MetaFilter posts tagged with orthodox

The Old Believers

zarq — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:04:58 -0800

Alaska is home to two small villages of Russian Orthodox "Old Believers," whose ancestors left the church and their home in Siberia in 1666 in the face of state-issued church reforms. They have traveled more than 20,000 miles over five centuries in the search for the perfect place to protect their traditions from outside influences. Now, assimilation into American culture is slowly overtaking them. (Via) Background * Orthodox Wiki: Old Believers * Discovering Russian Orthodoxy: The Old Believers * Documentary on YouTube: 'Russian Amish': Children of the schism * Another documentary: Old Believers * The History of Oregon's Old Believer Community

"You don’t like it? Find another place to live."

zarq — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:53:46 -0800

"Them and Them." "Rockland County, New York's East Ramapo school district is a taxpayer-funded system fighting financial insolvency. It is also bitterly divided between the mostly black and Hispanic children and families who use the schools and the Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish majority who run the Board of Education and send their children to private, religious schools." Also see: A District Divided. Multi-page link to the NY Mag article. Journal-News: East Ramapo school district proposes dozens of staff layoffs, sports cuts in 2013-14 budget NYT (from last July): Rockland County Parents Ask State to Oust 5 Orthodox Jews on School Board The "East Ramapo Underground" radio show mentioned in the article is also on YouTube. Preserve Ramapo site has additional information on the area and links to region-related news articles.

An Unorthodox Controversy

Avenger — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:52:59 -0800

In February, author Deborah Feldman spoke with xoJane's (and Metafilter's own) hermitosis about the backlash she experienced from the Hasidic community in the days leading up the release of her tell-all memoir "Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots." Today xoJane granted another Hasidic woman from the interview post her own rebuttal to the original article, "What Women's Media Needs to Know About Chassidic Women," in which she defends her religion against feminists and "poor Deborah Feldman" sympathizers. Metafilter's own hermitosis responds in the comments.

Daily Life in the Holy Land

thirteenkiller — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:23:38 -0800

Gil Cohen-Magen takes pictures of daily life among Hassidic and Holy Land communities.

Won’t Be Silenced

Joe in Australia — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:03:03 -0800

Chaim Levin appeared in a video as part of the It Gets Better project (previously). A staff reporter for the Jewish Press criticised Chaim (referred to as "Dovid") in an op-ed; Chaim's response led to threats against the paper, which has now supported Chaim and declared that it "won't be silenced". Chaim's mother Bella Levin comments on Chaim's article. Chaim spent a lot of time with Project Jonah, which purports to cure gayness with its manipulative techniques.

Israel is closing the books on a rare millennia-old Jewish tradition.

Blasdelb — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:43:09 -0800

Nearly three decades after Israel began airlifting Ethiopia's ancient Jewish community out of the Horn of Africa, Israel's rabbis are now working to phase out the community's white-turbaned clergy, the kessoch, whose unusual religious practices are at odds with the rabbinate's Orthodox Judaism. "Descendants of the lost Israelite tribe of Dan, according to Jewish lore, Ethiopian Jews spent millennia isolated from the rest of the Jewish world.(PDF) In most Jewish communities, the priesthood of the Bible was replaced by rabbis who emphasized text study and prayer. Ethiopia's Jewish kessoch continued the traditions of Biblical-era priests, sacrificing animals and collecting the first fruits of the harvest. The two traditions diverged so much that the first trickle of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel were asked to undergo a quickened conversion ceremony to appease rabbis who were dubious about their religious pedigree. When Israeli clandestine operations rescued large groups of Ethiopian Jews from war and famine in the 1980s and early 1990s, a rabbinic consensus was reached and the newcomers did not have to convert - except for a group known as the Falash Mura, whose ancestors were forcibly converted to Christianity."

