This is the Forward’s coverage of synagogues, Jewish houses of worship.
Synagogues
The Latest
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News Pinched by the pandemic, congregants are cutting synagogues dues from their household budgets
Across denominations and across the United States, Jewish families under financial pressure from the coronavirus pandemic are deciding that synagogue dues are an expense they can cut. “More congregations are seeing declines in members than are seeing growth,” said Amy Asin, vice-president of Strengthening Congregations, the synagogue advising arm at the Union of Reform Judaism….
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Fast Forward Self-described ‘skinhead’ pleads guilty to trying to blow up a Colorado synagogue
(JTA) — A man who plotted to blow up a synagogue in Colorado has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and explosives charges. Richard Holzer, a self-described “skinhead” and former Ku Klux Klan member who used Facebook to promote white supremacy, was arrested last November for plotting to blow up a 100-year-old synagogue in Pueblo,…
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News As Israel and UAE make peace, Dubai Jewish community flourishes
Some called it “the underground synagogue,” but the sanctuary of the Jewish Community of the Emirates would be familiar to Jews anywhere in the world. During a recent service, several rows of chairs seat a group of around 10 men and women in separated sections. The chairs surround a simple table on which sits the…
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News “There’s no going back’ What rabbis learned from the extraordinary High Holidays of 2020
I am not a rabbi — but am I proud of my colleagues who are. Along with cantors, soloists, educators, executive directors, board donors and laypeople in hundreds of congregations and spiritual communities, they pulled off one of the most extraordinary historic pivots in synagogue life. “This is epic,” Rabbi Steven Leder of Wilshire Boulevard…
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News In San Francisco, Jews stand with mayor against opening houses of worship too soon
Religious groups that are pushing San Francisco to open up houses of worship to more congregants are doing so without the support of one faith group: Jews. After the United States Department of Justice sent a stern letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed saying that her ban on indoor worship services, “raises serious concerns…
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News High turnout at virtual Rosh Hashanah leaves rabbis relieved, but money woes persist
Mishkan, a congregation in Chicago, registered 2,500 guests for Rosh Hashanah services, compared to 1,900 last year. At B’nai Jeshurun in New York, a slate of virtual Rosh Hashanah offerings drew about 10,000 users, three times the number of members and guests the synagogue hosts in a typical year. Although it’s too soon to say…
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News ‘Car Nidre:’ These synagogues are taking High Holidays to the parking lot
Parking lots get a bad rap. There’s even a Joni Mitchell song about how awful they are: “Don’t it always seem to go/ That you don’t know what you’ve got/ ‘Til it’s gone/They paved paradise/And put up a parking lot.” And the 2019 movie “Isn’t it Romantic?” Rebel Wilson played a lovelorn architect whose parking…
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Fast Forward DC synagogue will pack pews with celeb cutouts on High Holidays
With the High Holidays going virtual across the country, Jews will miss the call of the shofar, the intimacy of a shul setting and — not least of all — the opportunity to schmooze. But the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in D.C. is offering congregants a chance to commune with their famous coreligionists —…
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