This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
The Latest
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News A rabbi moves Holocaust survivors to front of vaccination line
The COVID-19 vaccination clinic for Holocaust survivors in a local synagogue started out a bit ominously: A police cruiser was stationed outside and a bomb-sniffing German Shepherd was deployed inside, zealously looking for explosives. “Unfortunately, it’s because we’re Jewish,” said Rabbi Danielle Eskow, who organized the clinic Thursday at Congregation Kehillath Israel, a conservative synagogue…
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News As more American Jews intermarry, seminaries face calls to ordain intermarried rabbis
Lex Rofeberg was a junior in college and thinking about becoming a rabbi when he hit a roadblock: he was dating a non-Jew. A representative from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform movement’s seminary, visited Brown University to talk to prospective students, and was questioned by a fellow student about a policy Rofeberg…
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News Rabbinical seminaries take steps to admit students with learning disabilities
Jonah Sanderson expects to get a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies this year from a Los Angeles rabbinical seminary. Not especially noteworthy— until you learn that Sanderson, 32, has had lifelong struggles with learning disabilities. Although it was founded 18 years ago, the Academy of Jewish Religion in Los Angeles, which Sanderson attends, didn’t receive…
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Books You’ve probably never heard about the world’s first female rabbi. Sigal Samuel wants to change that
If you think female rabbis are a modern phenomenon, Sigal Samuel is here to change your mind — just like she changed hers. Samuel grew up in an Orthodox community where the idea of female clergy was considered deeply untraditional. So when, deep in an “internet rabbit hole,” she stumbled on the story of the…
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News Why did these rabbis seek a pardon for Elliot Broidy?
When former President Donald Trump, in one of his last acts in office, granted an executive pardon to confessed felon Elliott Broidy, the White House cited letters in Broidy’s support from some unusual sources: five Los Angeles rabbis. Broidy, a multimillionaire businessman and prominent Jewish philanthropist, pleaded guilty to illegal foreign lobbying on Oct. 20….
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News In California, rabbis ask why clergy aren’t in first — or second, or third — group for COVID-19 vaccination
As tens of thousands of vaccines are distributed to healthcare workers and the elderly across Los Angeles County, faith leaders are not in either of the top tiers, keeping them sidelined as the pandemic worsens through the winter months. “I’m baffled,” said Rabbi Elazar Muskin, who leads Young Israel of Century City, an Orthodox synagogue…
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Community This Hanukkah, we have to embrace both darkness and light
It has been one of most traumatic weeks in the history of our country. Celebrating and singing Hanukkah songs seems somewhat of a farce when ICUs are nearly full; mental health clinics overrun from those suffering with anxiety and suicidal ideation. This is the first time in which embracing the light has been difficult and…
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News Wanted: Rabbi. Ten gallon hat optional.
When Cheyenne, Wyoming’s only synagogue began its nationwide search for a religious leader to replace its beloved rabbi, Larry Moldo, who passed away last year, some of the applications that came in were…interesting. In addition to the 22 or so resumes from qualified rabbis, rabbinical students and cantors, came resumes from a forklift operator, a…
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Opinion In Bruce Springsteen’s new anti-ICE protest song, a nod to Minnesota’s own Bob Dylan
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Holy Ground A millennial rabbi built a synagogue where others have closed. Her maverick ideas are becoming a model.
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Fast Forward After Minneapolis shooting, local Jewish service channels a city’s grief and resolve
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Opinion As with Cain and Abel, the blood of our brother Alex Pretti is crying out from the ground
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Opinion With the last hostage released, is American Jewish unity over?
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Fast Forward How a law used to protect synagogues is now being deployed against ICE protesters and journalists
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Fast Forward ADL appoints former head of embattled Gaza aid foundation to its board
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Film & TV When Catherine O’Hara delivered the perfect Purim spiel
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