Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Orthodox Judaism, which aims for a stricter observance of halachic law than Conservative or Reform Judaism. It includes Modern Orthodox Judaism, as well as Haredi (sometimes called ultra-Orthodox) Judaism,…
Orthodox Judaism
The Latest
-
Breaking News Reuven Rivlin Raises Hackles With Derision of Reform and Conservative Judaism
(JTA) — The front-runner in Israel’s presidential election has equated Reform Judaism with “idol worship” and refused to refer to Reform rabbis by their title. Former Knesset speaker Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin, considered a Likud party elder statesman, is one of six candidates running to succeed Shimon Peres in the largely ceremonial post chosen by the…
-
Breaking News Orthodox Groups Fight For Muslim Inmate’s Beard Length
A coalition of Orthodox Jewish groups filed friend of the court briefs in two high-profile cases involving religious practice in prisons. The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs on May 28 filed a brief in the Atlanta-based federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the matter of access to kosher meals in the…
-
Breaking News Mayor Bill de Blasio Pleads ‘Hear No Evil’ on Orthodox Rabbi’s ‘Heresy’ Attack
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed he didn’t hear a rabbi’s shocking rant about Open Orthodoxy and non-Orthodox Jews, despite sitting just a few feet away. De Blasio got testy when reporters queried why he sat silent through the Agudath Israel gala speech of Rabbi Yaakov Perlow in which he denounced the more progressive…
-
News Orthodox Rabbi Stuns Agudath Gala With ‘Heresy’ Attack on Open Orthodoxy
The leading rabbi of Agudath Israel of America, the ultra-Orthodox umbrella group, condemned non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and called the religiously progressive Open Orthodox movement heretical at the group’s annual gala. “The Torah must be guarded from the secular forces that seek to corrupt its values and the lives of [Jews], from intruders who sometimes…
-
The Schmooze Why I Use ‘Yeshivish’
In my writing, I very purposefully label my ultra-Orthodox non-Hasidic community of origin the “Yeshivish” community or sect, although I know it is a strange label for some, like Ezra Glinter, who in a footnote to his thoughtful and thorough essay “Ex-Hasidic Writers Go Off the Path and Onto the Page,” questions my use of…
-
Breaking News Israel Top Court Outlaws Stipends to Ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva Students
The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the state to stop providing monthly living stipends to haredi Orthodox yeshiva students. The stipends of approximately $1,100, distributed over a period of four years and intended to encourage integration into Israel’s workforce, were not having the desired effect, the court ruled Sunday in a unanimous opinion. Instead, the court…
-
Breaking News Gang of 4 Rabbis Indicted in Orthodox Divorce Torture Extortion Scheme
Four Orthodox rabbis and one of their sons were indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap and torture Jewish men to force them to grant religious divorces to their wives. Rabbi Mendel Epstein and his son David Epstein, Rabbi Martin Wolmark, Rabbi Jay Goldstein and Rabbi Binyamin Stiller were charged Thursday in New Jersey federal…
-
Breaking News Rabbi, 3 Others Indicted in $12.4 million Theft of N.Y. Special Ed Funds
Four New York men, including a rabbi, were indicted for allegedly stealing more than $12.4 million in funding intended for children with disabilities. Rabbi Samuel Hiller, 56, of Far Rockaway in the borough of Queens, was indicted on grand larceny and other charges, according to a news release issued Tuesday by Queens County District Attorney…
Most Popular
- 1
Culture How my odious cousin Roy Cohn was responsible for creating Donald Trump — and me
- 2
Fast Forward Was the viral Ta-Nehisi Coates interview a hit piece or fair play? A journalism ethics expert weighs in.
- 3
Opinion I’m a Jew of color. Ta-Nehisi Coates can’t apply U.S. lessons to Israel
- 4
Culture New conspiracy theory just dropped — Jews are causing the hurricanes
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward In final stretch, Harris and Trump intensify outreach to Jewish voters in key swing states
-
Fast Forward On tour in South America, Paul McCartney attends Yom Kippur services in Santiago, Chile
-
Fast Forward Historic Prague synagogue used on Yom Kippur for the first time since the Holocaust
-
News From snoot to tail, a 3,000-year history of Jews and the pig
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism