Yair Ettinger (Haaretz)
By Yair Ettinger (Haaretz)
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News With Western Wall Prayer Deal Dead, Orthodox Stake Brazen Claim to Egalitarian Area
As the government ignores the question of opening the Western Wall to non-Orthodox denominations dozens of Orthodox Jewish worshippers are establishing facts on the ground by holding festive holiday prayer services everyday in the section of the Western Wall, or Kotel, that had been intended for non-Orthodox prayer. Demonstrative Orthodox services are being held at…
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News Ex-Hasidic Woman’s ‘Suicide Book’ Rattles Ultra-Orthodox World
“In this city I gave birth to my daughters, and in this city I died because of my daughters” – this, among other things, was written in the suicide note left next to the body of Esty Weinstein, which was found on Sunday in a car near the Ashdod beach. Weinstein, 50, a resident of…
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Fast Forward Ultra-Orthodox Plan New Push To Bar Reform and Conservative Conversions
The two ultra-Orthodox parties in the Israeli government, Shas and United Torah Judaism, are planning to sponsor legislation to block implementation of last week’s High Court ruling that recognized private Orthodox conversions in Israel. It would also block recognition of conversions performed under auspices of the Reform and Conservative movements. The court ruling relates to…
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News Is Modern Orthodoxy Reaching Its Breaking Point?
A white rabbi and black minister (this isn’t the start of a joke) link arms and are swept up in the sound of a gospel song. Not only the two clergymen. As the song soars, an entire congregation is on its feet in this Orthodox house of prayer and the congregants are trying to overcome…
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News Is Orthodoxy on Brink of Historic Schism?
In a basement auditorium at a neighborhood synagogue in Jerusalem, rows and rows of densely packed chairs are arranged, along with a podium, a microphone and a table covered with a sheet of cheap paper. This sparse scenery hardly matched the dramatic event taking place – the ordination of two women as Orthodox rabbis (or…
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Life Newly Minted Orthodox Leaders Take ‘Rabba’ Title
Two women ordained as Orthodox rabbis this week will be entitled “rabba,” the female form of “rabbi.” They will be joining the only woman who had the title until now, Sara Hurwitz of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale’s synagogue in the Bronx. Rahel Berkovits barely managed to say a couple of sentences from the short…
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Fast Forward Don’t Dance With Children on Shoulders, Rabbis Tell Gur Hasidic Jews
Gur Hasidic sect followers were told the day before Simhat Torah that adults would no longer be allowed to dance with children on their shoulders, including their own children, to avoid awakening “the evil inclination.” Jews traditionally dance with Torah scrolls on Simhat Torah, and it is common practice for children to sit on their…
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Fast Forward Who Will Replace Ailing 93-Year-Old Shas Leader Ovadia Yosef?
The seriously ailing Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has broken off ties with his former protege for the second time since the summer, bringing their brief reconciliation to an end as the question of who will replace the 93-year-old Yosef as the Shas party’s spiritual leader remains unanswered. Yosef’s daughter-in-law and the strongwoman of Shas, Yehudit Yosef,…
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