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Fast Forward Alan Gross Draws Welcome Home Crowd at Synagogue
(JTA) — Alan Gross wore a gray suit, red tie and a perpetual smile as he took the stage Thursday night at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Md., at a welcome-home reception in his honor sponsored by dozens of Jewish organizations, including the the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. But while he celebrated…
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Fast Forward Theater J Attacks Fired Director Ari Roth as ‘Unprofessional’
The Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center is stepping up to defend the abrupt dismissal of Theater J artistic director Ari Roth, insisting he was fired for “Insubordination,” not pro-Israel politcal pressure. In a statement posted yesterday on the Facebook group of the Association for Jewish Theatre, Carole Zawatsky, the DCJCC’s CEO, wrote that Roth was…
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Israel News Beleaguered Theater J Slammed Over ‘Blatantly Political Firing’ of Ari Roth
Some of the most prominent figures in non-profit theater have denounced the Washington DC Jewish Community Center for its recent decision to terminate Ari Roth, the director of its nationally acclaimed theater program, for what they called “blatantly political reasons.” In an open letter to board members of the DCJCC, nearly 100 artistic directors of…
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News Did Rabbi Barry Freundel Treat Mikveh Like ‘Car Wash’ To Peep on Women?
Two new lawsuits aim to hold Modern Orthodoxy’s largest rabbinic organization responsible in the Rabbi Barry Freundel mikvah-peeping scandal. Both lawsuits allege that the Rabbinical Council of America and Freundel’s own synagogue were aware of inappropriate conduct by Freundel prior to the discovery that he was using a hidden camera to view women as they…
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Fast Forward 61 Theater Chiefs Slam Firing of Theater J Director Ari Roth
Sixty-one artistic directors of U.S. theater companies denounced the DC Jewish Community Center’s firing of Ari Roth, the artistic director of its Theater J who staged numerous works critical of Israel. An open letter issued Monday said “it is absolutely clear that Roth was fired because of the content of the work he has so…
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Culture Theater J’s Ari Roth Knew Days Were Numbered After Feuds Over Israel
The break-up was on the horizon, but playwright Ari Roth didn’t expect it to happen quite so suddenly. On Thursday, Roth, the long-time artistic director of Theater J in Washington DC was fired — or he resigned, depending on who you ask. A press release sent to the Forward on Thursday evening by Theater J,…
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Fast Forward Theater J Fires Outspoken Director Ari Roth
Ari Roth, the longtime director at Theater J, is leaving the theater after a period of tension over plays dealing with Israel’s history. The Washington Post and the Washington Jewish Week each reported late Thursday that Roth is saying the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, which oversees the theater, fired him after he refused to…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Rabbinic Group Sued in Barry Freundel Mikveh Peeping Case
A lawsuit arising out of allegations of voyeurism at a Washington D.C. ritual bath added the Rabbinical Council of America as a defendant. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by a third-year student at Georgetown University’s law school, initially named as defendants Rabbi Barry Freundel’s Washington synagogue, Kesher Israel, the adjacent mikvah and her own…
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Opinion Why is Netanyahu poised to OK a ceasefire that’s favorable to Hamas? One word: Trump
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Opinion Gaza ceasefire is the result of political machination — not Donald Trump
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Looking Forward Why the hostage and ceasefire deal is both reassuring and terrifying
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Opinion Is peace really coming? What about the West Bank? 5 crucial questions for Israel post-ceasefire
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Fast Forward Isak Haleva, Turkey’s chief rabbi and face of Jewish minority, dies at 84
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