This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
The Latest
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News Conservatives Give Gay Wedding Guidance
When Gerald Skolnik, the president of a group of 1,600 Conservative rabbis, was asked to officiate at a gay wedding last year, he didn’t know where to start. “I was flying by the seat of my pants,” he said. Should the wedding look like a heterosexual ceremony, or something else entirely? Now he has guidelines…
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Fast Forward Conservative Jews Praise Obama After Meeting
A group of leaders from the Conservative movement praised President Barack Obama after holding an informal meeting May 29 at the White House. The 20 Conservative rabbis and lay leaders, who also met with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, said Obama emphasized his support for Israel and deep “appreciation of Jewish tradition.” “He…
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News Israel Can Defend Itself, Biden Tells Rabbis
Israel doesn’t need America’s permission to attack Iran, Vice President Joe Biden told a gathering of Conservative rabbis May 8. “Were I an Israeli, were I a Jew, I would not contract out my security to anybody, even a loyal, loyal, loyal friend like the United States,” Biden said. American and Israeli officials agree that…
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Life Hamas Chief on ‘Noble’ Women Rabbis
The opportunity to interview the second-highest-ranking official in Hamas came suddenly, unexpectedly and at the very worst possible time: just before Passover. The Forward staff was shorthanded. Worse, at home, we were shifting into full Passover house-cleaning mode. I tried hard to argue for doing this any other week. But Stanley L. Cohen, the attorney…
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Food A Victory for Tomato Pickers
On Thursday, Trader Joe’s signed a Fair Food Agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, guaranteeing that they will only buy from growers who have signed a Code of Conduct in their fields and ensuring a penny per pound wage increase for the tomato pickers. The Code of Conduct enshrines the rights of workers to…
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News Meet Chaya Mushka, Again and Again
If in the coming weeks you happen to meet a young woman called Mushkie, here are a few things you should know: Mushkie is probably younger than 24. She is most likely consumed with her upcoming wedding or her young children. One more thing: “You have to say the last name when you are talking…
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News Orthodox Rabbis Oppose Gay Marriage
More than 100 Orthodox rabbis have signed onto a statement in opposition to same sex weddings, saying that gay marriage is a “desecration of Torah values.” The statement was a response to a November wedding between two men that was officiated by the Orthodox-ordained rabbi and longtime gay rights activist Steven Greenberg. Hailed as an…
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Fast Forward Black Market Dealer Made $420,000 On Kidneys
A Brooklyn rabbi has pleaded guilty to peddling black market kidneys from Israel for more than $100,000 each, federal prosecutors said. Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, 60, an Israeli living in Brooklyn, made at least $420,000 in the scam to provide three organs for transplant from Israel, according to New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. Prosecutors…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Yiddish שפּילן מיט פֿײַל־און־בויגן און אַנדערע ל״ג־בעומר־מנהגיםPlaying with bows and arrows and other Lag BaOmer shtetl customs
געוויסע עקספּערטן האַלטן, אַז מע דאַרף באַטראַכטן ל״ג־בעומר ווי אַ פֿרילינגדיקן מײַ־פֿעסטיוואַל
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News ‘Don’t give up on us now’: Israel peace summit convenes thousands to aim for elusive progress
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Fast Forward A GOP lawmaker tried to put a Holocaust denier on New Hampshire’s Holocaust education board