Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Fast Forward Outgoing Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Says British Multiculturalism Is Dead
The outgoing chief rabbi of Great Britain, Lord Jonathan Sacks, criticized the British government in an interview with The Times on Monday, saying that Prime Minister David Cameron and his ministers have not done enough to encourage the institution of marriage, and also saying that multiculturalism has “had its day.” Rabbi Sacks will be leaving…
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Fast Forward French Chief Rabbi Denies Funeral Extort Try
Marseille’s chief rabbi has denied allegations that his employees tried to extort illicit funds from a bereaved family. The allegations were made in a complaint filed with police last week in connection with the passing of Jeannine Timsit, the La Provance Daily reported Tuesday. Several of Timsit’s family members said that employees of the city’s…
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Fast Forward Spanish Jews Back Madrid Chief Rabbi Amid Gay ‘Deviant’ Report
The Jewish community of Madrid has denied the authenticity of quotes attributed to its chief rabbi, in which he reportedly called homosexuals “deviants” who need “re-educating.” “For a very long time now, we have been supporting the gay community’s fight against discrimination,” read a statement by the community published Tuesday in Religion Digital, a Spanish-language…
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Fast Forward Rabbi vs. Rabbi Feud Sinks Poland’s Fight To Maintain Kosher Slaughter
(JTA) — A few weeks before Poland’s parliament voted last month on whether to overturn a ban on ritual slaughter, Rabbi Menachem Margolin was scheduled to meet the Polish president in an effort to find a solution to the problem. The ban had been imposed in January, when a Polish constitutional court outlawed Jewish and…
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Fast Forward New Chief Rabbi of Israel Accused of Cheating on Ordination Exam
Rabbi David Lau, the recently elected chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel, has been accused of cheating on an ordination exam. Israel’s Channel 2 reported Sunday that Lau in 1993 brought papers with the questions and answers to previous exams into one of his ordination tests. Reference material is not permitted in ordination exams. The papers…
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Fast Forward Terrorists Behind Shooting of Chabad Rabbi in Dagestan
The shooting of a Chabad rabbi in the Russian republic of Dagestan was likely a terrorist attack by Muslim extremists, investigators said. Rabbi Artuk Ovadia Isakov was shot on July 25 in Derbent, in southern Russia, “because of his religious duties, likely by Muslim extremists,” investigators said, according to a report by the Russian news…
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Fast Forward Madrid Chief Rabbi Calls Gays ‘Deviants’
Madrid’s chief rabbi, Moshe Bendahan, called gays “deviants” who should be re-educated and said same-sex marriages are “monstrous.” “Homosexuality is a deviation from nature,” Bendahan is quoted as telling the online news site Religion Digital in an interview published Wednesday. “It’s an anti-natural tendency and a sin. Contemplating allowing, consenting to what is known as…
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Fast Forward Chief Rabbi David Lau Says Racist Jibe Was Joke
Newly elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau dismissed on Thursday criticism of a racially-loaded comment he made earlier this week, calling it ‘a joke that lost control.’ During a meeting with ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students on Tuesday, in an attempt to dissuade them from watching basketball on television, Lau asked “why do you care whether these…
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