Orthodox Jews try to prevent a group of American Conservative and Reform rabbis and the Women of the Wall movement members from bringing Torah scrolls into the Western Wall compound during a protest march against the government’s failure to deliver...
Amid the incessant election babble of recent months, there was one headline that stood out for me as an American who happens to be Jewish. That was the news that Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas casino owner, Republican party broker and supporter of Israel,...
ELKINS PARK, Pa. (JTA) — The Conservative movement’s leadership must drop its ban on Conservative rabbis officiating at interfaith weddings — before it’s too late.The Rabbinical Assembly’s unequivocal rule is that a Conservative rabbi may...
Repps Hudson, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published August 22, 2012
Merging two organizations of any kind may be fraught with troublesome issues that can haunt all concerned for years. So blending a Reform and a Conservative day school into a new Jewish school — with different approaches to Biblical studies and food,...
NEW YORK -- A Conservative Jew, I am a third-generation member of Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim in Cranford, N.J., was very active in the movement’s United Synagogue Youth and helped create a presence for Koach, the movement’s college program, at my...
WASHINGTON — The latest battle over religious pluralism in Israel has unleashed a new barrage of criticism and calls for reform aimed at the Orthodox-controlled Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Unlike major flare-ups in past decades, however, this time it’s...
Should religious institutions adapt to changing times or ought they insist on conformance to their traditional practices? It’s a tug of war that has been repeated throughout the ages, with the rope being pulled aggressively to one side or the other....
CHICAGO — Sinai Synagogue in South Bend, Ind., has been struggling with issues facing many small congregations in an era of dwindling budgets and shifting demographics. In particular, with only 150 families, until recently it was increasingly difficult...
NEW YORK — The Conservative movement — affirming that same-sex marriages have “the same sense of holiness and joy as that expressed in heterosexual marriages” — last week established rituals for same-sex wedding ceremonies. The landmark vote...
Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel will hold a tribute event to honor Rabbi Mordecai Miller from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 3 at BSKI, 1107 E. Linden Avenue in Richmond Heights. The event costs $18 and will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres. The program/tribute...
Growing up, I was always taught that rabbis were an exalted lot. These were holy men—there weren’t any women rabbis at the time—who seemed above and different from the rest of us. Bigger than life, they were learned and authoritative with a special...
An Israeli hotel denied the use of a Torah scroll to a group that intended to use it in a mixed-gender service. The religious supervisor at the hotel at Kibbutz Shefayim refused to allow a group of students from the Conservative Solomon Schechter Day...
