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
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The Schmooze Buzzfeed, Torah-Style
Have you ever scrolled through Buzzfeed thinking, ‘If only this could be a little more Jewish?” Someone in the wide netherworld of the Internet has heard your prayers and answered them. The result is BuzzTorah, a spoof of the news site that launched a thousand listicles created by Yeshiva University students. The website self-describes as…
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News Kosher Soup Kitchen Struggles With Rising Ranks of Hungry as Passover Nears
On a recent chilly afternoon in Queens, two women shivered in a line of about 50 people that trailed out the door of Masbia, a kosher food pantry and soup kitchen. The first woman, from Manhattan, wore baggy pants. The other, from Queens, was clad in a long, draping skirt. Their outfits signaled differences in…
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Israel News Israeli Jews Who Aren’t Jewish in Eyes of Rabbis Face Kafkaesque Conversion Plight
They live as part of Jewish society in the Jewish state, but the state itself does not consider them Jewish. For Israel, some 330,000 immigrants, mostly from the former Soviet Union, represent a big assimilation problem and a big political problem, made worse by the fact that the only solution for this largely non-religious group…
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Breaking News British Orthodox School Kills Questions on Evolution
In the wake of an Orthodox Jewish day school redacting questions about evolution from a national science exam, England’s exams office said the practice is not permissible. The U.K. Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, or Ofqual, sent a message to all public exam boards saying that blocking out questions on national exams is “malpractice”…
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Israel News Do Orthodox Rabbi Groups Hold Too Much Sway Over Conversion — in Israel and U.S.?
(JTA) — Even if you converted to Judaism under Orthodox auspices, your conversion may be called into question by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Council of America, the main centrist Orthodox rabbinical group in the United States. If you live in Israel, this means your ability to marry a Jew is in jeopardy….
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Breaking News Fourth Man Pleads Guilty in ‘Get’ Extortion Plot Aimed at Orthodox Husbands
Another New York City man has pleaded guilty to being part of a group of men who used violent means in exchange for pay to force Jewish husbands to give their wives religious divorces. Simcha Bulmash, 30, of Brooklyn pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., to participating in the extortion ring,…
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Opinion Partnership Minyan and the Egalitarian Threat
Mainstream Orthodoxy has been taking pains to publicize its disapproval of partnership minyanim, Orthodox prayer groups where women lead some of the prayers and read from the Torah. Yeshiva University threatened to withhold ordination of a graduating student who held a partnership minyan in his home. Large, leading Orthodox institutions like the Orthodox Union and…
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Breaking News Peretz Sontag, Missing New York Father of 7, Found Dead in Car
The body of a missing father of seven was found inside his car in a ravine in an upstate New York park. Peretz Sontag, 50, of Pomona in suburban Rockland County, was found dead Sunday by a hiker in Harriman State Park. The cause of death is not known. A funeral was planned for Monday…
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