This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish women and women’s issues.
Women
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Life Why Women Are the New Gatekeepers of Modesty
Getty Images // Ultra-Orthodox women in Israel Who are the gatekeepers of the conservative religious ideal of tznius, or modesty? This question has been argued and parsed on social media and on blogs in recent years as radicalism in the ultra-Orthodox communities has taken on new and more visible forms. A common misperception is that…
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Opinion Israel Gets Gender-Segregated Elevator — Finally!
Gender-segregated elevator in Jerusalem / Walla Apparently, gender-segregated classrooms, playgrounds, buses, sidewalks and healthcare centers aren’t enough. Now Israel has gender-segregated elevators. Yosef Cohen, the owner of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox event venue Armonot Chen, has started divvying up elevator space using a nylon mechitza, with stickers inside and outside the elevator directing men to one side…
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News Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis Urge Women To Limit Internet Use
Ultra-Orthodox rabbis sought to enlist ultra-Orthodox women in their push to limit Internet use at a rally in Boro Park, Brooklyn on May 29, saying that women are responsible for controlling web access by their husbands and families. Speaking to a crowd of 10,000 women, a panel of rabbis warned of the dangers posed by…
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Life On Jewish Women and Facial Hair
Thinkstock The first time I thought about facial hair was in high school, when a boy, whom I considered a friend, informed me that I had more hair on my upper lip than he did. I didn’t do anything about it then — it had been enough of a fight with my mother to let…
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Opinion Coma Case Could Mean Leap Forward for Agunot
A woman gestures at a Jerusalem demonstration to help agunot / Haaretz We’re familiar with the stories of recalcitrant husbands who refuse to give their wives a get, a religious writ of divorce, effectively preventing them from remarrying. But less discussed is the heart-wrenching experience of women whose husbands are alive, but unable to interact…
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Life Mothering My Jewish Mother
Sarah Seltzer Last week, a few days before Mother’s Day (and my mom’s birthday, which always falls at the same time of year), I stood on the street near Morningside Park in Upper Manhattan with my mother, venting and kibbitzing. I was on my way home from work, she had biked up to say hi….
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Opinion Talking to the Rabbis About Sex
An ultra-Orthodox bride at her Jerusalem wedding in 2014. / Getty Images This past Sunday, I spoke about sexuality and modesty in front of a group of ultra-Orthodox rabbis. Both professionally and personally, it was a profound moment for me, a formerly ultra-Orthodox woman, to sit there and name experiences that the ultra-Orthodox community hasn’t…
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Music Women Move Towards Approval as First Israel Kosher Supervisors
(JTA) — In a step that further expands the opportunities for women to serve as recognized authorities in Jewish law, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for the first time is allowing women to serve as kosher supervisors. Nine women took the Chief Rabbinate’s kosher supervision exam last week in Jerusalem. Should they pass, they would become…
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Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
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News They texted about Torah and mitzvahs. Feds say they were insider trading
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Opinion I run The Jewish Theological Seminary. Here’s the real story about President Isaac Herzog speaking at our commencement
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Fast Forward Talarico won’t campaign with Democratic House candidate who wants to open ‘a prison for American Zionists’
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish World Molly Crabapple’s book is well researched but ideologically biased
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News At Trump’s Christian revival on the National Mall, one rabbi made a Jewish case for America
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Fast Forward California judge says Kars4Kids misled donors by omitting Orthodox Jewish mission from ads
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Fast Forward Pacific Palisades Jews, displaced by fire, reopen their synagogue as part of returning home