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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: rabbi

rabbi stories: 15 news summaries

 Crocs Too Comfy 
 for Yom Kippur: Rabbi 

Sandals don't inflict sufficient suffering for holiday, religious leader rules

Sep 25, 09 5:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Lithuanian rabbi has ruled that Crocs should not be worn during Yom Kippur because the sandals are too comfortable, Ynet news reports. Rabbi Elyashiv based his judgment on a prohibition against leather sandals, saying they were banned because they fail to provide an appropriate level of suffering for the... More »

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Judaism • Crocs • orthodoxy • Lithuania • rabbi • Yom Kippur

NJ Mayors, NY Rabbis Busted in Corruption Probe

Syrian Jews accused
of money-laundering

Jul 23, 09 9:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a huge corruption bust, FBI agents arrested 30 people today, including the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, the deputy mayor of Jersey City, a New Jersey assemblyman, and several Brooklyn and New Jersey rabbis, the Star-Ledger reports. The arrests stem from a 2-year money-laundering probe centered on New... More »

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FBI • New Jersey • corruption • Brooklyn • Internal Revenue Service • Jewish • rabbi • Peter Cammarano • Daniel Van Pelt • Dennis Elwell

 US Gets Its 
 First Black 
 Female Rabbi 



'I will not be boxed in,' says newly ordained Stanton

Jun 16, 09 6:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Last week Alysa Stanton was ordained as a rabbi at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, one of the country's oldest synagogues, and a little history was made—the US had its first black female leader of a Jewish congregation. Stanton, born a Pentecostal Christian, converted in 1987, enduring hostility... More »

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Jews • religion • Judaism • Cincinnati • African-Americans • rabbi • blacks

(Newser) - Orthodox Jews have long been discouraged from searching the Internet due to rabbinical restrictions on viewing immodest content. No longer, Reuters reports. Enter Koogle—the name is a mashup of Google and a traditional Jewish noodle dish—a Hebrew-language search engine that filters out non-kosher content and appears to meet... More »

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Internet • kosher • search engine • rabbi • Orthodox Jews • Koogle

 Rabbi Seeks Boycott of 
 'Revolting' Mannequins

Stores could lose kosher certification

May 13, 09 2:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - An Israeli rabbi has called for a boycott of shops that display scantily clad mannequins, AFP reports. Mannequins and "obscene photographs" of models wearing swimsuits or underwear "elicit sorrow among the passers-by," said the rabbi. Stores in the northern city of Tiberias that keep their racy displays... More »

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Israel • kosher • boycott • retail stores • underwear • swimsuit • rabbi • mannequin • Tiberias

(Newser) - During Israel’s recent Gaza offensive, an increasingly influential corps of military rabbis cast the conflict as one to “expel the non-Jews” from Israel, the Los Angeles Times reports. “This rabbi comes to us and says the fight is between the children of light and the children... More »

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Israel • Gaza • Jews • Palestinians • Israeli Army • rabbi

 Pope Must 
 Hide Cross at 
 Jerusalem 
 Site: Rabbi 

'I wouldn't go into a church wearing Jewish symbols,' Rabinovitch says

Mar 19, 09 1:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem next month as a show of mutual understanding and sensitivity between Catholicism and Judaism—but a request from a prominent rabbi almost ensures he’ll offend someone, Time reports. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said the pontiff should remove the cross... More »

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Pope Benedict XVI • Christianity • Jerusalem • Judaism • Western Wall • rabbi

Israeli Rabbis Cut Off Vatican Over Holocaust Dispute

Pope attempts to smooth ties with conciliatory remarks

Jan 28, 09 3:02 PM CST
(Newser) - Israel’s senior rabbinical body has severed ties with the Vatican, saying Bishop Richard Williamson should recant his statements denying that millions of Jews were "deliberately gassed" during the Holocaust. The chief rabbinate expressed “sorrow and pain” at the decision, which follows worldwide outrage among Jews and progressive... More »

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Israel • Pope Benedict XVI • Holocaust • Vatican • Catholic • Jewish • rabbi • Richard Williamson

ANALYSIS

Protestants Hold Inauguration Monopoly

Priests, rabbis have been missing from ceremony for 20 years

Jan 20, 09 7:42 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama's swearing-in will be the sixth straight inauguration where rabbis and Catholic priests will be absent from the dais, reports Time. For decades it was traditional to have Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish representatives at the ceremony, but Billy Graham’s invocation (and benediction) at George Bush’s 1989 inauguration... More »

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Protestants • clergy • inauguration • Rick Warren • rabbi • Catholic priest • President Obama • Inauguration Day

Murdered Brooklyn Rabbi, Wife to Be Buried in Israel

'Crying' son marked
2nd birthday yesterday

Nov 30, 08 11:50 AM CST
(Newser) - The Brooklyn-raised rabbi and his wife who were murdered in the Mumbai attacks will be buried in the Holy Land, the Daily News reports. Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, had wrapped the bodies of slain hostages in prayer shawls before being shot himself. The couple’s orphaned son marked his second birthday... More »

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India • Chabad Lubavitch • Judaism • Mumbai • terrorist attack • hostage • rabbi

Who Needs CNN?

Citizen journalists capture Mumbai story without bureaucratic headaches

Nov 30, 08 9:47 AM CST
(Newser) - Witnesses of the Mumbai terror attacks didn’t wait for CNN to get information: They captured it themselves, the New York Times reports, the latest example of citizen journalists using technology to put themselves on the frontlines of news. “I felt I had a responsibility to share my view... More »

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India • Chabad Lubavitch • Mumbai • terrorist attack • Twitter • Citizen journalism • rabbi

Brooklyn Rabbi, Wife Trapped in Mumbai Attacks

Couple ran center for Jewish travelers targeted by terrorists

Nov 28, 08 2:04 AM CST
(Newser) - A young Jewish couple from Brooklyn were taken hostage in the Mumbai attacks and many fear the worst, the New York Times reports. Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, ran the well-known Chabad center, a popular haven for Jewish travellers. They were seized along with at least six others... More »

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terrorism • India • Chabad Lubavitch • Brooklyn • Mumbai • terrorist attack • rabbi

 Ala. Group Offers 
 Jews $50K Move-In Bonus 

Small-town synagogue group aims to sell Jews on the charms of the South

Sep 25, 08 4:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - A dwindling Alabama Jewish community is spending $1 million to stop itself from disappearing, as have many others in the South, CNN reports. A local group in the town of Dothan is offering a $50,000 shalom to Jewish families who choose to relocate to the community and hopes to... More »

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Jews • Alabama • small towns • synagogue • rabbi

GLOSSIES

 The Long Island 
 Rabbi Who 
 Toppled  Olmert 

Close friend or just another donor, Talansky was key player in Israeli PM's downfall

Sep 15, 08 5:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Morris Talansky counted Ehud Olmet as a true friend, and he says his devotion was returned. The nature of the longstanding relationship between the Long Island rabbi and the Israeli prime minister varies according to who’s describing it, Steve Fishman writes in New York. But what everyone agrees on... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Israel • Ehud Olmert • campaign contributions • corruption charges • Morris Talansky • rabbi

Paper Runs Obama's
Western Wall Prayer

Dem wants to be guarded against 'pride and despair'

Jul 25, 08 3:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - The prayer Barack Obama put in Jerusalem’s Western Wall yesterday was removed by a Jewish seminary student and published in a local newspaper, the AP reports. It read, “Lord—Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Israel • Judaism • prayer • Western Wall • rabbi

15 Stories


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