This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
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The Schmooze WATCH: When 4,000 Rabbis Epically Fail To Stand Still for the #MannequinChallenge
4,000 rabbis attempted the #MannequinChallenge in Brooklyn, NY this week — to varying degrees of success. For those who’ve missed this whole viral phenomenon, the challenge involves a group of people standing frozen in one position while a camera pans across the scene. The rabbis, gathered together for the annual Chabad-Lubavitch conference, stood in a…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Says Couples Can’t Live Together If Marriage Licenses Destroyed by Wildfires
JERUSALEM — The chief rabbi of an area affected by the wildfires that cut across Israel said couples whose marriage licenses were destroyed in the blazes cannot live together until they draw up a new one. Rabbi Mordechai Abramovski of Zichron Yaakov said in an interview with the haredi Orthodox news website Kikar HaShabbat that…
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Fast Forward IDF Chief Rabbi Nominee Says He Never Excused Wartime Rape
JERUSALEM — The nominee for chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces said in a deposition that he never believed rape during wartime is acceptable. Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim submitted a deposition on Wednesday to the Supreme Court, which had suspended his appointment and ordered him to clarify comments he had made a decade earlier that…
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Fast Forward How Are Rabbis Consoling Congregants Following Trump’s Triumph?
How are rabbis communicating with their congregants about an election whose result has left many of them terrified? Based on his campaign statements and conduct, many see Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House not as a disappointment or even a bitter defeat, but as a mortal threat: to constitutional protections; to a society based…
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Fast Forward Conservative Movement Rabbis Circulate Pre-Election Prayer
— The international association of Conservative rabbis released a prayer “in anticipation of a U.S. election.” The prayer, which calls on readers to consider “all that is at stake in this election,” was written by the Rabbinical Assembly’s executive vice president, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld. “Help us to recognize the gift of our vibrant and open…
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Opinion Hillel’s Cancellation of Shavit: PR Move, or Return to Jewish Values?
In an uncharacteristic, and laudable move, yesterday Hillel International cancelled Ari Shavit’s book tour of US college campuses after accusations of sexual harassment against Danielle Berrin were made public. Hillel and other major Jewish organizations, have not always been as quick on the draw. In lower profile sexual harassment cases on individual campuses, and organizations…
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News Chicago and Cleveland Rabbis Place (Very Jewish) Wager on World Series
— Conservative rabbis in Cleveland and Chicago have placed a friendly wager on the World Series. The rabbi in the losing city will travel to the synagogue in the winning city to engage in a debate on the Jewish significance of baseball. Rabbi Stephen Weiss of B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, Ohio, a Cleveland…
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Fast Forward Black Rabbinical Student Leads Chicago Push Against Gun Violence
(JTA) — The same week Tamar Manasseh’s African-American son was going to become a bar mitzvah, gang violence killed two 13-year-old black boys who were also from Chicago’s South Side. As she picked out the bar mitzvah suit for her son, Manasseh couldn’t shake the image of the slain boys’ mothers, who were likely also…
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Fast Forward Expelled Oberlin Chabad rabbi says he ‘made a mistake’ with explicit social media chats
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Culture Louis Theroux’s Netflix documentary on the manosphere takes a detour into antisemitism
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News Ben Gurion airport shutdowns leave already disrupted passengers desperate
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Opinion We must rewrite the rulebook for fighting antisemitism — or conspiracists like Joe Kent will win the narrative wars
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Mamdani voices concerns about synagogue buffer zone bill poised to pass NYC Council
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Fast Forward Who is Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer accused of being an antisemite?
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Antisemitism Decoded Growing Islamophobia is being overlooked — while drawing on an antisemitic framework
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Opinion Gavin Newsom isn’t waffling on Israel — he’s voicing sensible ideas in an era of outrage
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