זו הכלכלה, טמבל

zarq — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:53:18 -0800

Over the past three weeks, Israel has experienced what may perhaps be the largest, spontaneous / grass roots social protest of the secular middle class that it has witnessed in decades. Thousands of demonstrators in cities and towns throughout the country have been protesting cuts in government funding to health care and education, and massive, exorbitant rises in taxes and housing costs -- and demanding change. Tent cities have sprung up in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and in public gardens and parks throughout the country. And they may not be going anywhere: polls indicate Israeli support is "exceptionally high". Protests and demonstrations are common in Israel, but they are nearly always focused on issues of war and peace. International media outlets don't seem to be paying much attention. In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the protestors were a "populist wave" and right wing parties have implied the protestors are trying to topple the government. But now, Netanyahu's base may be throwing their support behind the protestors. Many of Israel's Orthodox Jewish organizations and leaders are remaining silent, although that seems to be changing. From the Guardian link: "The current uprising has given Israeli liberals a voice again.... But the apolitical character of the protest is being challenged. Netanyahu is already claiming that the protesters are driven by political motivations. His intent is clear: he wants to delegitimise them and claim that their real goal is to topple his government. This, he hopes, will weaken nationwide support for their demands. On Monday, members of the Likud central committee started to say that the demonstrators are just a bunch of sushi eaters with nargilas (Arab pipes) – ie leftist radicals – and that the media was exaggerating their numbers.... If the Likud and Yisrael Beitenu step up their attack, the protesters will not have any choice but to confront the current coalition in the political arena as well. They will have to say that taxpayers' money in Israel has been spent lavishly in the occupied territories; that billions of shekels go to child support for the ultra-Orthodox, most of whom do not contribute to the economy; that the silent collusion of Israel's governments with the settlers is ruining the country morally, politically and economically. In the end, the call for social justice and the demand to reinstate liberal values in Israel cannot be separated."
The New Republic: What Caused the Current Wave of Economic Protests Across Israel?

"But I am angry, even though I cannot always explain who I am angry at."

ignignokt — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:03:54 -0800

Nice Jewish Girl is an unmarried orthodox Jew. She started a blog six years ago. She wrote about being Shomer Negiah (not allowing herself physical contact with men other than relatives or a husband) and being a woman in her mid-thirties that has never kissed a man. Over the run of the blog, she decided to stop being Shomer Negiah while still looking for an Orthodox husband, kissed a man, and then broke up with him. For the last three years, she has been silent. Recently, she has returned to discuss the effect of Jewish law on her view of sex.

They call him the "Rabbah Rouser"

zarq — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:09:26 -0800

“There’s a tremendous amount of anxiety among religious traditionalists that when you take one step toward egalitarianism, the floodgates are open and everything that seemed self-evident will no longer be. Men go to work, and women raise children. If you undermine that, you have lost your whole universe.”

The Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements of Judaism have been ordaining women as rabbis for decades, but the religion's most traditional sect, the Orthodox, remains a lone, minority holdout against egalitarianism. Last year, Orthodox Rabbi Avraham "Avi" Weiss (political activist and founder of the controversial, liberal, "Open Orthodox" Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Yeshiva in New York) tried to shake things up by ordaining the first female American Orthodox rabbi. Weiss ordination of 'Rabbah' Sara Hurwitz has led to a statement from the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America accepting an expansion of leadership roles for women in their synagogues. Related: This week, Rabbi Weiss was one of about 100 moderate Orthodox rabbis and teachers from North America and Israel who signed a “statement of principles” outlining a tolerant, open, accepting approach to gay men and women who want to maintain ties with their Orthodox community, family and friends. The statement says that "although [Orthodox] Judaism 'cannot give its blessing and imprimatur to Jewish religious same-sex commitment ceremonies and weddings,' communities must still accept 'practicing' gay couples and their children into synagogues, schools." Homophobia is not uncommon in Orthodox communities.

Tzvia Greenfield

escabeche — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:50:16 -0800

Tzvia Greenfield is the first ultra-Orthodox woman to serve in Knesset, the Israeli legislature, representing the left-wing party Meretz. Her 2001 book Hem Mefahadim ("They are afraid,") an attack on rightism and insularity among the ultra-Orthodox, drew death threats. Despite her sharp criticism of the religious community ("The big issue here is a very delicate one. That is children. Large families thirty years ago was six children; now there's 13 or 14 - from one wife. I believes the glorification of bringing as many children as possible is a definite way of ensuring women can't bring their advantages into effect - subjugation.") she still lives an observant life in the ultra-Orthodox community of Har Nof. "They disagree with my ideas but they know me as religious and halachic person. They cannot see any blemish in my practice except for one thing- we have a dog." At least one haredi denies that Greenfield is Orthodox at all. (The dog comes up.)

