This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
The Latest
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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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Life Which Women Should Have Made Newsweek’s Most Influential Rabbis List?
Newsweek is just out with its 4th annual list of what it deems to be “the 50 most influential rabbis in America.” This year, as last, few women have made the cut and all but one are in the bottom half of the list. The first woman to appear — Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, the…
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The Schmooze Synagogue Welcomes Biker Rabbi
It may be the first time that a rabbi is officially welcomed to his new synagogue on two wheels. Joined by his mentor and congregants both new and old, newly ordained Rabbi Eytan Hammerman will bike from the synagogue where he spent the last two years as a rabbinic intern, to his new one 30…
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The Schmooze Rebbe in a Box!
Praying by the graves of long-deceased holy men is a time-honored Jewish practice, especially on the recent holiday of Lag b’Omer, when thousands flock to the resting place of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron. But what about kohanim, who are not allowed to come into contact with the dead, or even enter a cemetery?…
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Opinion What does Mamdani’s response to synagogue protests mean for Jews? No one will like the answer.
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News As young Jews move away from Israel, Jewish leaders are reluctant to change their approach
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