This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
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Fast Forward Rabbis’ Human Rights Group Criticizes Black Lives Matter For Israel ‘Genocide’ Accusation
NEW YORK — A rabbinic human rights group has criticized the platform of the Black Lives Matter movement for accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians. The platform, published Monday by a coalition of more than 50 organizations called the Movement for Black Lives, includes a section criticizing United States aid to Israel, as well…
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Fast Forward New Age Institute Defends Accused Molester, Former Rabbi Marc Gafni To Teach Tantric Sex
— A New Age institute defended its decision to employ Marc Gafni, a former rabbi accused of sexual misconduct, as a “wisdom teacher.” The Center for Integral Wisdom is a think tank founded by Gafni. It is affiliated with the Institute for Integral Evolutionary Tantra, which recently announced that Gafni would teach a year-long course on New Age…
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Life Can These Newly Ordained Rabbis Upend the Status Quo in Israel?
Bitya Rozen-Goldberg had no idea she wanted to be a rabbi when she immigrated to Israel from France 11 years ago. In the years since settling in Jerusalem, the 33-year-old tour guide studied Talmud in numerous female settings. But as “female rabbi” has long been an oxymoron in the Orthodox world, she never thought she…
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Opinion After Orthodox-Only Mikveh Law, Time To Rein In the Israeli Rabbinate
As a woman who underwent Orthodox conversion, I was livid when I read about the controversial Israeli bill that was formally passed into law July 25. The bill allows local Orthodox rabbinates to ban non-Orthodox conversions in publicly funded mikvehs. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party may have introduced this piece of legislation, but in…
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Fast Forward 88-Year-Old Rabbi Injured at Coast Guard Ceremony Can Sue Government
A federal court ruling will allow an 88-year-old New York rabbi to proceed with a negligence lawsuit against the U.S. government. Judge Margo Brodie of the Brooklyn District Court struck down the federal government’s request for summary judgment in the case of Rabbi William Kloner, who was seriously injured at a 2010 Coast Guard retirement…
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Community Channeling The Power of Faith to End Gun Violence
Rabbis are part of a growing group of American Faith Leaders who have witnessed with anguish our communities being devastated by suicides, homicides, unintentional shootings, and mass shootings. We have consoled families and buried their loved ones. We have seen how the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our society are disproportionately affected by gun…
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Fast Forward After Conversion Controversy, Does Israeli Rabbinate Need Tweak — or a Revolution?
(JTA) — Three months after Israel’s Chief Rabbinate rejected his authority to perform conversions, one of America’s most prominent Modern Orthodox rabbis joined with Natan Sharansky to advance a message: The rabbinate needs to become more open. But not too much more. A widely respected rabbi in New York’s Orthodox community, Haskel Lookstein saw his credentials…
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Fast Forward 200 Protest Rejection of Conversion by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein
JERUSALEM — About 200 demonstrators protested next to the offices of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate as a hearing took place about the legitimacy of a conversion conducted by the prominent American Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein. On Wednesday, the Supreme Rabbinical Court heard the appeal of a case in which a rabbinical court in Petach Tikvah…
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