Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Hasidic Judaism, a sub-group of Haredi Judaism that adheres to the historical traditions of Eastern European Jews, including communicating in Yiddish.
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Fast Forward Hasidic Village’s Massive Condo Development Will Be Denser Than Manhattan
Officials in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, in New York, gave final approval this month to a major development that will increase the village’s population by 40 percent over five years, the Times Herald-Record reported. Kiryas Veyoel Gardens, a 1,600 condo development, is expected to bring 9,000 residents to a currently undeveloped 70-acre plot…
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News Is Rebbe Schneerson The Jewish Messiah? Faith Survives In Chabad.
The Messiah is coming — again. That was the message at a conference of rabbis from around the world, held the weekend before Thanksgiving in Brooklyn. The keynote speaker said he believed, at his “inner core,” that the late leader of the far-reaching Chabad-Lubavitch movement would soon return to prepare the world for redemption. “It…
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Fast Forward Emails Detail Hasidic Power Broker’s Direct Line To De Blasio’s Office
A new trove of emails shows how a Hasidic rabbi and power broker from Brooklyn received five-star treatment from New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and his staff after hosting a fundraiser for them, the New York Post reported. Moishe Indig, a Brooklyn landlord and member of the Satmar Hasidic sect, had direct access…
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Life Judge Ruchie Freier Is A Hasidic Role Model. I Wish I Had Her Opportunities.
If someone knew about the Hasidic community only by learning about it through recent stories in the mainstream press, I would not blame that person for coming away with confusing and contradictory perceptions. This season we saw the release of the Netflix documentary “One of Us,” in which the three protagonists describe a Hasidism of…
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News Why A Sleepy New Jersey Suburb Targeted Hasidic Jews With ‘Anti-Semitic’ Laws
When a Holocaust survivor took the microphone last summer at a city council meeting in Mahwah, New Jersey, tensions were already running high. Hundreds of people filled the hall as Sami Steigmann, 78, sat before the township’s mayor and council. The meeting happened amid rising concerns by residents that ultra-Orthodox Jews were “infiltrating” their town…
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News What Is An Eruv?
It’s a fence, but it doesn’t exist six days out of the week. It’s a symbolic extension of the home, but not an extension of private property. It’s an ingenious legal loophole, but it’s been Jewish law for 1,500 years. It’s not a riddle, it’s an eruv: a boundary used by Orthodox Jews to expand…
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Fast Forward For Hasidic Jews, A Kosher, Internet-Free GPS Tool
A new GPS device for navigation has been designed specifically for Hasidic Jews who might otherwise be averse to using smartphones. Some have taken to calling the kosher, rabbi-approved device “the Ark” — because, apparently, it looks something like the ark of a Torah. A blog post on Tablet featured the new device, which can’t…
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Fast Forward Hasidic Neighborhood In Brooklyn Has Lead Levels Three Times Worse Than Flint
A Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn — one that has New York City’s highest concentration of children — has lead poisoning levels three times worse than Flint, Michigan. Williamsburg has seen thousands of cases of lead poisoning since 2005, Reuters reported “When I saw the numbers I freaked out,” said Rabbi David Niederman, leader of the…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Music For Bob Dylan’s biographer, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is a dream come true — even if it’s mostly fiction
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Culture In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward London Police ask upcoming pro-Palestinian rally to move away from synagogue
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Fast Forward A rabbi and his son were arrested for vandalizing a swastika mural. Are they heroes or hooligans?
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Opinion What a remarkable Torah rescued from Iran — then LA’s fire — can teach about community amid devastation
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Fast Forward Israel’s judicial overhaul is back. So are the protests.
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