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News
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Synagogues Merge Across Denominations To Survive
The Jews of Corpus Christi knew a decade ago they had to act fast to save their two synagogues. With at most 1,000 Jews left in the Texas town and only 60 families making up its membership, the 60-year-old Conservative synagogue was in shaky financial shape. So in 2005, B’nai Israel Synagogue merged with Temple…
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Orthodox Rabbinic School Sparks Feud With Graduation of First Class of Women
An Orthodox umbrella organization has rejected the ordination of three female clergy by a groundbreaking Bronx Orthodox rabbinical school as “contradicting the norms of our community.” The Rabbinical Council of America, a prominent group that serves more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis, reacted strongly to the recent graduation of three women from Riverdale’s Yeshivat Maharat, which…
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Is Arab League Peace Shift ‘Big Step Forward’ or Tempest in a Mideast Teapot?
For Secretary of State John Kerry, it was a “very big step forward” when Qatar’s prime minister offered new flexibility in the Arab League’s long-standing plan for Arab states to recognize Israel in exchange for a settlement of the Palestinian issue. But Kerry, who is still relatively new in his position, got an early tutorial…
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Holocaust Claims Fraud; The Changing American Rabbinate; Comedian Marc Maron
In this week’s Reporters Roundtable podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by reporter Paul Berger to discuss how employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany falsely claimed $57 million meant for Holocaust victims. Then, Forward fellow Anne Cohen describes the challenges and opportunities facing America’s new rabbis. Finally, deputy arts editor Ezra…
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Women and Orthodox Waver Over Plan for Egalitarian Prayer at Western Wall
Two of the prime players who have been locked in struggle over how Jews should be allowed to pray at the Western Wall have a complicated relationship with the recent grand compromise that Jewish Agency leader Natan Sharansky has offered to solve their dispute. Both Anat Hoffman, whose group, Women of the Wall, seeks to…
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Most Victims of Israel Strikes on Gaza Were Palestinian Civilians, Children
More than half those killed killed during Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip last November were innocent civilians and a third were children, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a report released this week. The B’Tselem based its findings on Operation Pillar of Defense on statements issued by the Israel Defense Forces, the…
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How $57 Million Holocaust Fraud Unfolded at Claims Conference
The federal courtroom in Manhattan was notably empty considering the eye-catching size and target of the fraud: a 15-year campaign to falsely claim $57 million meant for some of the world’s neediest Holocaust survivors. Only a smattering of friends and relatives of the three accused were in the 26th-floor courtroom for the climactic closing statements…
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Jewish Mothers, in Just Six Words
With Mother’s Day around the corner, we asked you to share your take on the wonderful, complex, loving and occasionally crazy-making entity called the Jewish mom — in exactly six words. Why so few? Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged in a bar bet to write an entire novel in just six…
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Jewish Nurse Aliza Sherman’s Brutal Murder Has Cleveland Police Puzzled
The voice of the 911 caller is frantic, pleading for help. In the background, the victim is heard moaning, her words unclear. “There’s blood everywhere,” the caller says. “I’ve never seen so much blood.” Paramedics arrive on the scene in downtown Cleveland moments later and rush the victim to the MetroHealth Medical Center some five…
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Your Circumcision Dilemma
The bris: It’s a ceremony that inspires emotions ranging from rejoicing to repugnance — and dissonant combinations of everything in between. We would like you, our readers, to share your experiences as parents of a Jewish newborn facing this ancient, primal rite, or as an adult who chose to enter the covenant. Were you conflicted…
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Circumcision Controversy Endangers Fight To Keep Rite Legal in Germany
The practice of metzitzah b’peh, a controversial part of some Jewish circumcisions, is reigniting concern about religious circumcision in Germany, where the government only recently fended off an effort to outlaw the ritual altogether. The chief representative of Chabad in Berlin, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, has been accused of making MBP, as metzitzah b’peh is often…
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