This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
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Life Is Eshet Chayil a Hypocritical Prayer?
At Shabbat dinner in traditional Jewish homes the hymn “Eshet Chayil,” meaning “Woman of Valor,” is sung to the woman who runs the household. It concludes with the line “Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” According to the mysterious group Jewish Women Watching, —…
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The Schmooze Do We Agree With Slate’s Assessment of the State of Jewish America?
On September 7, the online magazine Slate published an article titled “Will the Great American Rabbi Please Stand Up?” which argued that, in the words of its author, Shmuel Rosner, “great American rabbis seem to be a thing of the past.” Indeed, the article surmises that “Jewish America seems to have lost its chance to…
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The Schmooze These Breslov Tunes Were Saved by Rock ‘n’ Roll
My musically sophisticated Orthodox friends often tell me that they are not interested in Jewish music. It’s not hard to see why. If you take the material produced by the Orthodox pop industry, it’s often just the frum equivalent of Justin Timberlake, or over-produced boys choirs backed up by obnoxious electronics and phony string arrangements….
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The Schmooze Washington’s Marijuana Rabbi
“What would it be like to smoke pot with my rabbi?” It’s a question that’s surely crossed the minds of many daydreaming Hebrew school students. But what if it’s the rabbi who’s selling the weed? The Washington City Paper reports this week that Jeffrey Kahn, a 58-year-old D.C.-area rabbi, hopes to become the proprietor of…
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The Schmooze 14-Year-Old Rabbinical Prodigy Denied Ordination
Just a year removed from his bar mitzvah, Netanya teenager Moshe Raziel Sharify is ready to become a rabbi. Thing is, Israel’s Chief Rabbinate won’t let him. At 14, Sharify has been hailed as a rabbinical prodigy, garnering the approval of at least 10 “well-respected” rabbis, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Jerusalem Post…
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The Schmooze Hey, Rabbi: The Catskills Called. They Said They Miss You.
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…
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Life Sisterhood 50 Nominations Pour In
My colleagues and I like to joke that Newsweek’s publishing of an annual “most influential rabbis” list makes about as much sense as the Forward publishing an annual list of “most influential newsweeklies,” which, of course, we don’t. In a more sensible move, the Forward’s women’s issues blog, The Sisterhood, last week put out an…
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The Schmooze ‘Michael Jackson of Jewish Music’ Headed to Jail
Michoel Streicher, a 50-year-old mentally ill Orthodox cantor who was popular (in certain circles) in the 1990s and calls himself “The Michael Jackson of Jewish music,” was sentenced yesterday to one to three years in prison for stealing $36,000 from a fan, according to the Daily News. The victim, 55-year-old Judy Burstein, gave Streicher the…
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