Jennifer Siegel
By Jennifer Siegel
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News Conservative Rabbis To Vote On Gay Issues
The top lawmaking body of Conservative Judaism is poised to vote next week on whether to overturn the movement’s ban on same-sex marriages and the ordination of openly gay clergy. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, a 25-member panel of rabbis and lay leaders, will convene next week in Maryland to revisit its 1992…
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News Jewish, Catholic Leaders Plan Muslim Dialogue
Seeking to build on the success of their own longstanding dialogue, Jewish and Catholic leaders have held several discussions in recent weeks about launching more intensive interfaith talks with Muslims. “Before it was considered like something nice to do,” said Father Patrick Dubois, the French bishops’ liaison to the Jewish community in France. “Now it’s…
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News Vote To Divest Seen Having Little Effect
When the Church of England’s main legislative body voted last week to divest from companies whose products are used by Israel in the “occupied territories,” Jewish groups were quick to offer condemnation. Missing, however, was the sense of alarm that greeted the June 2004 decision by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to start the divestment process…
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News Arab Media’s Cartoons Draw Scrutiny
As violent clashes over cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad continued to flare across the Middle East this week, Jewish and Muslim leaders and organizations traded accusations of hypocrisy. Jewish communal leaders, both in the United States and abroad, drew attention to the sanctioning and promotion of antisemitic propaganda by some of the same Muslim…
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News Catholic Activist: Extremist Comparisons Unfair
This week, William Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, received an e-mail comparing his organization to the Muslims rioting across the world. Donohue has not led the charge against the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that first appeared in a Danish newspaper. But he has a long track record…
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News PBS Station Nixes Show On Terrorism
Following last-minute cries of protest from Muslim leaders last week, a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate in Dallas canceled the premiere of a documentary on the roots of Islamic terrorism. “The Roots of War: The Road to Peace” was scheduled to air on KERA-TV on Sunday, January 29, but the premiere was postponed by the station’s…
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News New Liberal Torah Commentary Spotlights Work of Medieval Luminaries
For decades, English-speaking rabbis have been employing innovative academic, literary and theological approaches to produce fresh commentaries on the Bible that would resonate with their modern-day congregants. But as the yearly Torah cycle reached the book of Exodus this month, Rabbi Michael Holzman tried out what qualifies these days as a more radical approach: He…
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News Archive Struggles With Money, Mission
Five years after its creation, a consortium intended to be America’s premier Jewish archive is struggling to maintain its footing as some member institutions battle financial difficulties — some of which are seen as partly related to their membership in the consortium. The consortium, the New York-based Center for Jewish History, unites five historical societies…
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