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 40 Orthodox Clergy Condemn Donald Trump’s ‘Hateful Rhetoric’
(JTA) — Forty American Orthodox clergy co-signed a letter condemning Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for what they called his “hateful rhetoric and intolerant policy proposals.” The letter — whose signatories included Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, the founding president of Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York City — was Friday on the website Cleveland.com. Noting that…
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Fast Forward Judge Nixes Jewish Community Service for Orthodox Men in Racial Beating Case
– Two Orthodox Jews who beat up a gay black man in New York were sentenced to 150 hours of community service — and a judge rejected their proposal to work for a Jewish organization. Pinchas Braver and Abraham Winkler, who admitted to participating in the December 2013 beating, were sentenced Tuesday in New York…
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Life The Secret to Making My Mixed Marriage Work
“I know my husband uses the microwave on Shabbat,” a friend told me, after I shared my story of being in a mixed secular-religious marriage, “but he makes sure to do it while I’m out of the house at shul.” While this bifurcated approach may work in the short term, where the less observant partner…
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Life Can These Newly Ordained Rabbis Upend the Status Quo in Israel?
Bitya Rozen-Goldberg had no idea she wanted to be a rabbi when she immigrated to Israel from France 11 years ago. In the years since settling in Jerusalem, the 33-year-old tour guide studied Talmud in numerous female settings. But as “female rabbi” has long been an oxymoron in the Orthodox world, she never thought she…
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News Rabbi Haskel Lookstein’s Long Hot Summer in the Spotlight
For Rabbi Haskel Lookstein it’s been a challenging summer. A widely admired New York rabbi, Lookstein has faced down this over-heated season at the tail end of a long career as a beloved and respected spiritual leader among Manhattan’s elite. He has, among other things, long presided over Manhattan’s East Side synagogue Kehilath Jeshurun and…
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Opinion After Orthodox-Only Mikveh Law, Time To Rein In the Israeli Rabbinate
As a woman who underwent Orthodox conversion, I was livid when I read about the controversial Israeli bill that was formally passed into law July 25. The bill allows local Orthodox rabbinates to ban non-Orthodox conversions in publicly funded mikvehs. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party may have introduced this piece of legislation, but in…
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Fast Forward Israeli Law Bars Using Mikvehs for Non-Orthodox Conversions
A controversial bill that would enable local Orthodox rabbinates to bar non-Orthodox Jewish conversion ceremonies in publicly funded mikvehs was passed in the Knesset. The bill — introduced by the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party and opposed by many North American Jewish leaders — passed into law on Monday night, the Jerusalem Post ….
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News Brooklyn Eruv Feud Gets Its Dr. Seuss Moment
A tense religious dispute between Modern Orthodox and Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn over a new eruv is now getting it’s first literary treatment — as a Dr. Seuss-style poem. “Red eruv, blue eruv, tall, eruv, no eruv,” the poem is called, penned by “Rabbi Dr. Who,” and is largely a call for peace. “What good…
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