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 I Was Pushed To The Back Of A Protest Because I’m A Zionist. Here’s What It Taught Me About Tribalism And Jews
One evening in November, I found myself standing at the back of a crowd of protesters. It was a protest organized by IfNotNow, the Jewish anti-occupation group, to protest the Zionist Organization of America’s hosting of Steve Bannon at their annual gala. IfNotNow does “not take a unified stance on BDS, Zionism or the question…
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Fast Forward Soon-To-Be-Married Orthodox Couple Killed In Fiery Car Crash Near JFK
A recently engaged Orthodox couple were among the victims of a fiery car crash near New York’s JFK airport that injured seven other people Wednesday night, the New York Daily News reported. Yisroel Levin, 21, of Brooklyn, and Elisheva Kaplan, 20, of Queens, were driving on a foggy road when their sedan was caught in…
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Culture Maya Angelou’s Message For The Orthodox
People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) To me, this beautiful quote from the late, great Maya Angelou, encapsulates so much of the tension in Orthodox Judaism today. Generally, people in my community are…
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News Some Jews Do Love To Shoot — Just Not On Shabbat
On Saturday, the March for Our Lives, a gun protest march organized in part by teenage survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, will take place in cities across the country. Plenty of Jews will be in attendance — some of Parkland’s strongest voices since the shooting have been Jewish survivors and parents of those…
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Community How Living In A Muslim Country Made Me Lose My Faith In Orthodox Judaism
A version of this article originally appeared in Plus 61J, an Australian Jewish publication. I had my greatest revelation about Judaism while studying Arabic in Cairo. I was in the middle of my master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies at St Antony’s College, Oxford. Part of the course requirement was spending the summer learning a…
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Community The Chief Rabbinate’s Monopoly Is Crumbling In Israel — And That’s A Great Thing
Recently Tzohar, a Zionist-Orthodox rabbinic organization, announced their establishment of a private entity to oversee kosher dietary regulations —kashrut— in Israel. The move is another nail in the coffin of the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly over religious life, and another important milestone on the way to the separation of religion and state in Israel. The establishment…
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Opinion Having Daughters Forced Me To Face The Orthodox World’s Misogyny
When you have children, you must face your own beliefs. It’s one thing to buy into an ideology or a community on your own. If that ideology should later prove harmful, the only one you hurt was yourself. But to sacrifice your child for that illusion? Harm your children on the alter of a false…
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Opinion No, Israel Is Not Descending Into Theocracy
Few people have invested as much effort, time, money and heart on behalf of the Jewish people and Israel than the current head of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder. His political, educational and philanthropic activism over decades is legend, and rightly so. Which made my heart sink even deeper this Monday than it…
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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
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Fast Forward Trump visits gravesite of Lubavitcher Rebbe to mark Oct. 7 anniversary
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Fast Forward Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff plant a pomegranate tree for Oct. 7 victims
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Forverts in English How can Jews committed to Yiddish culture call a massacre of Jews ‘resistance’?
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Fast Forward Suspect arrested in U of Michigan rabbi’s home robbery, with no evidence of antisemitic intent
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