Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Life First Woman in Her Job, Toronto Rabbi Yael Splansky Has Big Plans
Copyright Mark Blinch The Toronto Star headline seemed almost comically anachronistic: “Holy Blossom Temple official appoints a female as senior rabbi”. But that was the news in Toronto last month as Canada’s largest reform temple named Rabbi Yael Splansky, 43, as its spiritual leader — a first for a major congregation in Canada’s largest city….
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Fast Forward Israel Supreme Court Overturns Ruling Forcing Mother to Circumcise Son
Israel’s Supreme Court has overturned a ruling by a court of rabbis that would have forced a mother to have her son circumcised under the terms her divorce. Circumcision is not legally obligatory for Jews in Israel, but a rabbinical court presiding over the woman’s divorce case had ruled she must fulfill her husband’s wish…
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News Rabbis Return to Florida Civil Rights Battleground as Heroes
(JTA) — For Rabbi Richard Levy, it was an emotional return to this historic northeastern Florida city. The first time Levy came to St. Augustine 50 years ago, he and 15 other rabbis and a Reform Jewish leader endured taunts from segregationists armed with broken bottles and bricks. They were jailed along with other civil…
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Fast Forward Poland Chief Rabbi Meets Ex-Leader’s Kin
Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, met with the daughter and other descendants of Poland’s iconic interwar leader Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. During their hourlong conversation Thursday, Jadwiga Jaraczewska, 94, showed Schudrich a famous photograph of Jewish leaders in the town of Deblin greeting her father with bread and salt after the Polish army under his leadership…
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Fast Forward Pluralism Advocates Seek State Funding for Non-Orthodox in Israel
(JTA) — At 3:30 Shavuot morning, more than 100 people are seated on folding chairs singing in Yiddish as men walk around with shots of vodka and cups of coffee. Up front, a man in a black frock coat and black hat is belting out the notes, his eyes closed. Except for the live instruments…
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Fast Forward Krakow Chief Rabbi Irks Many Poles With ‘Don’t Like Jews’ Remark
(JTA) — On the way to his first appearance as Krakow’s new chief rabbi, Eliezer Gurary passed a group of young demonstrators holding signs with messages of affection for Jews. “I [heart] Jews,” one sign read. “Yes to tolerance,” read another. But the demonstration last week outside Krakow’s Old Synagogue was no support rally. Organized…
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Fast Forward French Jews Elect Haim Korsia as New Chief Rabbi
The Jewish community of France elected Rabbi Haim Korsia, the French army’s Jewish chaplain, as its new chief rabbi. Korsia, 51, defeated Rabbi Olivier Kaufmann, an interim chief rabbi, in a 131-97 vote on Sunday to win the seven-year term, the French news agency AFP reported. Kaufmann, the head of a French rabbinical school, was…
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Fast Forward South African Rabbi Steps Down Over $4K Blackmail of Other Rabbi
A South African rabbi was jailed and resigned from his synagogue after attempting to blackmail another rabbi. Cape Town Rabbi Bryan Opert stepped down from the Milnerton Hebrew Congregation and was jailed for 48 hours after trying to blackmail Rabbi Ruben Suiza, the longtime head of the city’s Sephardic community, Haaretz reported. The case was…
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Fast Forward Mamdani tells Colbert — and a national audience — why NYC Jews shouldn’t fear him as mayor
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Fast Forward Fraudsters sold fake Sephardic citizenship for cash, say Spanish police
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Fast Forward Zohran Mamdani belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America, a leading critic of Israel. Here’s what to know
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