Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbi Eli Kavon’s colleagues don’t consider him a rabbi. Ordained in two years via a correspondence course by a virtually unknown rabbinical seminary in Long Island, he’s not a member of any mainstream rabbinical association. Nor is Kavon eligible for membership on the local board of rabbis. His congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Boca Raton,…
The BBC issued an apology to British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks after a presenter asked him about the Gaza operation while he thought he was off the air. Sacks presented the “Thought for the Day” on BBC Radio 4 Today on Friday. After the segment, presenter Evan Davies asked the rabbi’s opinion on the conflict…
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed a rabbi who called superstorm Sandy “divine justice” for gay-friendly policies. Rabbi Nosom Leiter, head of Torah Jews for Decency, praised the destructive storm for making a point, especially in lower Manhattan, which he branded “one of the national centers for homosexuality,” the Daily News reported. Cuomo dismissed the…
A rabbinical court in New York will determine the fate of a controversial Chabad rabbi in Melbourne who has been dismissed from his post amid allegations of improper conduct. A Chabad spokesman confirmed that Rabbi Chaim Herzog has appealed his dismissal after he received an official letter last month saying he no longer has the…
A Dutch rabbi has demanded that the names of his relatives be removed from a monument which commemorates Jewish Holocaust victims along with German soldiers who died in World War II. “I don’t want my family members’ names to appear next to the names of German murderers,” Rabbi Wim van Dijk said in a filmed…
October 7 is Pulpit Freedom Sunday, when hundreds of pastors are expected to openly violate the law of the land and preach politics from the pulpit. The law they intend to violate is known as the Johnson Amendment. Enacted in 1954 and sponsored by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, it limits the amount of political activity…
A prominent haredi Orthodox rabbi in Israel ordered his followers to burn their iPhones. The call by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 84, appeared Sunday on the front page of the religious daily newspaper Yated Neeman, according to the Failed Messiah website. Following the decree by Kanievsky, large posters appeared throughout Jerusalem’s haredi neighborhoods calling iPhones “an…
Mitt Romney discussed Iran, the economy and Medicare in a holiday call with rabbis and other Jewish leaders. The 20-minute call Thursday was organized by the Republican candidate’s presidential campaign. Word went out through a number of Jewish list-serves and Romney did not directly mention President Obama in order not to compromise the nonprofit status…
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