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 Orthodox Rabbis Split on Anti-Gay Bullying Law in Canadian City of Winnepeg
An anti-bullying bill in Manitoba has Winnipeg’s two leading Orthodox rabbis split over how much schools should do to accommodate students who support gay rights. One part of Bill 18, proposed last December, requires any school that receives provincial funding to allow students to create a gay-straight alliance club. Fearing that Christian schools will be…
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News Maine Rabbi’s Injury Forges Remarkable Partnership Between 2 Branches of Faith
One of the first things Rabbi Alice Goldfinger said as we sat down for our interview is that she would likely forget all about me. “I’ll know you were here, because the appointment is in my calendar,” she said. “But I won’t remember it. I have no short-term memory. I don’t feel time, so by…
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Life First Ultra-Orthodox Sex-Segregated Playground Opens
The reportedly first sex-segregated public playground in the country has been opened in Kiryas Joel, the ultra-Orthodox enclave in Monroe, NY. According to YourJewishNews.com, Kiryas Joel’s Satmar Hasidic community has built on 283 acres on the city’s outskirts a playground that completely separates boys from girls. More accurately, the space is divided into four areas:…
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Opinion Orthodox Push Back on Kotel
The rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz isn’t opposed to the plan for an egalitarian prayer section there, he announced in a statement emailed to reporters yesterday. But it’s already clear that he doesn’t speak for the Haredi mainstream. Rabinowitz is Haredi, but softer on religious issues than most Haredi leaders. This is partly…
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Fast Forward Five Women Detained at Monthly Kotel Protest
Israeli police detained five women activists on Thursday at the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s most sacred sites, for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said. The incident occurred during a monthly prayer session by the Women of the Wall, a group opposed to police-enforced Orthodox controls at…
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News Natan Sharansky’s Historic Western Wall Compromise Still Faces Plenty of Obstacles
Natan Sharansky has presented what could be a historic proposal to add a space for egalitarian prayer to the Western Wall. Israeli religious pluralism activists, however, fear that the proposal will take years to implement and could face roadblocks that prevent it from coming to fruition. The proposal, first reported by the Forward, would expand…
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News Kotel Egalitarian Prayer Plan Set in Motion by Dramatic Western Wall Compromise
A dramatic offer to set up a new egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was met with a no less dramatic willingness to compromise on behalf of all the major religious leaders in the American Jewish community. In a rare show of consensus, activists on the liberal side of the Reform movement…
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Fast Forward U.S. Army Cut Presentation Linking Orthodox Jews, KKK and Al-Qaida
A slide on extremist threats lumping haredi Orthodox Jews, among others, with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and al-Qaida was used once and removed, the U.S. Army said. The slide, revealed Tuesday in a report by the London Daily Mail, lists under the rubric of “Religious Extremism” terms such as “evangelical Christianity (U.S./Christian),” “Ultra-Orthodox…
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