Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of rabbis, the spiritual leaders of Jewish congregations.
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Food Meet The Rabbis Keeping Kentucky’s Bourbon Kosher
There was a time not long ago when all bourbon was considered kosher. But for many observant Jews, that simple assumption has gone the way of the Grand Ole Opry. After decades of domination by clear alcohol, the U.S. liquor market has seen a resurgence in the popularity of darker liquors in recent years, with…
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Breaking News Jews Cited As ‘Model Minority’ In French Election, According To Rabbi
PARIS (JTA) — The Jewish community of France has emerged during the nation’s presidential campaign as a model for integration of other faith groups, a senior rabbi noted following the first candidates debate. Rabbi Moche Lewin, a spokesman for the chief rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, made the observation in an interview Tuesday with JTA…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Rabbinical Council Appoints New Conversion Director
The Orthodox Union’s rabbinic arm has created a new position to help smooth the conversion process. The Rabbinical Council of America announced Monday that Abby Lerner will be the first National Director of Conversion Services. Lerner will “assume responsibility for the support of candidates in their conversion process,” according to an RCA statement. She will…
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Community The David Friedman I Know
The night the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination of David Friedman as President Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, Friedman celebrated the way he wanted. It was the way many who know, respect and like David Friedman expected. David took his wife, their children and spouses to a local kosher casual restaurant and ate…
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Fast Forward Israeli Army Rabbi ‘Not Sorry’ For Disparaging Female Soldiers
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, the head of a prominent pre-army training academy in the occupied West Bank, is standing his ground after his denigrating remarks about women soldiers made waves in the Israel. “They recruit them to the army, where they enter as Jews, but they’re not Jews by the time they leave,” Levinstein said, in…
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Fast Forward World’s Oldest Jew Dies At 117 — Leaves Behind 125 Descendants
He was born when the Ottoman Empire still ruled modern-day Israel, the British held his native Iraq and Jews were spread throughout the Middle East. But the 117-year-old Rabbi Zecharia Barashi on Tuesday left a world very different from the one he found, as Israel’s oldest resident – and the world’s oldest Jew and rabbi…
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Breaking News Chabad Rabbi Banned From Lithuania’s Main Synagogue
(JTA) — In an escalation of the internal feud dividing Lithuanian Jews, the Chabad movement’s senior emissary to the country was banned from the capital city’s main synagogue. Rabbi Sholem Ber Krinsky, who has lived in Vilnius for 22 years, was informed in an email Monday from the chairman of the Vilnius Jewish Religious Community…
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Fast Forward Ex-Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger Gets 4-1/2 Years For Fraud
JERUSALEM (JTA) – A judge in Jerusalem rejected a plea deal between prosecutors and Yona Metzger, a former Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel. Under the deal signed in January, Metzger pleaded guilty to fraud, breach of trust and tax offenses. The Jerusalem District Court judge sentenced Metzger to 4.5 years in jail, more than the…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Fast Forward Justin Trudeau condemns antisemitism after Montreal pro-Palestinian protest where Netanyahu is burned in effigy
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Culture There aren’t Jewish fighters in Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator II.’ But what about in ancient Rome?
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Fast Forward Three arrested in murder of rabbi in United Arab Emirates; Israel denounces ‘despicable antisemitic act’
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News Trump promised peace in the Middle East. Will his 2020 plan be the blueprint?
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