This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
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Fast Forward 4 Top Rabbis Scoop Katz Award
Four leading rabbis will be honored for their work in applying halachah, or Jewish law, to modern life. The Katz Award 2014 recipients were announced Sunday. They are Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Britain; Rabbi Zvi (Herschel) Schachter, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva University; Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, the rosh yeshiva of…
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Fast Forward French Chief Rabbi Accused of $120K Orthodox Divorce Shakedown
French Chief Rabbi Michel Gugenheim denied allegations that he had helped extort $120,000 from a woman who needed his signature to get a religious divorce. The family of the woman, who was not identified, on March 18 filed a deposition containing the allegation against Gugenheim and two members of his rabbinical court at a police…
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Fast Forward Boston Rabbi Barry Starr Leaves Pulpit Over Affair and Missing Cash
Rabbi Barry Starr, a leader in the Conservative movement who has served a suburban Boston synagogue for nearly three decades, resigned after acknowledging his marital infidelity. Starr informed congregants at Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Sharon, of his resignation in an emailed letter sent last week, the Boston Globe reported. In addition to engaging…
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News How Hammurabi Got Under the Skin of One Orthodox Talmudist
One day, when I was in my early 20s and teaching Torah to religious newbies in Jerusalem, I felt the bedrock of belief shudder beneath me. There’s a reason the sages wrote that the air of Jerusalem makes one wise. I could feel the vibe everywhere. I loved how a cosmetician might share a Torah…
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Fast Forward N.J. Rabbi David Wax Pleads Guilty in $100K Orthodox Agunot ‘Get’ Extortion
New Jersey Rabbi David Wax pleaded guilty to kidnapping charges as part of a scheme to force an Israeli man to give his wife a get. The rabbi admitted to being paid $100,000 to compel the man — identified by the Associated Press as Yisrael Briskman — to grant his wife a religious writ of…
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Fast Forward How Orthodox Divorce Puts Israel Women on Black List
(JTA) — When she decided to split up from her husband, she went before an Orthodox rabbinical court and, after two perfunctory hearings and little discussion, received a religious writ of divorce. It was only months later that the woman learned that the court had flagged her as an adulteress and placed her on a…
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News J Street Backed By Major Groups, But Will It Get Into Presidents Conference?
Several large, mainstream Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, have to decided to vote in favor of admitting the dovish Israel lobby J Street into organized Jewry’s primary umbrella group on Israel. Others, like the Jewish Federations of North America, are leaning towards voting that way, according to informed…
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Fast Forward Aaron Landes, Philadelphia Rabbi and Navy Chaplain, Dies at 84
Rabbi Aaron Landes, a Philadelphia congregational rabbi for decades and the longtime director of U.S. Naval Reserve chaplains, has died. Landes died on April 19 following a battle with leukemia. He was 84. He managed some 700 chaplains as head of the chaplains corps until retiring in 1989, according to the Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia….
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News Joe Kent, Trump official with white supremacist ties, resigns over Iran war and blames Israel
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