This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
The Latest
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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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News New Generation of Transgender Rabbis Ties Jewish Practice and Gender Change
In the next few years, the number of transgender rabbis in America is expected to double — from three to six. The tiny cohort makes up a miniscule percentage of the rabbis graduating rabbinical school, but these individuals have already played a big role in their respective seminaries to provoke conversations about gender and Judaism….
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Fast Forward ‘Racist’ Rabbi Urged To Drop Sephardic Bid
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein informed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu on Monday evening that it would be inappropriate for him to run for the post of Sephardi chief rabbi, in light of certain contentious remarks and the “legal difficulties” posed by his candidacy. Eliyahu, the current chief rabbi of Safed and the son of former Sephardi Chief…
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News First Generation of Transgender Rabbis Claims Place at Bimah
When it comes to the acceptance of transgender Jews, the American Jewish community is itself in a moment of transition. In 2008, Joy Ladin became the public face of transgender Judaism when she transitioned from male to female after receiving tenure at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. Five years later, there are at least…
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News Leonard Matanky, Chicago Rabbi, Named to Head RCA
The leading Modern Orthodox rabbinical association selected Rabbi Leonard Matanky, a longtime insider, as its new president at a recent convention. Matanky, who leads an Orthodox synagogue and a Jewish day school in Chicago, will replace Rabbi Shmuel Goldin as president of the Rabbinical Council of America. Matanky previously served as vice-president under Goldin. “We…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Blames Fake Cop Drama on Bipolar Disorder
A suburban New York rabbi accused of impersonating a police officer is claiming his bipolar disorder led to his attempt to stop and yell at a woman driver who was driving slowly in a school zone. Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski of Congregation Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont in Westchester County, N.Y., was arrested on June 19 and…
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Fast Forward ‘Don’t Sell to Arabs’ Rabbi Backed in Israel Race for Sephardic Chief
Most of the members of the Jewish Home Knesset faction support the election of Safed’s chief rabbi, Shmuel Eliyahu, as Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel. The MKs have voiced their support despite criticism of Eliyahu’s candidacy even within the religious Zionist movement because of racist statements he has made in the past. Haaretz checked and…
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