Welcome to 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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Life Is Drinking Alcohol A Rite Of Passage Into The Fraternity Of Orthodoxy?
This past Simchat Torah, a friend and I watched warily as one of the congregants, usually a composed professional type, staggered around the front lawn of the synagogue, drunk and mumbling to himself. Inside, the other men of the congregation were bidding on aliyahs and other honors for the upcoming year, their wallets loosened thanks…
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Life Is The Media’s Obsession With Hasidic Jews Anti-Semitic?
Our news feeds and Shabbos tables are abuzz with talk of ‘One of Us’, the latest Netflix film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (the creators of Jesus Camp), about the lives of those who leave the Hasidic community and are ostracized. I confess: I will not be watching this documentary. This isn’t out of…
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Life What Makes The Hasidic Community Choose Tribe Over Offspring?
About 10 years ago, right around the time the tectonic plates beneath my structured world began to shift, eventually destroying my entire existence as I knew it, there was a campaign in my hometown of Kiryas Joel and beyond to “save the neshama of a young girl.” The young girl, a toddler at the time,…
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Life I Hated Halloween. Until I Became Orthodox.
Growing up in a secular family, I spent many Halloweens of my youth dressed as a Jack-O-Lantern. But that doesn’t mean I liked the holiday. I actually hated how showy people got with single-use costumes, the obsession with spooky things, and the overall lack of meaning in the celebrations. And then, of course, there were…
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Opinion How Knesset Push Will Actually Help Chained Women Worldwide
Israeli lawmakers are considering a law that would help Orthodox women across the world. Jewish law does not permit a woman to divorce her husband without his consent, and in Israel and abroad, a number of women who wish to leave their husbands are unable to do so. These women are known as agunoth –…
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Letters Here’s How the Orthodox Deal With Sexual Assault
The Harvey Weinstein scandal is just the latest case of the misuse and exploitation of power through sexual harassment and abuse by people in influential positions. It has caught everyone’s attention and has empowered victims to come forward, speak out, and be believed. Hopefully it is finally the catalyst for significant cultural change. But sexual…
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Life How Halloween Taught Me Self-Determination After Leaving Orthodoxy
After the weeks of Jewish holidays, the last thing I wanted was another celebration. “Why can’t we trick-or-treat?” my kids wanted to know a few days before Halloween. “It’s not a Jewish holiday,” I answered automatically, the same words that I’d always spoken and that my mother had once spoken to me. Until this year,…
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Life Is The Orthodox Community Really Facing Mental Health Head-On?
When people tell me, again and again, that the Orthodox community has gotten better with regard to mental health issues, I secretly cringe. They point to the Jewish magazines, the organizations, the public talks, the community initiatives, as proof that Orthodox Jews, as a community, are no longer afraid to look mental illness in the…
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