This is the Forward’s coverage of mikvahs, Jewish ritual baths.
Mikvah
The Latest
-
Life A Brief History of Mikveh in the Ghettos
This piece was written by and shared with permission from the . Throughout history, the mikveh has stood at the very core of religious Jewish life and practice, and said to protect the Jewish people both physically and spiritually. It is therefore fitting on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, to explore some of the…
-
Fast Forward Rabbi Barry Freundel’s Wife Speaks for First Time Since Mikveh-Peep Arrest
The estranged wife of Rabbi Barry Freundel, who pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping women in his Orthodox synagogue’s mikvah, spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest in October. Sharon Freundel delivered a lecture last week at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School study center in Rockville, Md., titled “Post-Traumatic Stress Responses in…
-
Fast Forward Rabbi Barry Freundel Quits Post at Towson University
Rabbi Barry Freundel, who pleaded guilty to voyeurism charges, has resigned as a professor at Towson University in Maryland. Freundel submitted his letter of resignation to the suburban Baltimore university on Thursday, Towson spokesman Ray Feldmann told the Baltimore Sun. His resignation is effective March 27. Freundel had taught ethics and religion since 2009 and…
-
Culture ‘MikiLeaks’ Reveals New NSA Spying Scandal
Rabbi Barry Freundel, who has pled guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism, has revealed that he was recruited as part of a government surveillance program called “MikiLeaks.” The program, run by the National Security Agency, targeted Jewish ritual baths, known as mikvehs, to collect evidence of individuals peeing in the mikveh. Freundel’s claims were backed…
-
Culture Rabbi Freundel’s 8 Reasons There Should Be an Alarm Clock in The Mikveh
1) To distract from the dripping tap. 2) So that mikveh dippers can time themselves to make sure they don’t take too long to get naked. 3) To make the changing room reassuringly haimish, like a bedroom. 4) Really? A practice dunk is totally normal but having a clock in there is the weird part?…
-
Life No, We Didn’t Let Barry Freundel Happen
Not unsurprisingly, given that I’m a victim, I’ve read almost everything printed about the Barry Freundel case since it first broke back in October. I have made myself available for interviews not because I want to be known as the woman whose rabbi taped her naked, but because I think it’s important for reporters to…
-
Opinion How Could We Have Trusted Rabbi Barry Freundel?
Now that Rabbi Barry Freundel has pleaded guilty to peeping at 52 women while they went to the mikveh — prosecutors say he spied on 100 more women, but outside the statute of limitations — we finally can take off the qualifiers and accept that he is guilty. And that means we can begin some…
-
Fast Forward Rabbi Barry Freundel Pleads Guilty to Peeping on 52 Women in Mikveh
Rabbi Barry Freundel, the former spiritual leader at a prominent Washington synagogue, has pleaded guilty to 52 counts of peeping on naked women in the mikveh, several news outlets reported. Freundel admitted using three different hidden cameras to capture different naked women in the ritual bath from different angles. “Guilty,” Freundel, a bearded figure wearing…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News That whites-only, no Jews allowed Arkansas community is legal, says state’s attorney general. How?
- 2
Opinion Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear
- 3
Film & TV How Jon Stewart evolved on Israel — at least on ‘The Daily Show’
- 4
Opinion I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel
In Case You Missed It
-
Antisemitism Decoded How Trump is banning DEI at universities — except for Jews
-
Fast Forward Trump fired a commissioner over bad jobs numbers. Nixon targeted a ‘Jewish cabal’ at the same agency
-
Looking Forward That time my violin teacher tried to convert me to Christianity
-
Fast Forward UK’s largest Jewish group calls Israeli aid to Gaza ‘long overdue,’ months after disciplining members for criticizing Israel
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
