Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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News French Chief Rabbi Rocked by $120K Orthodox Divorce Shakedown Video
(JTA) — A month ago, Michel Gugenheim seemed to have succeeded in helping France’s rabbinate recover from the scandal that ended the tenure of its previous chief rabbi. One of France’s two interim chief rabbis and the president of the Paris rabbinic court, Gugenheim had helped advance an ambitious restructuring plan to address redundancies within French…
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The Schmooze The ‘Jeopardy’ Rabbi
(JTA) — Sari Laufer isn’t allowed to say how well she did on the TV quiz show “Jeopardy” until the first episode featuring her airs Wednesday night June 11. One thing the 35-year-old Reform rabbi will share, however, is that she was “really determined” to answer correctly the one Jewish question that arose during the…
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Opinion Will Reuven Rivlin Call ‘Em Reform ‘Rabbis’?
Getty Images ()TA) — Will he refer to Reform rabbis as rabbis? We still don’t know. Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s front-runner in this week’s presidential election, has signaled recently that should he be elected, his goal will be to embrace non-Orthodox Jewish communities rather than antagonize them. Rivlin got a boost in the race on Saturday…
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Fast Forward Masked Men Threaten To Torch Ukraine Chief Rabbi’s Home
Armed, masked men threatened to burn down the house of one of Ukraine’s chief rabbis, a spokeswoman from his office said. The incident outside the Kiev-area residence of Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich occurred on May 23 at 1:30 a.m., Inna Yoffe, the executive director of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, told Ukrainian media last week….
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News Storybook Boston Suburb of Sharon Shaken by Rabbi Barry Starr Hush Money Sex Scandal
Rabbi Miriam Spitzer did not have to mention him by name. The class of sixth graders at Temple Israel, in Sharon, Massachusetts, knew exactly whom Spitzer was thinking of when she dedicated that day’s lesson to Elisha ben Abuyah, a revered rabbi who became a heretic. “The lesson was that the Torah taught [by Abuyah]…
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Opinion Pope Francis’s Rabbi No. 2
(JTA) — Pope Francis is bringing along not one but two Argentinean rabbis on his trip to the Holy Land. The pope’s close friendship with Rabbi Abraham Skorka is well known. Skorka even wrote a book with the then archbishop of Buenos Aires. Skorka told JTA that he would be with the pope “all the…
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Fast Forward Gang of 4 Rabbis Indicted in Orthodox Divorce Torture Extortion Scheme
Four Orthodox rabbis and one of their sons were indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap and torture Jewish men to force them to grant religious divorces to their wives. Rabbi Mendel Epstein and his son David Epstein, Rabbi Martin Wolmark, Rabbi Jay Goldstein and Rabbi Binyamin Stiller were charged Thursday in New Jersey federal…
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Opinion 5 Dudes Who Claim To Be America’s Rabbi
Judaism — it’s a big religion; America — it’s an even bigger place. But one man — one brave, self-sacrificing man — has taken upon himself the weight and burden of serving both constituencies, of being just the Jew that this country needs, of being: America’s Rabbi. I’m sorry, did I say “one man”? I…
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Culture He was a Jewish leftist like Sandy Koufax — remembering Howard Zinn
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Fast Forward Report: Freed hostage Emily Damari asked if American-Israeli Keith Siegel could take her place
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Fast Forward Just 50 Holocaust survivors will be at Auschwitz for the 80th anniversary of its liberation
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