Orthodox Judaism generally refers to Modern Orthodox Judaism and Haredi Judaism but can actually include a wide range of beliefs.

In a ruling of importance for Orthodox women's capacity for legal self-protection under Jewish law, Haredi Rabbi Benzion Wosner, writing on behalf of the Shevet Levi Beit Din ( Rabbinical court ) of Monsey, New York, identified sexual harassment cases as coming under a class of exceptions to the traditional exclusion, under which " even children or women " have not only a right but an obligation to testify, and can be relied upon by a rabbinical court as valid witnesses:

Before then, the distinctions that are now commonly made between Haredi and Modern Orthodox Jews were moot at best ; dividing lines between the two camps can now be drawn, though it is important to recognize that there is a substantial overlap between the two communities.

Although some Haredi rabbis may agree with this idea, the general view of Agudath Israel and many other orthodox rabbis is that for all practical purposes, through participating in the Israeli government, efforts can be made to promote religious Judaism in Israel.

As regards Haredi Judaism, Schwab acknowledged that although Neo-Orthodoxy is not the path openly espoused by the majority of today's Roshei Yeshiva, the " Torah Only " and Torah Im Derech Eretz camps can exist side-by-side.

The principal non-Zionist Orthodox Jewish ( or Haredi ) party, Agudat Israel, recommended to UNSCOP that a Jewish state be set up after reaching a religious status quo agreement with Ben-Gurion regarding the future Jewish state.

Haredi Jews generally hold that even minhagim ( customs ) must be retained and existing precedents cannot be reconsidered.

Haredi Judaism is less accommodating to modernity and has less interest in non-Jewish disciplines, and it may be distinguished from Modern Orthodox Judaism in practice by its styles of dress and more stringent practices.

However the non-Hasidic Haredi community of Jerusalem follows the custom that machine-made matzah may be used, with preference to the use of shmurah flour, in accordance with the ruling of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld, who actually ruled that machine-made matzah may be preferable to hand made in some cases.

Haredi Judaism asserts that it may no longer be changed in any fashion.

However, there is significant disagreement within Orthodox Judaism, particularly between Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism, about the extent and circumstances under which the proper application of Halakha should be re-examined as a result of changing realities.

As a general rule, Haredi Jews believe that when at all possible the law should be maintained as it was understood by their authorities at the haskalah, believing that it had never changed.

The curriculum for obtaining semicha (" ordination ") as rabbis for Haredi and Hasidic scholars is the same as described above for all Orthodox students wishing to obtain the official title of " Rabbi " and to be recognized as such.

Haredi Jews consider their belief system and religious practices to extend in an unbroken chain back to Moses and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and they regard non-Orthodox, and to an extent Modern Orthodox, streams of Judaism to be deviations from authentic Judaism.

Some regard this term to be misleading: Ami Ayalon writes that " Haredi " is preferable because

Mehadrin bus lines, which used to serve Haredi population centres, were found to be unlawful by a January 2011 ruling of the Israeli High Court of Justice.

Some Haredi leaders realized that the communities could not be kept completely insular and established ways to connect to society without compromising on their intrinsic beliefs.

( 9, 049 households * 5. 9 average Haredi household ) Within the next three decades, the Haredi community is predicted ( by the Board of Deputies ) to be the largest Jewish group in the UK: in comparison with the national average of 2. 4 children per family, Haredi families have an average of 5. 9 children, and as of 2006 membership of Haredi synagogues had doubled since 1990.

The Haredi community defends this practice with the argument that Judaism must cultivate Torah scholarship in the same way that the secular academic world does, no matter how high the costs may be financially in the short run, in the long run the Jewish people will benefit from the large number of learned laymen, scholars, and rabbis.

For Haredi proponents of causes, nonetheless, it should be emphasised that such views usually fit within an appreciation of the fundamental and essential processes of Divine love.

By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi woman who marries into an Orthodox or Haredi Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her children to be Ashkenazi Jews ; conversely an Ashkenazi woman who marries a Sephardi or Mizrahi man is expected to take on Sephardic practice and the children inherit a Sephardic identity, though in practice many families compromise.

Additionally, whereas the Modern Orthodox position is ( generally ) presented as " unquestioned allegiance to the primacy of Torah, and that the apprehension of all other intellectual disciplines must be rooted and viewed through the prism of Torah ", Haredi groups have sometimes compared Modern Orthodoxy with early Reform Judaism in Germany: Modern Orthodox Rabbis have been criticised for attempting to modify Jewish law, in adapting Judaism to the needs of the modern world.

:* Orthodoxy is often divided into Modern Orthodox Judaism and Haredi Judaism.

Haredi Judaism is not an institutionally cohesive or homogeneous group, but comprises a diversity of spiritual and cultural orientations, generally divided into a broad range of Hasidic sects, Lithuanian-Yeshivish streams from Eastern Europe, and Oriental Sephardic Haredim.

