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 Why Jonathan Sacks Says Jews Must Stop ‘Navel-Gazing’
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, a philosopher and member of the U.K. House of Lords who served as Britain’s chief Orthodox rabbi from 1991 to 2013, is in America lecturing and promoting his latest book, “Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence.” JTA’s Uriel Heilman caught up with Sacks in New York for a conversation about his…
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The Schmooze For Matisyahu, Leaving Orthodoxy Was ‘Hardest Thing’
(JTA) — With his clean-shaven face and hip clothing, it’s easy to forget that Matisyahu was a Hasidic icon before he was just a Jewish one. But on a segment of HuffPost Live on Tuesday, the Jewish reggae singer called leaving the Hasidic community “one of the hardest things [he] had to go through.” From…
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Fast Forward London Orthodox School Ordered To Stop Asking Parents About Sex Lives
An Orthodox Jewish public school in London must stop asking parents about their sex lives in order for their children to gain admission, a school watchdog ordered. The Hasmonean High School in Barnet in north London asks parents on its admission form whether they observe the laws of family purity, under which women abstain from…
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The Schmooze Welcome to the Sexy Frum World of Orthodox Erotica
Most erotic fiction doesn’t come with an accompanying glossary of Yiddish terms. Unless, of course, your sexy fantasies involve Orthodox Jews. Shosha Pearl writes what she calls “Orthodox erotica,” a relatively new genre of erotic fiction about, and geared to, Orthodox Jews. Her first book, “I Will Watch You: Four Short Tales of Jewish Love…
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Books Why Secular-to-Orthodox Memoirs Matter
“Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.” This quote from Ann Patchett sums up my feelings about writing — and it’s also how I feel about my chosen religious lifestyle. I grew up in a secular Jewish home and, as a young adult, was drawn…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Woman Suing Gym for Not Letting Her Work Out in Skirt
An Orthodox Brooklyn woman is suing the Lucille Roberts fitness chain for denying her entry to a kickboxing class because she was wearing a skirt. Yosefa Jalal, 25, said she was harassed, threatened with arrest and had her membership revoked from the women’s-only gym when she insisted on following Judaism’s standards of modesty. “I think…
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Opinion Where’s the Orthodox Counterpoint to All Those OTD Books?
Compelling personal essays and well-promoted books by “off the derech” writers — Jews who were raised Orthodox but are currently elsewhere — have become something of a cottage industry. Some of the accounts are somewhat condescending, even cynical, embodiments of the perennial phenomenon of intrepid youth discovering truths to which their parents are lamentably oblivious….
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Opinion From Black Hats to Egalitarian Prayer — and Back?
Growing up in an Orthodox environment, there was a word I kept hearing. It was dirty. Worse, it was said with derision. It signified weird people who were non-traditional. Or worse, non-observant. Egalitarian. But I eventually left yeshiva and entered college. I was observant, but I started getting a crash course in Judaism-that’s-not-like-my-Judaism. It was…
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