‘It’s a spiritual earthquake’: When rabbis become sexual abusers
Based on interviews with 84 victims and survivors of sexual abuse, Elana Sztokman’s new book examines how Jewish communities often turn a blind eye to abusers – and even support them.
Based on interviews with 84 victims and survivors of sexual abuse, Elana Sztokman’s new book examines how Jewish communities often turn a blind eye to abusers – and even support them.
Rabbi Avram Mlotek was washing dishes and listening to the radio when he heard that seven immigrant detainees had started a hunger strike at Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey. “I’m from Bergen County, so that set off my antenna,” said Mlotek, who lives in Manhattan and leads BASE Hillel, a community outreach organization…
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabba Ramie Smith of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, an Orthodox congregation, says she doesn’t have time to protest the Orthodox Union decision banning its synagogues from hiring women clergy like herself. This weekend, she’s busy organizing a Shabbat conference with Yachad, a group supporting Jews with disabilities. Then she has classes…
Dear Rabbi: Thanks for the double-bar-mitzvah Saturdays, the two-shift High Holy Day services, the grief counseling, Hebrew school teaching, Torah study leading, hospital visiting, song leading and sermon writing, but seriously now — do us both a favor: Take a vacation. An article in the New York Times reports that recent research has shown the…