Walk Like a Russian (oh whey oh)

ersatz — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:41:46 -0800

This year alone, over 20,000 Russian Orthodox pilgrims followed an icon of St. Nicholas from Kirov to Velikoretskoye on foot. The 180km-long pilgrimage through the Russian countryside dates back to the 14th century. Sergey Kozmin's photos. Some extra info here.

Rapture ready, underground

Artw — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:58:29 -0800

Russian sect says world ends May 2008. And no, you can't borrow their cave. ...other dates for the end of the world, some of which may have been a little pre-emptive.

Portraits of rural Russians by Pavel Bezrukov

Harald74 — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 04:47:31 -0800

Portraits of rural Russians by the photojournalist Pavel Bezrukov. He is born in 1962, and started with photography as a hobby. Currently freelancing as a photo correspondent for the Moscow-based Orthodox magazine Foma. Some more samples of his work can be found at Orthodoxy Photo.

In Praise Of Loopholes, Part II

scrump — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 12:55:40 -0800

For Orthodox Jewish mothers with small children, the Shabbat can be challenging. The answer, for many communities, is the establishment of an eruv (discussed previously here, in passing). This San Francisco Chronicle article details the history behind Berkeley, California's unique instance. This isn't the first time an eruv has been attempted in the Bay Area: the failed effort to create one in Palo Alto was covered by the Chronicle, as well as the Jewish News Weekly. Berkeley isn't the only United States city with an eruv—the Boston eruv maintains a large list of domestic and international eruvim—nor is it the city with the most unusual eruv, or even the largest. Inevitably, perhaps, there's a blog entirely dedicated to the subject of eruvim, and vigorous commentary on the subject from several others.

Oh, the YUmanity!

greatgefilte — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 10:26:25 -0800

When tradition and modernity clash. "While Yeshiva University is officially a nonsectarian institution except for its Orthodox rabbinical school, it is the oldest and largest American university under Jewish auspices. Although commonly thought of as an Orthodox institution, Yeshiva University has been chartered since 1969 as nonsectarian, enabling it to receive state and federal funding." Which is all fine and dandy, except that YU has a history of confrontation with its gay and lesbian students. There was major opposition to the funding of gay and lesbian student organizations. Gay couples sued Yeshiva over apparent housing discrimination. And now, a gay medical student claims he was expelled because of his sexual orientation, and he has a memo that he claims proves his case. Oy.

I'd never sell an idolatrous wig, madam...

troutfishing — Sun, 16 May 2004 10:32:40 -0800

"A hair-raising fear of idols" - Orthodox hair crisis ".....The storm began four weeks ago, when someone told the rabbis that most natural wigs imported from Europe are actually made of Indian hair. Two years ago, rumors had begun circulating that this hair was bought from Indian priests who gathered it up after the women cut it during a Hindu religious ceremony. This would be a serious problem, since Jewish law forbids the use of objects employed in idol worship (which in Judaism means all polytheistic religions). Apparently many wig-sellers concealed the fact that their wigs, though made in Europe, used Indian hair" (Ha'aretz, Friday, May 14 2004)

Ethiopian Icons

plep — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 11:13:41 -0800

Ethiopian Icons: Faith and Science. Richly hued religious art from an African Christian culture.

Egyptian Coptic Christians

hama7 — Fri, 24 Jan 2003 04:58:05 -0800

"Please accept these as a Christmas gift, for I too am a Christian!" Then you added apologetically "But please don't mention this outside my shop, I could lose all if my neighbors found out."
Coptic Christians in Saudi Arabia, and The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church Of Egypt, and why the Embattled Coptic Christians Are Fleeing Egypt.