This is the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
Rabbis
The Latest
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Fast Forward Reform College, Bowing to Pressure, Will Rethink Rabbi Intermarriage Policy
Should the Reform movement ordain intermarried rabbis? Hebrew Union College, which is the seminary of America’s largest Jewish denomination, is considering altering its current policy, which does not allow admission to its rabbinical, cantorial or education schools of applicants who are married to or partnered with non-Jews. A growing chorus of voices — including newly-ordained…
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News One Visit at a Time
Rabbi Charles Rudansky brings Irving Silver a challah each time he visits. It’s their tradition: Rudansky carries the bread, wrapped in plastic, under his arm as he gets into his red Corolla. Before driving to Silver’s apartment in Manhattan, he lifts the lid of his soup-to-go cup and digs in. The smell of squash fills…
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News Aging Wisely, Together
Until recently, Howard Sharfstein, an attorney who has had a decades-long career at a white-shoe law firm, had never meditated. “I never took the time to sit and be mindful,” he said. “I never took the time to consider my life values or life goals, or the meaning of relationships or faith.” In a little…
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Fast Forward Australia Abuse Victim’s Brother Tussles With Chabad Rabbi in Synagogue
A senior Australian Orthodox rabbi had his glasses ripped from his face during a synagogue altercation with a relative of a prominent advocate for sex abuse victims. Rabbi Zvi Telsner, the spiritual leader of the Yeshivah Center, which houses the city’s Chabad headquarters, offered festive greetings to Chaim Waks at the end of the Shavuot…
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Life Q&A with Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman
On June 16, three young Orthodox women will receive a title that no woman (or man) before them has ever held: maharat (short for Manhiga Hilchatit Ruchanit Toranit, which means leader in Jewish law, spirituality and Torah). The graduation of the first class from Riverdale’s Yeshivat Maharat, which trains Orthodox women to be spiritual leaders,…
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Opinion Reform Rabbi Urges Hebrew Union College To Reconsider Decision on Intermarriage
An open letter to the board of governors of Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion: I am writing to urge you to reconsider the HUC-JIR requirement that all prospective rabbinical students sign an agreement that “any student engaged, married, or partnered/committed to a person who is not Jewish by birth or conversion will…
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Fast Forward Pamela Geller’s Invitation to Speak in Toronto Angers Board of Rabbis
The Toronto Board of Rabbis criticized the Jewish Defense League of Canada for inviting Islam critic Pamela Geller to speak in the city. The statement was issued just prior to Geller’s speaking engagement Monday sponsored by the group. She spoke at the Toronto Zionist Center without incident. A Chabad rabbi had uninvited Geller to speak…
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News Modern-Day Rabbi Must Be CEO, Teacher and Spiritual Leader at Once
Last fall, Jessica Minnen, a rabbinical student at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, was on her way to officiate at a wedding in Brooklyn. What started out as an ordinary ride on the A train turned into a spiritual revelation about the 21st-century rabbinate. Minnen was quietly reviewing a course catalog for a new…
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Culture RFK Jr.’s poems to Olivia Nuzzi are peak cringe — so were King Solomon’s
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News DNA test kits spark a surge of online conversions to Judaism in the U.S.
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Film & TV For ill and for good, this ‘Wicked’ song has become ubiquitous
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News As young Jews move away from Israel, Jewish leaders are reluctant to change their approach
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