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Breaking News Russia Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar Brings Riot Police Escort to Crimea Synagogue
Russia’s chief rabbi Berel Lazar brought armed policemen, including riot police, to tour Crimea’s Reform synagogue in Simferopol, video footage shows. The chairman of the Ner Tamid Reform synagogue, Anatoliy Gendin, sharply criticized Lazar’s July 10 visit to his synagogue, suggesting that Lazar bullied his way inside the shul. Gendin, who was not in the…
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Breaking News Crimea Reform Rabbi Accuses Russian Jewish Leaders of ‘Invading’ Synagogue
A prominent Chabad rabbi from Moscow denied accusations that he and several of his colleagues, including a chief rabbi of Russia, forced their way into a Crimean Reform synagogue’s offices. Anatoly Gendin, chairman of the Ner Tamid Reform Synagogue in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, made the accusation in a Facebook post Friday titled “synagogue…
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Life First Woman in Her Job, Toronto Rabbi Yael Splansky Has Big Plans
Copyright Mark Blinch The Toronto Star headline seemed almost comically anachronistic: “Holy Blossom Temple official appoints a female as senior rabbi”. But that was the news in Toronto last month as Canada’s largest reform temple named Rabbi Yael Splansky, 43, as its spiritual leader — a first for a major congregation in Canada’s largest city….
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News Rabbis Return to Florida Civil Rights Battleground as Heroes
(JTA) — For Rabbi Richard Levy, it was an emotional return to this historic northeastern Florida city. The first time Levy came to St. Augustine 50 years ago, he and 15 other rabbis and a Reform Jewish leader endured taunts from segregationists armed with broken bottles and bricks. They were jailed along with other civil…
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Breaking News Rick Jacobs Asks Presbyterians to Meet With Netanyahu on Divestment
The leader of the Reform movement asked his Presbyterian counterparts to join him in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make their case against Israeli practices in the West Bank. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke Thursday in Detroit at the biennial general assembly of the…
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Breaking News Reform Rabbis Join Push To End North Carolina Same-Sex Marriage Ban
The Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis joined a lawsuit against North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages. The lawsuit, which was filed April 28 by the United Church of Christ and several same-sex couples, alleges that North Carolina’s Amendment One and other state laws make it illegal for clergy to officiate at a same-sex…
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The Schmooze The ‘Jeopardy’ Rabbi
(JTA) — Sari Laufer isn’t allowed to say how well she did on the TV quiz show “Jeopardy” until the first episode featuring her airs Wednesday night June 11. One thing the 35-year-old Reform rabbi will share, however, is that she was “really determined” to answer correctly the one Jewish question that arose during the…
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Opinion Will Reuven Rivlin Call ‘Em Reform ‘Rabbis’?
Getty Images ()TA) — Will he refer to Reform rabbis as rabbis? We still don’t know. Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s front-runner in this week’s presidential election, has signaled recently that should he be elected, his goal will be to embrace non-Orthodox Jewish communities rather than antagonize them. Rivlin got a boost in the race on Saturday…
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Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
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