Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Fast Forward Man Charged With Shake-Down Tied to Rabbi Sex Case
A 30-year-old suburban Boston man has been indicted on theft and extortion charges in relation to the abrupt resignation last year of a leading Conservative rabbi over allegations of sex with a teenage boy. Nicholas Zemeitus, of Quincy, Massachusetts, is charged with eight counts of larceny, two counts of receiving stolen property and one count…
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Fast Forward Nina Mandel Named Head of Reconstructionist Rabbis Group
Rabbi Nina Mandel of Pennsylvania has been appointed the new president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Mandel’s appointment was announced Monday. She joins two other women in leading the Reconstructionist movement: Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, the association’s interim executive director, and Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities. Mandel was…
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Life Israel’s State-Sanctioned Adultery Blacklist
It’s time to talk about Israel’s blacklist. This registry of “untouchables” — the last public accounting of it in 2004 lists 5,305 Israelis — is a motley crew who fall under three general categorizations: People who can’t marry any type of Jew (2,835) “Unkosher” Jews who can’t marry “kosher Jews” but can marry other “unkosher…
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Fast Forward Rabbi’s Speech Sparks Vandalism at Copenhagen Church in Gunman’s Neighborhood
A Copenhagen church was vandalized in an anti-Semitic event hours before a rabbi was scheduled to speak there. “Free Gaza” and “Close the Death Camps” was spray-painted on the door of the Anna Church in the Copenhagen district of Nørrebro overnight Sunday, the Local reported. Bricks also were thrown through some of the church’s windows….
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Fast Forward 14 Rabbis Join Baltimore March for Freddie Gray
Fourteen rabbis in the Baltimore region will join a rally and march for “police reform and justice for Freddie Gray.” The rally, organized by Baltimore United for Change, a coalition of grassroots organizations that focus on systemic inequality, was scheduled to begin Friday at 3 p.m. and was expected to draw hundreds of activists, including…
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Fast Forward 3 Rabbis Convicted in Orthodox Divorce Extortion Scheme
(Reuters) — Three Orthodox Jewish rabbis were convicted in New Jersey on Tuesday of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in a scheme to force men to grant divorces to their unhappy wives under Jewish law. Two of the rabbis were convicted as well of attempted kidnapping in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, according to the…
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Fast Forward Reconstructionists May Lift Ban on Intermarried Rabbis
(JTA) — The Reconstructionist movement is on the cusp of making a historic decision about whether to drop its longstanding ban against intermarried rabbinical school students. If the policy change passes, as most expect, Reconstructionism would become the first of America’s four major Jewish religious denominations to ordain intermarried rabbis. Supporters of the change argue…
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Fast Forward Elio Toaff, Rabbi Who Brought First Pope to Synagogue, Dies at 99
(Reuters) — Elio Toaff, the chief rabbi of Rome for half a century and a pivotal player in Christian-Jewish reconciliation, has died at the age of 99. Toaff, who a spokesman said died on Sunday night, was Rome’s chief rabbi in 1986 when then-Pope John Paul II made the first visit by a Roman Catholic…
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