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
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Fast Forward Orthodox Union Urges Unity for Trump Interfaith Inaugural Event
(JTA) — Amid preparations for an interfaith prayer during Donald Trump’s inaugural weekend, the Orthodox Union called on faith leaders to demonstrate a nonpartisan approach to the event. The plea by Nathan Diament, head of the public policy arm of the Orthodox Union, the main communal association for Orthodox Judaism, which the Associated Press quoted,…
-
News Orthodox Man Pelted With Ice, Called ‘South Side Jew’ in Brooklyn Attack
An Orthodox man walking to his car in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn was on the receiving end of New York’s post-election hate crime wave, as teens pelted him with ice and shouted at “South Side Jew” at him. “Two kids, they were DNAInfo. “I don’t know what that means.” The epithet might have been…
-
Fast Forward Des Moines’ Only Orthodox Synagogue To Sell Building
(JTA) — The only Orthodox synagogue in Des Moines is selling its building, which will leave the Iowa city without an Orthodox synagogue for the first time since the 1880s. Beth El Jacob has a potential buyer for its nearly 60-year-old building, the Des Moines Register reported. The congregation of about 80 families has been…
-
Community How an Orthodox Rabbi Became A Reform Jewish Educator
In 1979, I was ordained as a rabbi by a prominent yeshiva. My training prepared me to become a modern Orthodox rabbi, presumably in a congregation. I previously served as a Jewish youth educator in the Chicago region of NCSY and as a visiting staff member for other regions around the Midwest. So, when the…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
- 2
Opinion I spoke out against Mamdani. Then he won. Here’s how we walk forward together.
- 3
Opinion Why a concert hall should be the last place for a protest — particularly an antisemitic one like this
- 4
Culture Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish נײַע איבערזעצונג: דאָס לעבן און טויט פֿון אַ שטעטל בעת דער רוסישער בירגערקריגNew translation: The life and death of a shtetl during the Russian Civil Wars
אָן רחל פֿײַגנבערגס בוך פֿון 1926 וואָלט מען אפֿשר אַפֿילו נישט געוווּסט אַז דאָס שטעטל דובאָווע האָט אַ מאָל עקזיסטירט.
-
Books Esteemed by Oscar Wilde, England’s ‘greatest Jewess’ may finally be getting her due
-
Yiddish בײַ די פֿרומע קרײַזן אין אַמאָליקן טשערנאָוויץThe Orthodox community in pre-war Czernowitz
הרבֿ מאיר מאָסקאָוויץ, וואָס איז די וואָך ניפֿטר געוואָרן, איז געווען דער זון פֿונעם שאָצער רבין אין טשערנאָוויץ
-
Film & TV The cheesy way to do teshuvah
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
