Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City home to a major population of Hasidic Jews.
Brooklyn
The Latest
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News Orthodox Jews quietly defy coronavirus restrictions to celebrate last of the High Holidays
Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn proceeded with some indoor and outdoor holiday celebrations in their synagogues over the weekend, in defiance of restrictions limiting all religious gatherings to 10 or fewer people in neighborhoods where the rates of coronavirus infection have gone sharply up in recent weeks. On Saturday evening in Borough Park — a neighborhood…
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News Orthodox rabbis say High Holiday services should proceed as usual — despite coronavirus
The leading Orthodox advocacy and religious authority has released a rabbinical decree ahead of the High Holidays that contains no mention of masks or social distancing, in contrast to the organization’s previous statement, which called on congregations to be careful at large gatherings. The decree, or Kol Korei, was written by a group of 15…
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Fast Forward Brooklyn Jewish officials warn of new COVID cases amid rising fear of a second wave
(JTA) – With cases of COVID-19 rising over the last several weeks in Orthodox communities in the New York City area, a synagogue in Brooklyn and a Jewish ambulance group issued warnings for people to continue taking precautions against the virus. Hatzoloh of Rockland County, which serves a number of large Orthodox communities in Monsey,…
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Fast Forward Questions grow over record stock gift to obscure Brooklyn synagogue
A little-known Brooklyn synagogue was the recipient last month of what may be the one of the largest personal donations to a religious organization in American history. But instead of celebrations over such a large contribution amid the bleak financial landscape of Jewish communal life, questions are being raised over the nature of the payment….
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Fast Forward Shortened Census period means Brooklyn’s Orthodox communities will likely be undercounted
(JTA) – Before the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City, Rabbi Avi Greenstein knew he needed to make a big push to have people in his neighborhood fill out the census. In Borough Park, where Greenstein serves as executive director of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council, only 49.2% of residents filled out the census…
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Fast Forward Pandemic reinvigorates push to ban chicken-swinging ritual in NYC
(JTA) — An organization that objects to a pre-Yom Kippur ritual that involves swinging live chickens is renewing its legal effort to stop the religious rite in New York City, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Kapparot involves swinging a live chicken over one’s head three times and reciting a prayer to transfer sins to the bird. The…
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Fast Forward Orthodox man attacked by three strangers on Brooklyn street corner
An Orthodox Jewish man in Brooklyn was attacked by three strangers in what the New York Police Department is investigating as a possible hate crime, the Daily News reported Thursday. The Jewish man, 51, was crossing Kings Highway when three other men yelled “F—-ing Jew” at him from a passing SUV, officials said. The Jewish…
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Fast Forward Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jews are acting like they have herd immunity. Could they be right?
(JTA) – The front page of the June 26 issue of Der Yid, one of the most widely circulated Yiddish newspapers among New York’s Hasidic Orthodox communities, made the point loud and clear. “And so it was after the plague.” Those words, lifted from a verse in the Torah and printed alongside photos of large…
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