This is the Forward’s coverage of Orthodox Judaism, which aims for a stricter observance of halachic law than Conservative or Reform Judaism. It includes Modern Orthodox Judaism, as well as Haredi (sometimes called ultra-Orthodox) Judaism,…
Orthodox Judaism
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Fast Forward Yair Lapid and Shelly Yachimovich Call for More Religious Pluralism
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Labor Party Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich called for greater religious pluralism in Israel. Speaking in separate appearances Monday at a plenary session of the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Jerusalem, Lapid and Yachimovich both advocated for the loosening of Orthodox control of Israel’s religious laws. Yachimovich stressed…
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Fast Forward Does Israel Rabbinate Have ‘Good Rabbi’ List?
Israel’s Chief Rabbinate says it does not have a list of Diaspora rabbis whose testimony it accepts, despite turning down the testimony of the rabbis of immigrants wishing to clarify their Jewish and marital status. The Tzohar organization, a group of rabbis that works to make rabbinic services more user friendly for all Israelis, asked…
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Forward 50 2013 Avi Weiss
Despite continued opposition from his right flank, in 2013 Avi Weiss witnessed the coming of age of two of the groundbreaking Orthodox institutions he created. This summer, Weiss presided over the first graduation ceremony of female clerics at Yeshivat Maharat, and smoothly passed the reins of his flagship rabbinic school, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, to a…
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Opinion In Jerusalem’s Conclaves, Mind-Numbing Meets Ugly
Jerusalem is having an unusually mild fall. November began amid sunny skies, temperatures in the high 60s, light breezes and just the slightest hint of feathery drizzle to announce that after a bone-dry October, the rainy season was finally about to return. Diaspora Jews are returning too. No, not the waves of immigration that generations…
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News Dmitry Salita, Orthodox Fighter, Returns to Ring for One Last Shot at Title
After Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita’s fight against Hector Camacho Jr. was cancelled at the beginning of the year, Salita was not sure what would happen next. The 31-year-old welterweight boxer has a career record of 33 wins, one loss and one draw over his 12 year distinguished career. Salita, an Orthodox Jew with roots…
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Fast Forward Charles Hynes Crushed by Kenneth Thompson in Brooklyn District Attorney Race
Longtime Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes lost his longshot reelection bid by a crushing 2-1 margin to Democrat Kenneth Thompson. Hynes, who had made his handling of sex abuse in the Orthodox community a key issue, fell to Thompson by 72%-to-28% in the general election. “I had a great, great run,” Hynes told a gathering…
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Opinion Fight for Chained Wives Goes Online
(JTA) — The websites look like those of political prisoners. Under the caption “Free Tamar Now!” there is a close-up photo of demonstrators with signs and megaphones. “Stop the abuse,” one sign reads. But FreeTamar.org and the Free Gital Facebook group seek emancipation not from literal bars or chains. Rather, they seek liberation for agunot…
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Opinion Why Is Orthodoxy Packing Up Big Tent?
Readers of Israel’s Haaretz.com, many of them liberal and secular, must have been surprised to read, in late October, a public manifesto, signed by 42 members of the Rabbinical Council of America castigating “Open Orthodox rabbis and leaders” in the United States. The signatories — none of them, it should be noted, an officer of…
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