Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Fast Forward Jewish Student Sues Barry Freundel Synagogue Over Mikveh Peeping
A third-year student at Georgetown University’s law school is suing Rabbi Barry Freundel, his Washington synagogue, the adjacent mikvah and her own law school for allowing Freundel’s alleged misdeeds to go unchecked. The unidentified student’s suit was filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court by attorney Steven Silverman of Baltimore. She said she was lured to…
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Fast Forward Pope Francis Meets Turkey Chief Rabbi
Turkish Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva met with Pope Francis on the Catholic spiritual leader’s first official visit to Turkey. Francis, who was born in Argentina, and Haleva met privately for about 15 minutes on Sunday, Vatican Radio reported. The two conversed in Spanish, which is Haleva’s maternal language as a Sephardic Jew of Spanish descent….
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Fast Forward Rabbi Barry Freundel Fired by Kesher Israel
Rabbi Barry Freundel has officially been fired from his post at Kesher Israel over sensational charges he used a hidden camera to peep on women in the Washington D.C. synagogue’s mikveh. Freundel was arrested in mid-October and had been suspended from the Congregation without pay ever since. Due to the decision, Freundel and his family…
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Fast Forward Rabbis Face Jail Time for ‘Private’ Weddings
Israel’s Cabinet has let stand an amendment which would subject to two years in jail a rabbi who performs a private wedding ceremony, as well as the couple who got married. The Cabinet debated the amendment to legislation passed last year which allows couples to go outside their own communities to find a rabbi certified…
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Fast Forward Australia Capital Gets First Rabbi
The Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth officiated at the inauguration of the first rabbi officially appointed to lead the Jewish community in Australia’s capital. Rabbi Efraim Mirvis was present last week as Rabbi Alon Meltzer became the first rabbi to lead the Australian Capital Territory’s National Jewish Memorial Center. Meltzer, a 26-year-old from New Zealand,…
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Fast Forward Swedish Rabbi Threatened by Known Anti-Semite
A rabbi and his synagogue in the Swedish city of Gothenburg was threatened in emails that described him as an “accursed child murderer.” The rabbi, who was not named, received the threats via email from a person with a history of threatening the Jewish community of Gothenburg, Daniel Jonas, director of the city’s Jewish community,…
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The Schmooze Justin Bieber Hangs With L.A. Rabbi
Getty Images Pop star Justin Bieber spent three hours meeting with a rabbi in Los Angeles. Bieber on Wednesday visited the Westside Jewish Community Center, the celebrity news website X17.com reported. The singer “is on a spiritual journey,” according to X17, and reportedly has stopped using drugs and gotten rid of his entourage. Bieber reportedly…
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News At Least Six Degrees of Wisdom and Nuttiness
Forward reader David Wexler calls my attention to an article in the October 10 issue of this newspaper about Greg Wall, a saxophone-playing, shofar-blowing, Talmud-teaching rabbi from Norfolk, Connecticut. “In addition to being a Talmud khokhem, or smart man,” the article’s author, Jon Kalish, wrote, “Wall… knows a mainsail from a jib, having taught at…
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