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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The Schmooze Shulem Deen On Leaving Hasidism — And His Children
Shulem Deen // Photo by Pearl Gabel (JTA) — Shulem Deen, the former Skverer Hasid who for years blogged under the pseudonym “Hasidic Rebel,” has just published a memoir, “All Who Go Do Not Return” (Graywolf Press). Deen, now 40, describes his sheltered life in New Square, the virtually all-Hasidic village an hour north of New…
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Opinion My Hasidic Family Got Into a Passover Fistfight — Over Cake
Lior Zaltzman illustration At the Passover Seder, we read about the four sons of the Haggadah, distinguishing them by the things they say. But the wicked and wise sons say essentially the same thing. Both ask: “What are these practices you keep?” The family of the wise son respects his question, while the family of…
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Breaking News Were Paintball Attacks on Jews Hate Crimes?
New York police are investigating whether two incidents in which Jews were struck with paint were hate crimes. Two Jewish teens reported being struck with paint Saturday night, and on March 22 a Jewish man reported that someone threw paint at him or shot him with a paintball gun, CBS New York reported. No one…
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News Lessons of Crime and Punishment in New Square Yeshiva
A young father in the insular Skverer sect, Shulem Deen took the one job available to him: teacher. In an exclusive excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, “All Who Go Do Not Return,” which chronicles his painful journey from 18-year-old newlywed to being expelled from New Square as a heretic, he recounts how the need to…
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Breaking News Hasidim in Bloomingburg, New York Sue for Right to Vote
NEW YORK (JTA) – Hasidic residents of an upstate New York village are suing the county’s board of elections to have their voting rights restored. More than two dozen residents of Bloomingburg filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the Sullivan County Board of Elections alleging that the board was attempting to disenfranchise them. The…
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Opinion Is WhatsApp Now ‘Hasidic Friendly’?
Ultra-Orthodox rabbis gather to condemn the internet in 2012 / Josh Nathan-Kazis A Forward tipster texted us this morning to report an odd spam message he’d received on his phone. Sent from a Spanish phone number, the spam read: “Check out WhatsApp Messenger for your smartphone. Hasidic friendly! Download it today…” Last year, I reported…
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Opinion Cheating Hasids Out of a Future
An innovative lawsuit in Quebec offers an intriguing model for reforming the substandard secular education provided in many Hasidic communities. For years it’s been well known that many Hasidic yeshivas in New York fall far short of the state’s education department requirement that private school curricula be “substantially equivalent” to those in public schools. As…
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Breaking News New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Kisses Ring of Skver Rebbe David Twersky
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio appeared to literally kiss the hand of a controversial Hasidic leader last night at the rabbi’s son’s wedding in upstate New York, the Jewish blog JPUpdates reported. In videos and photos posted on the blog, de Blasio can be seen shaking the hand of Rabbi David Twersky, the…
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Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
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Culture A Jewish prophet of the 1980s would be horrified to see that we didn’t heed his warnings
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Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
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Fast Forward Meet Lev Kreitman, who brought down Tel Aviv shooter and survived Nova music festival on Oct. 7
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish ווי האָבן ייִדן געהיט די ייִדיש־קולטור אױף יענער זײַט „אײַזערנעם פֿאָרהאַנג“?How did Jews maintain their Yiddish culture behind the Iron Curtain?
ייִדישע ליטעראַטן, װאָס האָבן געטרײַ געדינט די קאָמוניסטישע רעזשימען, האָבן גענוצט זײערע פּריװילעגיעס כּדי אָפּצוהיטן ייִדיש.
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Fast Forward All the Jewish NHL players to watch in the 2024-2025 season
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Opinion A two-state solution may seem like a distant dream. Here’s why it shouldn’t be
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Opinion I’m a Holocaust survivor. Here’s why I celebrated my 80th birthday protesting at an Israeli prison
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