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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Community The Child Sexual-Abuse Survivor Who Fought Back
A version of this piece originally appeared in Plus61J. How does a twelve-year-old survive when he has been the victim of child sexual abuse and compounding abuses perpetrated by leaders of the community entrusted with his care? How does he grow up to become a Jewish community leader and one of Australia’s best known advocates…
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Opinion What a Swastika Means to Reform Jews in Today’s America
One morning in early January, the students and faculty of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion’s Cincinnati campus, the longtime seat of Reform Judaism in America, woke up to find themselves victims of anti-Semitism. A large, white swastika had been scrawled on the seminary’s red entrance sign. You couldn’t miss it. Though traumatic…
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News Was 2016 the ‘Worst’ Year for Ultra-Orthodox Suicide and Overdoses?
Boorey Deutsch can’t keep track of the number of people he knew who died by suicide or overdose this year. Four were close friends. One of them hung himself; one drove the wrong way on the highway and two overdosed. Others he knew in passing. “I knew many of them, unfortunately,” Deutsch said, in the…
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News At 15, This Orthodox Girl Is a National Pingpong Champion
(JTA) – She’s beaten a table tennis Hall of Famer. She’s beaten Jewish philanthropists in suits and high heels. She’s beaten tennis champion Rafael Nadal. And she’s only 15. Like many Orthodox Jewish teens, Estee Ackerman was raised around a basement pingpong table, a traditional gathering spot for Sabbath-observant kids on long Saturday afternoons. But…
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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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News Boro Park Jews Still Back Donald Trump Despite Post-Election Anti-Semitism
Since Donald Trump’s election, Jews in New York have been the targets of more than half the city’s hate crimes, from Williamsburg and Brooklyn Heights to the New School in Manhattan; and all this, amid the sharp spike in reports of anti-Semitic vandalism and hate speech nationally. Yet in the heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Borough…
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Fast Forward Happy Hanukkah — Cut the Chit Chat With Cousin Gertrude!
It’s Hanukkah time, but don’t get carried away with the holiday spirit. Fliers posted in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of New York City warn: amidst your Hanukkah parties, dreidel spinning and menorah lighting — don’t let the men and women mix. There should be no engaging in “unnecessary chatting,” “frivolous laughter,” or “playing games together.” This even…
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Community Though Spiritually Bereft, I Never Felt Bullied As A Jew At McGill
My time at McGill University was intellectually satisfying but spiritually deficient. Let me preface my words by acknowledging that I am an Orthodox Jew and Orthodoxy was absent from McGill University’s campus. Benchmarks of Orthodoxy such as a daily prayer quorum, hot kosher food, fellow observant Jews, and Shabbat and Chagim observance were scant. Orthodox…
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Opinion Trump’s attacks on the Smithsonian come straight from the Nazi playbook
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Fast Forward Former Biden officials are speaking out about what happened behind the scenes on Israel
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Fast Forward Yosef Blau, author of an Orthodox rabbis’ letter calling out Israel, responds to his critics
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Yiddish ווי ייִדישע קינדער־ליטעראַטור האָט געזאָלט העלפֿן קינדער פֿאַרשטיין די וועלטHow Yiddish children’s literature aimed to help kids make sense of the world
די אַמאָליקע קינדערביכער האָבן אָפּגעשפּיגלט כּלערליי פּאָליטישע וויזיעס און אויך אַ נײַעם פֿאַרשטאַנד פֿון קינדער און משפּחה־לעבן.
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