The Israel-Hamas conflict is putting a spotlight on all of the different people affected by the war, including Israel soldiers from Ethiopian, Filipino and Bedouin backgrounds.
From Reconstructionism to ultra-Orthodoxy, Judaism is richly diverse.
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Jewish communities have always followed some different customs in different parts of the world, but the 19th and 20th centuries brought much more dramatic divisions.
Ultra-Orthodox women have become the primary breadwinners in their families.
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Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Authorities have closed schools in some ultra-Orthodox areas of New York. The reasons for apparent noncompliance with public health guidelines are complicated, explains a cultural anthropologist.
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is arrested by Israeli security forces for resisting efforts to shut down a synagogue in the Me’a She’arim neighborhood in Jerusalem, April 17, 2020.
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Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Persecution is central to Jewish collective memory. So when armed police entered ultra-Orthodox areas of Jerusalem to close synagogues due to COVID-19, some residents reacted with fear and suspicion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File
Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Young Haredim men, who are strictly observant Jews, have long been exempted from Israel’s compulsory military service. A disagreement over stopped Netanyahu from forming a government.
The IDF wants to encourage more women to enlist, but it also wants to encourage Orthodox men, who avoid contact with the opposite sex. How will it manage the conflict?