This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
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Fast Forward Top Reform Rabbi Blasts Donald Trump for ‘Anti-Semitic’ Rhetoric
WASHINGTON — A top Reform movement rabbi said it “defies belief” that Donald Trump is unaware of anti-Semitic associations in his campaign rhetoric. Rabbi Jonah Pesner, who directs the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, released his statement Friday, Oct. 14, a day after the Republican presidential nominee delivered a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida,…
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Fast Forward Dutch Chief Rabbi Decries Planned Euthanasia Laws For Healthy People
AMSTERDAM — Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs urged his country’s government to drop plans to legalize assisted suicide for healthy individuals. Jacobs was reacting to a statement made earlier this week in the Tweede Kamer, the Dutch lower house, by the country’s health minister announcing planned legislation designed to broaden existing laws on assisted suicide…
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Community WATCH: In Israel, Civil Marriage Is Only a Cruise Away
Eight years ago I got married in the little town of Wagoner, Oklahoma. It was my first time in the US. My wife Katie and I were living in Israel at the time, young and in love, and were ready to tie the knot. There was one problem – I am Jewish and she isn’t….
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News Will French Chief Rabbi’s Death Heal Split Over Gays?
Joseph Sitruk, the former chief rabbi of France who died in September, was a towering figure to his country’s Jewish community. Serving for two decades — between 1987 and 2008 — in the top clerical post, the Tunisian-born Sitruk gained a reputation for his charisma, friendliness to Orthodox and Sephardic teachings and engagement with the…
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Fast Forward Israel Chief Rabbi Pushes for Acceptance of American Rabbi’s Conversions
— Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau sent a letter urging a midlevel bureaucrat in the Chief Rabbinate to accept conversions certified by the head of a prominent American Orthodox rabbinical court. Lau “asked me to clarify to you once more that his position is to recognize the certifications given from the Beth Din of America and signed…
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News Wearing Hot Pink as Bad as Eating Pork, British Rabbi Says
Joseph wore a coat of many colors, but his mother Rachel shouldn’t have done the same. That’s according to London’s Rabbi Eliyahu Falk, who sent out a letter to ultra-Orthodox congregants likening women’s wearing of bright colors to downing non-kosher food. “It is truly loathsome to dress in such an inadequate manner… no less forbidden…
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Fast Forward 43 Texas Rabbis Demand State Stays in Refugee Program
— A letter signed by 43 rabbis in Texas called on the state’s Gov. Greg Abbott to remain in the United States refugee resettlement program. “At this moment, with the number of refugees and displaced persons at its highest in recorded history, it is more important than ever for Texas to protect and welcome refugees,”…
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News Why Swing State Rabbis Are Avoiding Politics Over High Holy Days
(JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah came around last year, Rabbi Aaron Gaber wanted to grapple with an issue roiling the country. So he decided to focus his sermon on racism. But several members of Brothers of Israel, a 120-family Conservative synagogue in suburban Philadelphia, weren’t pleased. “Some of the feedback from some of my congregants…
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Fast Forward DNC finding: Biden’s Israel backing cost Harris votes for president
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News What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Childhood
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News An audiobook narrator told Zionists to kill themselves. A popular romance novelist hired him anyway.
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Opinion The dark message behind Tucker Carlson’s attempt to drum up drama in Israel
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Fast Forward At US Commission on Civil Rights hearing, Jewish students warn against politicizing campus antisemitism
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Fast Forward After 4 years of war, Ukraine’s Jews adapt to a life of sirens, shortages and uncertainty
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Opinion We’re losing the fight against antisemitism. Here’s how to turn the tide
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Yiddish טשיקאַוועסן: אַן אַמאָליקער „אסתּר־המלכּה פֿאַרמעסט“ אין אַן אַרגענטינער שטעטלTidbits: A Queen Esther beauty pageant long ago in an Argentinian shtetl
די ייִדן אין באַהיִאַ בלאַנקאַ פֿלעגן יעדעס יאָר אָרגאַניזירן אַ ספּעקטאַקלדיקן פּורים־באַל.
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