Rabbi Avi Weiss is founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and Yeshivat Maharat rabbinical schools. He is a longtime activist for Jewish causes and human rights.
Avi Weiss
By Avi Weiss
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Opinion Revisiting a Soviet Jewry Milestone
The massive Soviet Jewry rally that took place in Washington 25 years ago on December 6 was a powerful event. The gathering of so many people who traveled great distances, raising a voice of Jewish conscience, of moral conscience, was unprecedented. The rally’s success remains a tribute to Natan Sharansky, one of the great heroes…
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Opinion Ahmadinejad Was Heard — Were We?
And then the shofar was sounded. For the first time the crowd stood still. The sound carried to the United Nations building across First Avenue. First a long blast and then the short staccato wailing sounds, reflecting the brokenness of too many in Israel and the world today, and then again the long tekiya, as…
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Opinion I Danced at the Wedding of Sharansky’s Daughter
It was a dream come true. There beneath the chupah stood Rachel Sharansky, daughter of Natan and Avital Sharansky, with her beloved, Micha Danziger. The hills of Jerusalem encircled us, like a wedding ring around the whole city. Jerusalem’s chilly winter days took a respite as the sun shone brightly; even the weather knew it…
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Opinion Mourn for Gaza, Pray for Unity
As Israel prepares to disengage from Gaza, it is not only natural but also proper that we experience a keen sense of mourning over our loss. Imagine if we were evicted from our homes, if our synagogues were dismantled, the remains of our loved ones disinterred. These feelings only become more acute when we recall…
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News The Forgotten Victims of AMIA
On Sunday, tens of thousands of people gathered in front of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the terrorist bombing that left 85 dead and 300 injured. As each victim’s name was read out loud, the crowd respectfully, but firmly, cried, “Presente.” The dead were present —…
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Opinion A Tribute That Desecrates Rather Than Sanctifies
Creating a memorial to the 600,000 Jews murdered at the Belzec death camp in Poland is of the utmost importance. It is profoundly distressing, however, that the planned memorial will feature an enormous trench running through the entire camp. The project has already disturbed — and will continue to disturb — the ashes and bones…
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Opinion A Monumental Failure at Belzec
Several years ago the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum decided to build a Holocaust memorial for the 600,000 Jews murdered at Belzec. Last June, I warned on these pages that “Despite assurances by museum officials that ‘we are being careful in construction not to disturb any human remains,’ anyone familiar with the Belzec terrain, saturated…
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Opinion Anti-Zionism forced us to withdraw from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
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News ‘No one’s allowed to talk to me’: At UW-Madison, trying — and failing — to talk about Israel
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Fast Forward New poll: 13% of voters who switched support from Biden cite his Gaza policy
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