This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
The Latest
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News Are Ultra-Orthodox Turning Away From Vaccination?
A prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi has drawn criticism for calling vaccines a “hoax,” but his beliefs are not uncommon in Orthodox circles. “I see vaccinations as the problem,” Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky told the Baltimore Jewish Times in a story published in late August. “It’s a hoax. Even the Salk [polio] vaccine is a hoax. It’s just…
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Fast Forward French Chief Rabbi Sees ‘Indifference’ to Anti-Semitism
(Reuters) — France’s government has reacted strongly to a rising tide of anti-Semitic acts this year but French society seems indifferent to the threat they present, the country’s newly elected chief rabbi said on Tuesday. Haim Korsia, who was elected in June, recalled the huge crowds that demonstrated in Paris in 1990 after a Jewish…
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Fast Forward Prominent Orthodox Rabbi Condemns Vaccines as a ‘Hoax’
One of the country’s most prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis has condemned vaccines as a “hoax” in an interview with a local Jewish newspaper. “I see vaccinations as the problem,” Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky told the Baltimore Jewish Times in a story published in late August. “It’s a hoax. Even the Salk [polio] vaccine is a hoax. It’s…
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Fast Forward Israeli Rabbi Fleeing Charges of Sex Crimes Arrested Near Amsterdam
A well-known Israeli rabbi who fled the country after being accused of sex crimes was arrested near Amsterdam. Eliezer Berland, 77, was detained by police at Schiphol Airport, Het Parool daily reported. The founder of the Shuvu Bonim religious seminary in Israel, Berland, a member of the Breslov Hasidic sect, fled to Morocco last year…
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Fast Forward Jewish Groups Launch Fair Trade Network, Support Communal Social Justice Efforts
A new partnership has launched to enable the purchase of kosher “fair trade” coffee, tea and chocolate while supporting Jewish communal efforts on human trafficking and worker justice. The Jewish Fair Trade Partnership allows individuals and Jewish institutions like synagogues to purchase fair trade products at wholesale prices while supporting Equal Exchange, Fair Trade Judaica…
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Fast Forward Russian Officials Order Deportation of Chief Rabbi of Omsk
The chief rabbi of Omsk in southern Siberia, Asher Krichevsky, was ordered deported by Russian officials, according to Russian media reports. Krichevsky, 36, was told Tuesday that he and his family — a wife and six children — have 15 days to leave Russia. The rabbi, who has Israeli citizenship, has worked in Russia as…
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Fast Forward Polish City Marks First Rabbinical Ordination Since World War II
In the city’s first rabbinic ordination since before World War II, four rabbis and three cantors were ordained at a ceremony in the White Stork synagogue in Wroclaw, Poland. Germany’s foreign minister and other dignitaries attended the ceremony Tuesday. The new clergy graduated from the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, Germany, a Reform rabbinic seminary…
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News Prague Chief Rabbi Quits Amid Literary Sensation — and Whiff of Scandal
(JTA) — When the novel “Altschul’s Method” hit the shelves in Czech bookstores this March, it was hailed as a brilliant political and psychological thriller combining elements of science fiction, alternate history and Jewish mysticism. But it became a true literary sensation when it was revealed a week later that the book’s supposed author, Chaim…
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Culture RFK Jr.’s poems to Olivia Nuzzi are peak cringe — so were King Solomon’s
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News As young Jews move away from Israel, Jewish leaders are reluctant to change their approach
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Film & TV For ill and for good, this ‘Wicked’ song has become ubiquitous
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News DNA test kits spark a surge of online conversions to Judaism in the U.S.
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