Steven I. Weiss
By Steven I. Weiss
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News Plan To Combat Sexual Abuse Unveiled
A rabbi at the forefront of efforts to curb abuse in the Orthodox community is launching an initiative to certify organizations that adopt policies to combat the problem. The rabbi, Mark Dratch, told the Forward that he is planning to leave his post as religious leader of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Conn., in “six…
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News A Robot Speaks, and Online Fans Express Joy
Christmas Eve comes with a lot of anticipation for those who celebrate the holiday. But for thousands of Jewish fans of the online comic strip “ShaBot6000,” anticipation took a different form: On December 24, 2004, their favorite cartoon character spoke. The creation of animator William Levin, ShaBot6000 is a “try-weekly” (he tries to get one…
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News Orthodox Rabbis Launch Book Ban
Dozens of prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis are backing an international effort to ban a fellow rabbi’s books, arguing that the works are heretical because they suggest the earth is much older than a literal reading of Genesis would suggest. The target of the campaign is Rabbi Nosson Slifkin, an ultra-Orthodox author known as the “Zoo Rabbi,”…
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Culture The ‘Kosher Bachelor’ Finds Fun at Food Fest
When I first approached Shuli Madmone’s table at Kosherfest, he took one look at my press badge and said, “Have I got a story for you.” Madmone is a second-generation spice retailer whose parents had a retail operation in Israel. His company, WholeSpice.com, sells whole and freshly ground spices with a slightly up-market bent. But…
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Culture Shemer Zemer Added to Tisha B’Av Liturgy
For many Israelis and American Jews, the recently deceased singer-songwriter Naomi Shemer always has been a religious figure of sorts, with an unmatched ability to move even the most secular listener with her spiritually uplifting songs about Israel and Zionism. Now Shemer’s status as a modern-day psalmist is official: Her most famous song, “Jerusalem of…
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News Shopping Center Raises Grave Questions
YONKERS, N.Y. — Last summer, when Allan Turkheim and his wife drove up to the graves of his wife’s family at the cemetery of the Congregation People of Righteousness in this city just north of the Bronx, he almost didn’t believe his eyes. Where the remains of his relatives once lay he saw only the…
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News Empire State’s Kosher Law Advances, But Draws Tepid Support
The New York State Legislature has passed legislation to protect kosher consumers from food products falsely advertised as kosher. The new law is intended to replace New York’s previous kosher law, which was struck down in the courts last year after being declared unconstitutional. New York is home to the country’s largest Jewish population, as…
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News American Orthodox Leaders Try To Stay Above Fray
American Orthodox leaders say they are struggling to stay out of the debates tearing at Israel’s religious community over Prime Minister Sharon’s Gaza disengagement plan. Modern Orthodox groups in America traditionally look to Israel’s so-called national religious camp, embodied in the National Religious Party and the chief rabbinate, as primary counterparts in Israel. Like Israeli…
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