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Hynes Will Release Pedophile Files
Ending a long fight, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes will release more than 100 pages of documents related to the case of Avrohom Mondrowitz, the American Orthodox rabbi alleged to have sexually abused dozens of children before fleeing, eventually to Israel, in 1984. The release may help resolve contentions — rejected by Hynes — that…
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Satmar Child Sleeps in a Bathtub as Lawyers Fiddle in Williamsburg
When Gitty Katz learned she was pregnant with twins earlier this winter, she was overcome with despair. The Williamsburg housewife, a devout Satmar, began to fantasize that that the babies would never be born. So, when Mrs. Katz miscarried, it was less a sense of grief than a strange and awful relief. Mrs. Katz already…
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As Mubarak Lies in Coma, Egyptians Warily Await Election Results
It’s 2 a.m. Wednesday morning and nearly everybody here in Cairo, if they are still awake, wonders how it will all go down. As Egypt’s ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak lies dead or dying, official results of the final round of voting for president will not be announced by the Electoral Commission until Thursday at the…
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Orthodox Push Case of Jailed Businessman
Gathered outside a Bolivian diplomatic office in New York, several hundred Jewish protesters raised signs and chanted slogans calling for the release of Jacob “Yankel” Ostreicher, a Brooklyn businessman held without charge for a year in the South American nation. A video of the May 3 demonstration reveals a sea of yarmulkes and black hats….
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Avodah and AJWS Will Close Popular Program
Two Jewish non-profits will soon close a popular social justice program aimed at Jews in their 20s and 30s. American Jewish World Service and Avodah announced on June 11th that they will discontinue their Pursue: Action for a Just World partnership at the end of 2012. The organizations said they are taking the move in…
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For Some, Halacha Makes Conceiving Tough
Rachel never had much of a problem conceiving children: one, two, three, four, five. But when it came to child No. 6, Rachel (who asked that we identify her by only a pseudonym) and her husband tried and tried. Five years passed, but no child came. “You have a frum issue,” Dr. Richard Grazi told…
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Israel Plans Softer Policy to Africans
Even as a high-profile round-up targets illegal African immigrants, the Israeli government may be laying the groundwork for a softer policy toward the estimated 60,000 undocumented newcomers whom lawmakers have branded “infiltrators” and a “cancer.” Independent human rights groups and academic experts say the government knows it cannot deport the vast majority of immigrants because…
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Nod to Change as Jacobs Takes URJ Reins
Rabbi Rick Jacobs designed the ceremony that installed him as president of the Union for Reform Judaism to broadcast his vision of what the Reform movement — the largest denomination in American Jewish life — should be. Rabbis and cantors led songs by Orthodox Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and by Reform folksinger Debbie Friedman at the…
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Keep Putin Out of Israel, ‘Halachic Infertility’
In this week’s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis talks with opinion editor Gal Beckerman about why Israel should cancel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit. Then, columnist J.J. Goldberg phones in to discuss a survey which reports that New York’s Jews are poorer, less educated and more Orthodox than 10 years ago. Finally, Forward fellow Naomi…
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Sex, Wine And Wisdom: “Dr.” Ruth Westheimer Sounds Off at A Not-So-Kosher Conversation
“In Judaism, sex is not a sin, but a mitzvah,” Ruth Westheimer declared in a lecture sponsored by American Friends of Reuth, held on May 31 at Congregation Edmond J. Safra. “A rabbi has to have sex every day, a salesman every seven days. The frequency of sex depends on the profession,” Westheimer said. Westheimer…
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Changing Face of New York Jewry
In 2012, the average New York Jew looks a little less like Jerry Seinfeld and a little more like Tevye the Milkman. New York’s Jews are poorer, less educated and more religious than they were 10 years ago, according to a landmark new study of the city’s Jewish population. They’re also less liberal: More than…
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