More in ‘ultra-Orthodox’

Rabbi Leib Tropper—the Monsey, New York, ultra-Orthodox conversion guru whose alleged sex scandals were broken in part by Tablet Magazine—has resigned from the Monsey yeshiva he had continued to lead even after these stories emerged, Failed Messiah reports. The resignation is not an admission of guilt, but is likely a sign that, even within the ...

Today in Tablet Magazine, Senior Writer Allison Hoffman has a blockbuster: the largely untold story of how Lieb Tropper, once a modest ultra-Orthodox rabbi from Monsey, New York, emerged as a central figure in setting worldwide standards for conversion to Judaism … before he was brought down by revelations that he tried to persuade a ...

This week, New York City’s Department of Transportation abruptly removed a 14-block stretch of bike lane that ran along Brooklyn’s Bedford Ave., a major thoroughfare that at this particular stretch goes through an ultra-Orthodox enclave. The lane had been hotly contested between the well-organized cyclist community and the Williamsburg neighborhood’s Satmar Hasidim, who complained about ...

Israeli police announced Sunday that an American-born settler suspected of a series of terrorist acts against both Palestinians and Jews was arrested last month, confirming rumors that have been circulating on the internet for weeks. Yaakov Teitel, who grew up in a born-again ultra-Orthodox family in Florida and Virginia, was arrested in Israel in 1997 ...

A bill being prepared in Israel’s Knesset would allow persons “without religion” to partner in civil unions, in contrast to the current requirement that all marriage in Israel be approved by religious authorities. The bill aims to address the situation of people such as many Russian immigrants or converts to Judaism who are not considered ...

Rioting broke out at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount yesterday after both Islamist and right-wing Jewish groups reportedly told their followers to arrive at the disputed site. Israeli police entered area; Palestinians, including some affiliated with a group called the Islamic Movement, threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at the police, who fired back with stun grenades, the ...

It’s not an easy task to represent Jews with one image. Should it be an average Joe with an unobtrusive yarmulke? A curly-haired girl lighting candles? A bearded rabbinical type? Seth Rogen? In a feature on how different religions handle grief, the BBC website opted to represent the tribe with a picture of an ultra-Orthodox ...

• A supporter of a beloved ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Israel, who has been hospitalized for over a month, implored his fellows to “donate” a year of their lives toward the leader’s recovery, having relied on Talmudic interpretations to determine, somehow, “that the idea is in fact possible.” [Haaretz]
• Negotiations between Iran and the International Atomic ...

• Twenty-six arrests were made on charges of child molestation in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox community last year, versus one or two in years prior. That’s a good sign, the New York Times says, because it means child abuse in the community is finally being reported. [NYT]
• A Hamas-affiliated organization in Gaza—which is furious at Fatah’s waffling ...

• When you see a headline that starts with “Jews and Arabs unite,” you can be sure there’s comedy to follow; in this case, their common enemy is the proposed construction of an ultra-Orthodox town in Northern Israel. [Jewish Chronicle]
• Writer and professor Raymond Federman died just weeks before a series of events celebrating his ...