This is the Forward’s coverage of Satmar, a Hasidic sect in New York City.
Satmar
The Latest
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Fast Forward Satmar Hasidic Family Busted in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
FBI agents reportedly arrested more than a dozen members of Hasidic communities in Williamsburg, Monsey, and Kiryas Joel this morning in connection with a mortgage fraud investigation. An FBI spokesman confirmed the arrests to the Forward. Neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has made an official…
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Life When the Mikveh Is an Ordeal of Faith
Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh The first time I prepared to immerse in the mikveh, the Jewish ritual bath, I was 18 years old and four days away from my wedding. I sat naked in a white bathtub as the mikveh attendant scrubbed my back with a washcloth and a dollop of baking soda. “You’re lucky…
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News What the Day of Atonement Meant to One Hasidic Woman
On the top shelf of our living room buffet sit some of our once-a-year religious accoutrements: a Passover matzo set, a white tablecloth for the sukkah and a white apron. This is not your typical kitchen apron; it is my vase shirtsl — literally, white apron: a small, square-shaped, hand-embroidered cotton apron made of fine…
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News Why Rabbi Ysoscher Katz Left Satmars for Progressive Start-Up Synagogue
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. He grew up among the ultra-Orthodox Satmar Jews in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, in a childhood with rules so strict that playing Frisbee at summer camp was considered a radical move. Today he serves as the spiritual leader of a small, relatively young, progressive Orthodox synagogue…
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News A Satmar Girl Remembers Rosh Hashanah With Honey and Fear
If you live in a Jewish neighborhood like I do, you may periodically hear the wailing of a shofar in the distance in the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah. It is a common daily practice among Orthodox Jews, a reminder that the High Holidays are not far off. The evening air, at one time…
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News Doomed N.Y. Firefighter Saved 7-Year-Old Hasidic Boy’s Life After Garage Mishap
A New York City firefighter killed in a weekend blaze earned accolades in the Satmar Hasidic community for saving a 7-year-old boy’s life just weeks before his tragic death in a Brooklyn public housing high-rise. Lt. Gordon “Matt” Ambelas was among the firefighters who rescued Mendy Gotlieb after the Satmar boy’s head and arm were…
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News My Time at Satmar Summer Camp
Recently my 9-year-old son came home from school demanding I sign him up for sleep-away camp, which, he insisted, his best friend is attending for the entire summer. I nearly fell off the chair imagining my kid, who often forgets to remove his pajamas before he puts on his shorts on summer mornings, fending for…
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Fast Forward Gender-Segregating Signs in Kiryas Joel Cause Controversy
Signs that appear to call for gender segregation on streets in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel have raised some hackles. The color-coded signs posted along Forest Road — blue for men and red for women — designate separate sides of the street for men and women. The signs were made by a private individual…
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