Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Fast Forward New Chief Rabbi David Lau Makes Racist Remark About Basketball Players
David Lau, the recently elected chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel, was broadly condemned for a racist comment about basketball players at the Maccabiah Games. Exhorting his haredi Orthodox constituents to devote their time to learning Torah rather than watching basketball, Lau said on Tuesday, “Why do you care about whether the ‘kushim’ who get paid…
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Fast Forward Double Dynasty Win in Israel Chief Rabbinate Vote a Letdown for Critics
(JTA) — In a city with a seemingly infinite number of kosher restaurants, Jerusalem restaurateurs have a tough time obtaining certification from the country’s Chief Rabbinate. Proprietors of the city’s eateries have long complained of exorbitant fines, strict limits on what food they may buy and lax certification supervisors. But they had no choice: the…
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Opinion Princes, Rabbis and the Danger of Dynasties
A new prince was born this week, and two new chief rabbis were elected. One of them was my cousin. The common denominator for all three? Dynasty. Born into elite clubs, these very different individuals will serve according to some ancient human code of pedigree and privilege in which some people are worth more than…
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Fast Forward Chabad Rabbi Shot in Dagestan Taken to Israel for Treatment
The Foverts has learned that Rabbi Ovadia Isakov, the Chabad emissary who was critically wounded in the southern Russian Republic of Dagestan, was brought Thursday to Israel for medical treatment, according to the chief rabbi of the Russian military, Aharon Gurevich. A group of Israeli doctors arrived in Dagestan on a specialized medical airplane Thursday…
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Fast Forward Chabad Rabbi Clings to Life After Shooting in Russia’s Dagestan Province
The rabbi of a Chabad center in the southern Russian state of Dagestan was shot in the chest Thursday as he was leaving his car. He was hospitalized in critical condition and is fighting for his life, the Lubavitch movement’s Col website reported. An unknown assailant opened fire on Rabbi Ovadia Eisekoff, an emissary in…
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Fast Forward David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef Elected New Israeli Chief Rabbis
A special electoral assembly on Wednesday elected Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau as Israel’s next chief rabbis, after weeks of a controversial and tense candidacy period. The two chief rabbis will hold office for the next decade. Both are sons of former chief rabbis: Yosef’s father is Shas spiritual leader Ovadia…
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Fast Forward Israeli Chief Rabbis To Be Elected Today
The two new chief rabbis of Israel will be elected in Jerusalem Wednesday by 150 electors. The rabbis will hold office for the next decade. Among those electing the rabbis, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardi, will be cabinet ministers, MKs, rabbis, mayors, religious court judges, heads of local religious councils and representatives of the general…
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Opinion Extortion Common in Israel Divorces: Study
Israel’s rabbinical establishment has responded to a worrying survey pointing to the widespread extortion by husbands whose wives want divorces. And instead of moving to stop the phenomenon, it has simply attacked the survey — conducted by one of Israel’s largest polling firms commissioned by a major university. For Israel’s Jewish population, all marriage-related matters…
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Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
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Fast Forward Harvard president: As a Jew, ‘I know very well’ that concerns about antisemitism are valid
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