Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Modern Orthodox Judaism, a movement in Orthodox Judaism that emphasizes secular education and involvement with the modern world alongside adherence to Jewish law.
Modern Orthodoxy
The Latest
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Life Why Buying My Daughter A Tallit Wasn’t An Easy Decision
The day that I never thought would come, never imagined would be a milestone for me or my daughter, is here. I am buying my daughter her first tallit. I’m not sure why this feels so groundbreaking to me. She’s two – to her, the tallit is just a toy. Her 4-year-old brother found his…
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Community How I Lost My Judaism In Five Somber Nights — And Found It Again My Own Way
Twice in my life did the profound symbiosis of community and Judaism yank me by the beard and bear its inescapable weight. The first time came during my father’s shiva. After four months of communal support during his time in the hospital, the Jews of Englewood, New Jersey, my Jews, multiplied their Samsonian efforts, filling…
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Letters Letter to the Editor: Treat Jared and Ivanka with Empathy, Not Judgement
You know the old joke, two Jews, three opinions? It’s true. But when it comes to judgment, unfortunately we take it to another level entirely. Our propensity to judge one another is a sad component of Jewish culture today, which is at odds with our Jewish values. And, this judgmental culture seems to be a…
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Letters Letter to the Editor: Jared Kushner Reveals The Fissures In American Judaism
In his recent column in the Forward (“How Could Modern Orthodox Judaism Produce Jared Kushner?” ) Beinart examines Jared’s recent, little-more-than-a-week long record as a member of the Trump administration. He looks at what the administration has thus far produced, and how Jared has stood by and watched it happen. In Beinart’s telling, Jared is…
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Opinion Intermarriage Will Shape a New American Judaism
When Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom, a retired rabbi from Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, performed an intermarriage ceremony for his stepdaughter and her fiancé in 2014 more than a glass got shattered at the end of the wedding ceremony. Rabbi Rosenbloom’s membership in the Rabbinical Assembly wound up in pieces as well. In December 2016, the rabbinical body…
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Community How Quirky Jewish UChicago Became My Second Home
As someone who grew up in a Modern Orthodox Jewish community, who spent the year learning and studying in Israel, and who has always felt a deep connection to her faith, many people are surprised to hear that it was only in college that I truly discovered what type of Jew (and person) I wanted…
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News Mysterious Death of Transgender Orthodox Jew Stuns Chicago
Twenty-seven-year-old Jonah Berele died in Lake Michigan recently under unclear circumstances, abruptly ending the life of a local Orthodox Jew who began life as Sarah Berele — and who, from there, as his family and friends put it, went on to exemplify a generosity and compassion that he did not always find in his own…
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News Rabbi Haskel Lookstein’s Long Hot Summer in the Spotlight
For Rabbi Haskel Lookstein it’s been a challenging summer. A widely admired New York rabbi, Lookstein has faced down this over-heated season at the tail end of a long career as a beloved and respected spiritual leader among Manhattan’s elite. He has, among other things, long presided over Manhattan’s East Side synagogue Kehilath Jeshurun and…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Culture In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions
In Case You Missed It
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News LA fires won’t stop bar mitzvahs this Shabbat, as joy and pain meet
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News HIAS cuts 22 staff even as it braces for Trump immigration crackdown
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Fast Forward A synagogue that survived the Palisades fire has become a ‘refuge’ for many who lost their homes
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News When fire spread to West Hollywood, a rabbi’s mom chose to grab candlesticks
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