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
The Latest
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News Lebovits Abuse Conviction Is Overturned
An appeals court has reversed the child sex abuse conviction of Brooklyn travel agent Baruch Lebovits, who was sentenced in 2010 to up to 32 years in prison. Alan Dershowitz, chief counsel for Lebovits on appeal, called the unanimous reversal by a four-judge appellate panel a “total victory.” Lebovits was not acquitted outright but instead…
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Opinion Orthodox Opposition to No-Names Policy
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes can usually count on the firm support of the ultra-Orthodox umbrella group Agudath Israel of America. While Hynes has been lambasted over the years by child abuse survivors and their advocates for his handling of sex abuse cases, Agudath has generally backed what it sees as his sensitive handling of…
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News Orthodox Abuse Suspects Get Exemption
This is an updated version of a story that first appeared on forward.com earlier this week. Orthodox Jews convicted of or charged with child sex abuse in Brooklyn should have their identities protected because of the community’s “tight-knit and insular” nature, prosecutors claim in a response to The Forward’s request for information about the cases….
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Life When Orthodox Men Get Personal
The strangest part of Monday night’s panel discussion of my new book, “The Men’s Section,” about partnership synagogues, or Orthodox congregations in which women play key roles in leading communal prayer, wasn’t that the four-person panel was made up of all men. All-male panels are so common — to wit, I passed by a poster…
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Opinion The Lessons of Jewish Pluralism
The assertiveness of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious authorities over the country’s social life — and particularly over the role of women in the public square — has generated headlines and condemnation on the part of friends of Israel and, gleefully, from the country’s antagonists and enemies. These developments, and the potentially disastrous ever increasing growth in…
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Opinion Santorum’s Jewish Backers Switch to Romney
With Rick Santroum’s exit from the presidential race, Jewish supporters of the conservative candidate say that they’re ready to back his onetime rival Mitt Romney. “We’re happy he stayed in as long as he did,” said David Shor, creator of the website Jews Pick Rick. “We’re going to unite behind Mitt Romney and hopefully we’ll…
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Life What Banning Facebook Is Really About
Facebook is forbidden among Chabad teenage girls, as The Sisterhood told you — and as the Forward reports here. This reflects a blatant double standard, the report points out, because the movement has widely embraced technology to spread its message, but refuses to allow its own youth to use these tools. But Chabad’s double standard…
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News Chabad ‘Likes’ Facebook, But Not for Girls
An Orthodox girls school’s recent decision to fine students $100 for using Facebook made national headlines. But there was nary a mention of the story on the popular Chabad website. And the news was nowhere to be found on the Facebook page or Twitter feed of Chabad-Lubavitch, the Hasidic sect with which the school, Beth…
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Fast Forward Oct. 7 spurred this secular private school in Manhattan to start holding an annual Shabbat gathering
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