This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
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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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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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