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36 Rabbis Shaping 21st-Century Judaism
Rabbi Mark Greenspan
“One day, a rabbi watched the winds blow, the trees tremble and the electricity go out. His congregants began to call and text and Facebook, and with every message he felt his heart grow heavier, for his community had not gone unscathed. But this rabbi refused to wallow in pain or pity. He opened the…
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36 Rabbis Shaping 21st-Century Judaism Rabbi Mark Sameth
“My father was a composer and a combat veteran of World War II; he had crippling PTSD all his life. When he died of Alzheimer’s disease, I was new to the synagogue, and Rabbi Mark didn’t know my family at all. But he spent a lot time with my mother, sister and me, coming to…
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King Herod, Long Reviled, Finds New Love Among Jewish Settlers
‘Our largest archaeological project ever” is how Israel’s national museum has described its new exhibition featuring King Herod. James Snyder, the museum director, proudly announced that no fewer than 30 tons of material have been brought from one archaeological site alone — Herodion, one of Herod’s palaces and the location of his recently discovered tomb….
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Bibi and Me
Twenty-nine years have passed since Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and I last exchanged glances in that Manhattan hotel room at the Regency. Now that he’s commencing a third term as Israel’s prime minister — a record matched only by founding father David Ben-Gurion — I can’t help but reminisce. Twenty-nine years, and not one phone call…
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Welcoming Elijah in the Age of Guns and Newtown
For many years — centuries —Passover was the scariest time of the year for Jews because it more or less coincides with Easter. “That’s the time when people would do their Passion plays,” writer and rabbi Abby Sosland said. Those gruesome re-enactments of the Crucifixion did not exactly enhance Christian-Jewish relations, and Sosland said, “There…
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Passover Is Time for Gluten-Free Gluttony
Drawing on her last reserves of energy, Merilyn Papernick, a terminal cancer patient, reached out to some local Hasidic Jews in her hometown of Toronto to place a special Passover order: Could they get her gluten-free oat matzo for the upcoming holiday? Papernick, who was 65, suffered from celiac disease, a digestive illness that prevented…
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Greece Vows Fight Against Neo-Nazis on Anniversary of Thessaloniki Deportations
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras vowed to crack down on neo-Nazi groups in a landmark speech marking the 70th anniversary of the first deportations of Thessaloniki’s Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Samaras spoke Sunday at a memorial ceremony at the city’s Monastiriotes Synagogue, the first-ever visit by a sitting prime minister to a synagogue…
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Should Every Disabled Child Get a Jewish Education?
As executive director of The David Project, a pro-Israel advocacy group, David Bernstein has spent years urging Jews to raise their voices and take a stand. Recently, though, Bernstein felt isolated when he was told that his 7-year-old son, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, no longer fits into the plans of the Washington-area Jewish…
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Day School Struggling With Special Ed; the Rise of Gluten-free Matzo
In this week’s Reporters Roundtable podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by Forward reporter Seth Berkman and Forward contributor Anne Cohen to discuss their story about Jewish day schools that are struggling to provide special ed. Then, Forward reporter Paul Berger drops by to discuss the rise of gluten-free products and their curious connection with…
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Yeshiva Condemns ‘Offensive’ Racial Remarks by Rabbi Hershel Schachter
Yeshiva University has condemned racially loaded remarks made by a top dean of its rabbinic school as “inappropriate” and “offensive.” Rabbi Hershel Schachter, one of Y.U.’s most widely revered rabbinic deans, warned an audience of British rabbis last month that taking reports of child sexual abuse in the Jewish community to the police could result…
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Yeshiva Rabbi Bluntly Warns Sex Abuse Reports Put Innocent Jews in Prison
A top rabbinic dean of Yeshiva University has warned rabbis about the dangers of reporting child sex abuse allegations to the police because it could result in a Jew being jailed with a black inmate, or as he put it, “a shvartze,” who might want to kill him. Rabbi Hershel Schachter, one of the most…
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