(Haaretz) — Defying regulations by Western Wall rabbinic authorities, members of Women of the Wall smuggled a tiny Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Kotel Friday morning, in what the feminist prayer group said was the first reading from the Torah by women at the holy site in 25 years. The tiny scroll,…
There is no playbook guiding Modern Orthodox congregations on what to do when their rabbi is accused of abusing congregants and of violating their privacy at the most holy and intimate of moments. But when the venerable Washington congregation Kesher Israel got the news on October 14 that its spiritual leader of more than 26…
As a teenager, Joey Diangello, a self-described survivor of child sex abuse, left the insular Satmar Hasidic community of Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, where he’d grown up and plunged into the world of heavy metal music. There, Diangello, who wore mascara and heavy metal T-shirts and sported long, black hair, found some measure of comfort in…
A prominent Orthodox rabbi is disgraced, accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior towards converts. That may sound like the scandal now toppling Barry Freundel, the prominent Washington, D.C. rabbi who pled not guilty on October 15 to allegations that he secretly videotaped women showering in the antechamber of his synagogue’s mikveh, or ritual bath….
Having coffee with Stav Shaffir is little different from meeting up with other 20-somethings in Tel Aviv. She rushes into the cafe a few minutes late, glances repeatedly at her phone and complains about high rents and an out-of-touch government. It’s hard, she says, being the youngest woman in a workplace full of older men….
Three-quarters of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, a new poll found. Some 75 percent also are against ceding control of the Jordan Valley and 76 percent oppose the division of Jerusalem, according to a survey conducted last week for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a research…
A kosher butcher in Frankfurt, Germany, admitted in court that he sold doctored tons of non-kosher meat for years as glatt kosher. A verdict is expected next month in Frankfurt District Court in the case against the owners of the now-bankrupt Aviv kosher butcher store. Leslie W., 48, and his partner Akiwa H., 56, are…
For the first time in 12 years, Yeshiva University has reported a sexual assault on campus. Reporting such a crime might seem a breakthrough for the university, which has been accused of covering up abuse in the past, but the school still refuses to say how it investigates student allegations of sexual assault. Nor will…
The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. You can email your own questions, which will remain anonymous, to: [email protected] Having the Abortion Talk With My Catholic In-laws I am Jewish and a longtime pro-choice…
When Hazel Kahan went back to Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011 for the first time in 40 years, her childhood homes were completely different. Her first home, formerly a tan stone mansion covered in flowery vines, was now completely painted in white and inhabited by the Rokhri family, one of Pakistan’s most powerful political clans. Her…
(JTA) — With midterm elections just around the corner, four races for the House of Representatives in particular are catching our Jewish eyes. In the Los Angeles area, Ted Lieu and Elan Carr are battling to succeed retiring Democratic stalward Henry Waxman. A Republican Jewish candidate is mounting a strong challenge for a Long Island…
