Each year, tens of millions of dollars in federal Pell grants go to yeshivas, many of which focus primarily on Talmud study, a Forward review of U.S. Department of Education data reveals. The Jewish colleges take their place among many other religion-oriented schools that receive Pell grant funds. But they punch far above their weight,…
There are seismic shifts occuring in the American religious landscape that could have profound effects on the way that faith intersects with public life, but you’d never know it from the language and behavior of the two presidential candidates. That’s both a great relief and a cause for despair. The shifts were underscored by the…
What would it look like to have your movements and your friendships tracked simply because of your religion or where you prayed? Syed Farhaj Hassan knows. He stopped attending his mosque in New Jersey after discovering that the New York City Police Department had it under surveillance. Hassan, a specialist in the Army Reserve, told…
This post is the seventh in “Feminist, Orthodox and Engaged,” a series by Simi Lampert on love, sex and betrothal in the life of a Modern Orthodox woman. When my fiancé, Jeremy, and I were studying in yeshivot in Israel — at the same time, but completely unaware of one another’s existence — we each…
Hundreds of Brazilian Jews joined a mass march for religious freedom in Rio de Janeiro. In total, the march on Sept. 16 along Rio’s Copacabana beach drew more than 200,000 people, according to CONIB, the umbrella group representing Brazil’s Jewish communities. The event was the 5th annual march organized by the Commission for Combating Religious…
I am the son of a Yekke. My father was born in Germany. His parents escaped to Palestine in the nick of time, just before World War II broke out. Both were doctors, but they came with no Hebrew and there was no work for them. It was tough. They may have left Germany behind…
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about what makes some people uncomfortable with varying degrees of belief within their own religion. Certainly even within the Russian-Jewish community, there are misunderstandings about what Jews of a stronger religious lifestyle represent. I wanted to know what creates a divide between being Jewish by blood and stringently…
This news comes uncomfortably close to reinforcing old stereotypes — but a new study shows that Jews are indeed one of the wealthiest groups in the United States. Data collected by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that Reform and Conservative Jews ranked first and third, respectively, on a list of the…
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