This is the Forward’s coverage of the nation of France.
France
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News Will French Chief Rabbi’s Death Heal Split Over Gays?
Joseph Sitruk, the former chief rabbi of France who died in September, was a towering figure to his country’s Jewish community. Serving for two decades — between 1987 and 2008 — in the top clerical post, the Tunisian-born Sitruk gained a reputation for his charisma, friendliness to Orthodox and Sephardic teachings and engagement with the…
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News A Jewish Exodus from France? Not So Fast
After a wave of terror attacks, and a spike in anti-Semitic hate-crimes, French Jews were said to be fleeing en masse for Israel. But figures released this week by the Jewish People’s Policy Institute indicate the exodus isn’t exactly what it’s cracked up to be. According to the research organization, 5,000 French Jews will make…
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Fast Forward Joseph Sitruk, Ex-Chief Rabbi of France, Dies at 71
— Joseph Sitruk, who served as chief rabbi of France for more than two decades, has died. Sitruk died Sunday after being hospitalized for several days following a stroke, The Times of Israel reported. He was 71. French President Francois Hollande called the Orthodox religious leader a “defender of secularism” in a statement announcing his death, according…
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News EXCLUSIVE: French ‘Anti-Burkini Rabbi’ Dials Back Support for Ban
Rabbi Moshe Sebbag is no stranger to the world of politics. As chief rabbi of France’s historic and prestigious Grande Synagogue de Paris, the Israeli-born cleric is invited regularly to political functions, including events with senior ministers. But for all this, Sebbag appeared shaken at the furor that followed his embrace of the bans on…
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Life France’s Rules? Topless OK — Burkini No Way
Over the past week, enough ink has been spilled about swimwear in France to make you think it’s fashion week. For a country fixated on the female body, this is not particularly surprising. France has a long history of commodifying, objectifying, and editorializing women’s bodies, almost always for the sake of fashion and (usually impossible)…
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Life Seriously, What Orthodox Women Wear to the Beach Is No Different From a Burkini
Moshe Sebbag, the rabbi of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, announced this week that he supports the French ban on burkinis, the modest swimwear some Muslim women wear to cover up on the beach. Wearing a burkini, he said, is not “innocent” and it sends a message. But, we ask Sebbag, what difference exactly is…
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Opinion Burkini Wars Show What’s Wrong With the Religious Right — and Secular Left
No matter how progressive our society has become, a woman’s appearance is still scrutinized, commented upon, critiqued, evaluated and dismissed far more frequently than anything said about a man. Just ask Carly Fiorina. Or Hillary Clinton. But this double standard isn’t simply being exercised by those who weren’t brought up with any manners, or lost…
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Fast Forward French Rabbi Defends Controversial Ban of Burkini Swimsuit
— A senior Paris rabbi defended a string of controversial municipal bans in France on wearing publically the full-body swimsuit known as burkini. Moshe Sebbag, the rabbi of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, told JTA Tuesday he supported in principle the regulations adopted earlier this month in 15 French municipalities, including the famed beach resort Cannes,…
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