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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Opinion Think All Orthodox Jews Are Zionists? Think Again.
Many non-Orthodox Jews assume that all Orthodox Jews must be fervent Zionists. Given the centrality of Israel in Jewish movements — at least until recently — the natural assumption is that the more religious you are, the more Zionist you must be. Surely if today’s Evangelical Christians are Zionists, the Orthodox must be as well….
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Opinion The Real Reason Orthodox Jews Love Nikki Haley
There’s a joke people are telling in Israel about Nikki Haley, President Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations who just announced she would be stepping down in January. The joke’s setting is Mea Shearim, one of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods. Nine men are seeking a tenth to complete the quorum necessary for prayers. Just as they…
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News Is SAR Reckoning With A Sex Abuse Scandal — Or Looking For A Scapegoat?
Robert Eckmann finally decided ten months ago to email his middle school about the principal who molested him in the 1970s. He couldn’t have known the consequences. His private message has led to revelations about Stanley Rosenfeld, who the Forward found had admitted to molesting hundreds of boys over a decades-long career in Jewish education….
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Fast Forward Chicago Kosher Supervisor Shot Dead On Simchat Torah
CHICAGO (JTA) — Eliyahu Moscowitz, a kosher supervisor at a supermarket, was shot dead in Chicago on Simchat Torah in what local residents fear might be a killing spree. Moscowitz, 24, was shot once in the head and left for dead on a rainy Monday night in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, just a mile…
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Life The Orthodox Jewish Mother, Arrested Ten Times, Who’s Protesting Kavanaugh
The day after the election, Sara Atkins’ then-ten year old daughter Freida came to her mother and said, “Mommy, [they’re] going to try to kill me. Please save me.” All five of Atkins’ children have health issues that impair them in everyday life. Freida has a dangerous rare autoimmune disorder that manifests itself in idiopathic…
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The Schmooze 5 Times Zac Braff’s Movie Got Judaism Just So, So Wrong
In spite of his name, Aidan Bloom, Zach Braff’s Jewish character in “Wish I Was Here”, hardly seems Jewish. Braff’s 2014 comedy film is a recent addition to Netflix’s streaming service, and it centers on Aidan as an out-of-work actor struggling to pay his children’s Yeshivah tuition. As Aidan goes from one doomed audition to…
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The Schmooze No, Kathy Griffin Did NOT Call Orthodoxy A Cult
Don’t feed the trolls…even if they claim to like Jews. In a textbook example of how fake news authors prey on readers’ fears, Pizzagate conspiracy-supporter Jack Posobiec birthed the untruth that comic Kathy Griffin targeted an Orthodox Jew with “anti-Semitic hate speech” by calling him a “cult member.” In a Twitter interaction on Thursday, Griffin…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Leaders Crack Down On ‘Slutty’ Long Wigs
Orthodox leaders are increasingly policing the length of women’s wigs, the New York Post reported Sunday, citing numerous women who say they have encountered criticism and even discrimination because of their artificial locks. “People always say the longer it is, the sluttier it is,” Esther Adina Sash, 30, told the Post. Orthodox women traditionally wear…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Fast Forward Three arrested in murder of rabbi in United Arab Emirates; Israel denounces ‘despicable antisemitic act’
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News Trump promised peace in the Middle East. Will his 2020 plan be the blueprint?
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Fast Forward Rep. Ritchie Torres, outspoken pro-Israel advocate, is dropping hints that he could run for NY governor
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Fast Forward Ursula Haverbeck, infamous German Holocaust denier known as ‘Nazi grandma,’ dies at 96
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