of voyeurism, a misdemeanor, and was freed without bond. The details from the charging documents were…
-
Opinion It’s Time To Put Women in Charge of the Mikveh
Illustration by Lily Padula A respected rabbi installing cameras in the preparation room of the mikveh in the building next door to his synagogue? The sensationalistic story of alleged voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel seems tailor-made to go viral in our internet age. So what can be done to counteract the negative publicity this gives to…
-
Fast Forward Rabbi Barry Freundel, Accused in Mikveh Peeping, Seemed ‘Aloof’ to Washington Synagogue
(JTA) — Rabbi Barry Freundel was known to the Washington Jewish community as a champion of moral rectitude. But on Tuesday, the spiritual leader of Kesher Israel congregation for the past 25 years, was charged with the most intimate of transgressions: voyeurism. Freundel, 62, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs, after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives…
-
News Orthodox Group Probed Alleged ‘Mikveh Peep’ Rabbi Barry Freundel
A national Orthodox rabbinic association recently investigated allegations of impropriety made against the rabbi accused of videotaping women at his mikvah, the Forward has learned. Rabbi Barry Freundel, spiritual leader of the Washington, D.C. congregation Kesher Israel, will be charged with voyeurism after a witness allegedly saw him installing a hidden camera above a shower…
-
The Schmooze When Rabbi Freundel Did ‘Da Ali G Show’
(JTA) — Back in 2003, long before Rabbi Barry Freundel’s arrest on voyeurism charges, and long before Sacha Baron Cohen was a household name, the rabbi appeared on Baron Cohen’s “Da Ali G Show.” The rabbi was one of three religious leaders (plus an atheist) who agreed to appear on a panel, apparently unaware that…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Israel News Somaliland already operates as a de facto state. So why is Israel’s recognition of it so controversial?
- 2
Fast Forward The judge in Maduro’s case is an Orthodox Jew — and displays a Torah verse in his chambers
- 3
News He stormed the Capitol wearing a Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt 5 years ago. Where is he now?
- 4
Antisemitism Decoded Things are only going to get worse for Jews from here
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish װי האָבן סאָװעטישע ייִדישע שרײַבער געשריבן װעגן דעם חורבן?How did Soviet Yiddish authors write about the Holocaust?
די קאָמוניסטישע פּאַרטײ האָט געפּרוּווט דערשטיקן דעם חורבן־זכּרון אָבער ער האָט זיך אָפּגעהיט אין װערק אױף ייִדיש און רוסיש.
-
Film & TV An idyllic Jewish village, full of life and hope, just hours before its utter annihilation
-
Fast Forward Pardoned Jan. 6 protester Jake Lang throws chocolate coins, Nazi salute during anti-AIPAC demonstration in DC
-
News She helped rescue the Torahs from their burning synagogue. A year later, the congregation is thriving.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
