Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Life Passover Falls On Marijuana Holiday 4/20 This Year. Rabbis Aren’t Thrilled.
For so long, in Judaism and elsewhere, “getting stoned” meant getting literal stones thrown at you until you died. Now it means getting high on marijuana. And isn’t that freedom? Well…said the seventeen rabbis and spiritual leaders contacted by the Forward for this story. Not — well — uh, not exactly? This year, the second…
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Opinion Israeli Rabbis Are Using DNA Testing To Police Civil Rights. This Shouldn’t Shock You.
On Tuesday, Judy Maltz reported in Haaretz that the Israeli Rabbinate, which controls conversion, marriage and divorce in Israel, is using DNA testing to verify a person’s Jewishness. Since a person who isn’t Jewish can’t marry a Jew in Israel, which has no civil marriage, the rabbinate is using the DNA test to deny people…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Rabbi Appointed To Serve In Illinois Legislature
(JTA) — An Orthodox rabbi was appointed to serve in the Illinois State Legislature. Rabbi Yehiel Kalish was sworn in to the Illinois House of Representatives on Sunday night. Kalish, 43, is the first rabbi to serve as an Illinois state representative. “I may be the first rabbi in any state legislature. And that’s very exciting,”…
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Fast Forward Miami Teen Sues Police Department After Being Cleared In Rabbi’s Murder
A Miami teenager who was arrested for a rabbi’s murder and later cleared of the charges is suing Miami’s police department, claiming that police jailed him despite having evidence that suggested he was not involved. De’Andre Charles was arrested in 2015 at age 14 for the murder of Rabbi Joseph Raksin during a botched robbery….
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The Schmooze Billy Crystal Plays A Rabbi Who Feels ‘Like A Foreskin’ In This Extremely Jewish Sex Comedy
In the beginning, the Torah says the earth was “tohu vavohu” — a phrase that translates to something like “chaos and futility.” Billy Crystal appearing as a Rabbi in a sex comedy starring a mostly Jewish cast plus the star of “Fifty Shades Of Grey” must be the opposite of tohu vavohu. The Jewish pop…
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News TFW You Want To Multiply The Jewish People But Can’t Get Off Work
When “Emma,” a director of education at a Conservative synagogue in New York, began to prepare for her upcoming contract negotiations, she went to check the movement’s “Guide to Contractual Relations,” written to help people have such delicate conversations. She found that while the movement advises synagogues to offer clergy — rabbis and cantors —…
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Fast Forward Ted Cruz Says A Rabbi Predicted His Beard Would ‘Promote Middle East Peace’
Senator Ted Cruz got a “pretty cool” comment about his beard from a rabbi. Cruz tweeted on Wednesday that his friend in Israel, who is studying at a yeshiva, told him that his rabbi had some strong words to say about his facial hair. “’It gives Cruz a Talmudic & Rabbinic look & presence that…
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News For Rabbis, Whichever Days They Get Off Are The Sacred Ones
“Everybody’s working for the weekend,” as the song goes. Except rabbis. They work on the weekend. Friday nights are for evening services and hosting guests at home. On Saturdays, the rabbi is at synagogue by 8 or 8:30 a.m. for the main event of his or her week: Shabbat services, with Torah reading. Sunday morning…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Music For Bob Dylan’s biographer, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is a dream come true — even if it’s mostly fiction
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward 2 synagogues in Sydney graffitied with swastikas
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Opinion ‘Just things’ — like what my LA neighbors have lost — are what makes houses into Jewish homes
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Opinion Celebrating Shabbat in Los Angeles: Amid the fires, a still, small voice
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Opinion ‘Home is memory’: How Jews make sense of what they’ve lost in the LA fires and what remains
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