Judy Maltz (Haaretz)
By Judy Maltz (Haaretz)
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Life Ending An Ancient Jewish ‘Spitting’ Rite In Israel
Halitza shoe in the Bata Shoe Museum/Wikicommons Responding to numerous complaints from women, a religious advocacy group in Israel is urging the Chief Rabbinate to regulate an obscure Jewish “spitting” rite. The rite in question, performed in the Orthodox community, is known as “Halitza” and is required of women who have been widowed with no…
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Life The Lesbian Rabbi Battling Israeli Racism
Noa Sattath. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi Noa Sattath seemed destined for a career in high-tech. But all that changed when, upon completing her military service, she told her friends and family she was gay. “I came from the privileged parts of Israeli society, and this act of coming out connected me to the whole issue…
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Life Is Sara Netanyahu Our Mary Todd Lincoln?
Ever since she first appeared on the public radar nearly 20 years ago, Sara Netanyahu has been a popular target for the Israeli press. The latest scandal to plague Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third wife, first reported on by Amir Oren in Haaretz, involves allegations that she pocketed thousands of shekels from deposits on empty…
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Fast Forward Women of Wall Rebels Refuse To Back Down on Western Wall Prayer
A group of Women of the Wall activists who reject the idea of moving the group’s monthly prayer service to a new egalitarian space on Wednesday notified Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett that they are determined to continue praying, as they have for the past 25 years, at the women’s section of the Western Wall….
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Fast Forward Israelis Value Jewish Majority More Than Keeping West Bank, Poll Says
Almost two-thirds of Israeli Jews believe it is more important for their country to maintain a Jewish majority than to maintain sovereignty over the West Bank. Only 21 percent feel maintaining sovereignty over the West Bank is more important than preserving the Jewish majority and 7 percent believe both are equally important. These were among…
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Food Conservative Wine Not Kosher Enough for Rabbis
The Chief Rabbinate has issued a warning that wine produced by the first Israeli winery to be supervised by the Masorti Movement, as the Conservative Movement is called in Israel, is not kosher. “The Conservative Movement is forbidden by law to authorize kashrut,” the Rabbinate wrote on the page devoted to kashrut updates on its…
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Fast Forward 127 Rabbis Will Discuss Women’s Prayer at Western Wall for High Holidays
The struggle for women to pray as they see fit at the Western Wall will be the focus of High Holy Day sermons at congregations across the United States, as part of an organized campaign to galvanize support for greater religious tolerance in Israel. The campaign is being spearheaded by Jewish Voices Together, a New…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Eliezer Silver Trove Goes on Auction Block
A huge collection of letters, manuscripts, religious artifacts and photographs belonging to one of the leading rabbinical authorities of 20th-century America will be put up for public sale on Wednesday in Jerusalem. The entire archive of Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1881-1968), who served for decades as the head of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis in both…
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