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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News This Jewish Couple Overcame Infertility. Do Their Twins Have To Convert?
The Jewish parents of infant twin boys drove last summer from their home in the Washington, D.C., area to a summer camp in Pennsylvania to perform a conversion for their babies. It was a slightly embellished version of the traditional conversion ceremony: Since both boys were already circumcised, they simply recited a prayer, the Sh’ma,…
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Breaking News Schumer: Orthodox Jews Should Call Out Trump For Failing To Condemn Neo-Nazis
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An otherwise congenial meeting between Jewish organizational officials and Democratic senators apparently turned testy when Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said Orthodox Jews should do more to call out President Donald Trump for failing to confront hate in the United States. Schumer, D-N.Y. was singling out what he depicted as a…
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Community Orthodox Trump Supporters Are Not White Supremacists
Since November 2016, members of the media have been finding Nazis everywhere — even in seemingly impossible places. The latest example in the Forward was a piece by Elad Nehorai proclaiming that Orthodox Jews are embracing White Nationalist ideology. Nehorai is a writer I have long respected and admired, both for his mastery of the…
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Community What Every Prospective Convert to Judaism Deserves To Know
When you go to a doctor, you initially have to complete and sign a plethora of forms. There are the checkboxes for all imaginable ailments and diseases, and you begin to realize “Yikes! There are so many things in me that can go wrong, it’s a miracle that I even can read this thing and…
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Life There’s No Such Thing As ‘Half-Jewish.’ It’s Simply ‘Jewish.’
As a child growing up in Philadelphia, when adults would ask me about my religion, I would answer, with a smile, “I’m nothing!” This resulted in a polite smile mixed with pity and bafflement. My Ukrainian Greek Catholic mother married a Jewish man, as did two of her four sisters. My mom may have married…
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Fast Forward Women Are ‘Weak-Minded’ And ‘Just Babble,’ Israeli Rabbi Tells Yeshiva Students
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A rabbi who teaches at a pre-military yeshiva in the West Bank told students that women are “weak minded” and “just babble.” Rabbi Yosef Kelner also said women have a “limited capacity” for spirituality in the footage broadcast Tuesday by Hadashot news taken at a class on marriage and family. The class…
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Opinion Anti-Orthodox Is The New Anti-Semitism
I’ve recently come to a shocking realization about American society. Over the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that it’s okay to hate Jews. I’m not talking about the abhorrent anti-Semitism of the “alt-right,” where wannabe politicians stoke the flames of bigotry just so that they can get the fleeting feeling of relevance….
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Fast Forward Haredi Orthodox Rabbis Issue Ruling Forbidding Smartwatches
Prominent Haredi Orthodox rabbis have issued a ruling forbidding the use of smartwatches, the Israeli newspaper Kikar Hashabbat reported. “The severity of the destruction brought about by smartphones is already known…and the great rabbis of our generation have already warned us about the magnitude of the issue,” the rabbis wrote in their ruling, according to…
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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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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
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News What Mike Huckabee’s ‘Kids Guide to Israel’ says about his views
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