Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Fast Forward French Jews Demand New Vote for Chief Rabbi
Several hundred French Jews including dozens of community leaders have called for the re-election of a chief rabbi of France within three months. The community leaders made the call in a letter they sent last month to Joel Mergui, the president of the Consistoire – the French Jewish institution responsible for providing religious services, the…
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Fast Forward Argentina Rabbi-Congressman Sergio Bergman Skips Shabbat Session
Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a lawmaker in Argentina’s National Parliament, will miss the opening of the 2014 legislative session and the State of the Union Speech because it occurs on Shabbat. The opening session is scheduled to take place this year on Saturday, March 1. The newly elected parliament will be seated for the first time,…
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Opinion Why Newsweek Is Ending Top 50 Rabbis List
Some of the rabbis from the Newsweek Top 50 Rabbis list. / The Daily Beast If we’ve ever watched how a well-intentioned concept can generate unintended consequences, it’s the Newsweek Top 50 Rabbis list. It was conceived back in 2007 simply because we were genuinely curious about which rabbis were considered leading lights and why….
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Fast Forward Newsweek Won’t Publish ‘Top Rabbis’ List
Newsweek will not be publishing its annual “Top 50 Rabbis” list in 2014, the magazine’s managing editor Kira Bindrim confirmed. The list, published since 2007, ranked American Jewish religious leaders based on their perceived clout, drawing attention and controversy when it was published each spring. Newsweek stopped publishing its print edition in late 2012, then…
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Fast Forward Rabbinical Student Killed in Garbage Truck Accident
A rabbinical student struck by a garbage truck on Sunday morning died at the scene of the accident, officials said. Ukrainian-born Gedalia Gruntzweig was struck while crossing an intersection in Crown Heights. The 25-year-old was reportedly on his way to a friend’s engagement party, according to the New York Post. “I heard these terrible screams,”…
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Fast Forward AJWS Wants U.S. To Recall Envoys Pulled From Gay-Ban Uganda and Nigeria
The American Jewish World Service called on the Obama administration to pull ambassadors from Uganda and Nigeria because of what it says are escalating anti-gay and other repressive measures by those governments. In a statement, AJWS asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday to bring ambassadors from those two African countries back to…
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Fast Forward Conversion Reform Bill Advances in Knesset — Expands Rabbi Pool
A bill that would allow more rabbis to conduct conversions in Israel advanced in the Knesset. The coalition government-backed bill passed its first reading by a vote of 28 to 16 in the Knesset plenum on Monday night. Under the measure, as many as 30 courts made up of municipal rabbis would be allowed for…
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Music Polish Rabbi Fired Over Kosher Slaughter Scandal
Amid reports that kosher slaughter is continuing in Poland in the face of a law prohibiting it, the country’s chief rabbi suspended an aide who appears to have misrepresented the practice to government inspectors. The aide, Michael Alper, wrote a letter to Polish veterinarians in which he asked for permission to slaughter 250 cows after…
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