These groups, broadly, comprise Modern Orthodox Judaism and Haredi Judaism, with most Hasidic Jewish groups falling into the latter category.

The Haredi community in London is organized into a group known as the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations ( UOHC ).

Except in rare cases in the Haredi and Chassidic communities, herem stopped existing after The Enlightenment, when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy, and Jews were integrated into the gentile nations in which they lived.

In a report, The Guardian quotes Dov Lipman, a representative of the haredi political movement Am Shalem, who thinks it possible that the drive to turn Bet Shemesh into a Haredi city could succeed, as saying: " After all, who wants their child to be assaulted verbally on a daily basis?

Since then all the sects of Hasidic Judaism have been subsumed theologically into mainstream Orthodox Judaism, particularly Haredi Judaism, although cultural differences persist.

A current situation of confusion and instability in Jewish identity in Israel was made worse when Haredi Rabbi Avraham Sherman of Israel's supreme religious court called into question the validity of over 40, 000 Jewish conversions when he upheld a ruling by the Ashdod Rabbinical Court to retroactively annul the conversion of a woman who came before them because in their eyes she failed to observe Jewish law ( an orthodox lifestyle ).

This usage has especially fallen into use among critics of Haredi Jews, impugning their Talmud study as non-productive.

In November 2006, more than two thousand members of the Haredi community jammed into streets in an Orthodox neighbourhood in a show of force aimed at pressuring authorities into cancelling the gay pride parade to be held in Jerusalem.

However, a 2007 study published by the University of Manchester asserted that three out of every four British Jewish births are Haredi, who now account for 45, 500 out of around 275, 000 Jews in the UK, or 17 %.

During the parade, a Haredi Jewish man attacked three people with a kitchen knife.

There is considerable controversy over Hirsch's legacy ; this is a matter of debate between three parties: Haredi ( sometimes called Ultra-Orthodox ), Modern Orthodox, and Hirsch's descendants.

The NRP wanted the Haredi Jews to complete three years of mandatory military service.

In modern Orthodox Judaism, there is a widespread minhag for the laity including men to immerse themselves on the day prior to Yom Kippur and often do so before the three pilgrimage festivals, and before Rosh Hashanah ; some Haredi Jews additionally immerse themselves at least before a Shabbat, and some Hasidic Jews do so daily before morning prayers.

In 2004-2005, three popular books by Rabbi Natan Slifkin ( sometimes pronounced Nosson Slifkin ) were banned by a group of Haredi rabbinic authorities on the grounds that they were heretical.

One of the most noticeable things in Touro is the fact that the classes are separate for men and women to keep in line with strict Haredi lifestyles.

In 2002, following tensions between the Haredi and non-religious population, plans were drawn up to build another secular neighborhood, HaShachar, as a separate city.

Since then differences between the Hasidim and their opponents have slowly diminished and both groups are now considered part of Haredi Judaism.

) The rabbinate has never been accepted by most Israeli Haredi groups.

It is an anti-Zionist, Haredi organization, closely aligned with the Satmar Hasidic group, which has about 100, 000 adherents ( an unknown number of which are rabbis ), and like-minded Haredi groups.

* The most common view, held by some Modern Orthodox authorities, and most Haredi Rabbis, rules that all women's prayer groups are absolutely forbidden by halakha ( Jewish law ).

While there has been a Haredi presence in the U. S. since the start of the 20th century, the various groups began to emerge as distinctive communities only in the 1950s, with the influx of refugees from the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, who quickly filled leadership positions.

* Edah HaChareidis: rabbinical council of anti-Zionist Haredi groups in and around Jerusalem, including Satmar, Dushinsky, Toldos Aharon, Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok, Neturei Karta Mishkenos Horoim, Spinka, Brisk and a section of other Litvish Haredim.

Haredi groups and authorities will not work with non-Orthodox religious movements in any way, as they view this as lending legitimacy to those movements.

It is often, though not exclusively, associated with people who have religious feelings, and is prevalent in much of Christianity in America, as well as Islam in the Middle East and Asia, and other devout religious groups such as Haredi Jews in Israel.

Members of most Haredi groups usually wear black velvet or cloth kippot.

The end of this program was welcomed by Haredi Orthodox groups, who saw the program as illegitimate.

Further, Haredi groups attempted to prevent non-Orthodox rabbis from following the traditional requirements of converts using a mikvah.

There are many highly segregated religious groups and sects in the USA, most notable of which are the Amish and Haredi Jews.

Some Haredi rabbis, among them Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ( the Steipler ) and Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik opposed the practice on various grounds, but it is popular among Hasidic Jews and has spread in recent years to other Jewish groups.