(JTA) — A woman in Boise, Idaho, allegedly harassed and physically attacked her Jewish neighbor in order to convince her to convert to Christianity. Marguerite Haragan, 58, was charged last week with two counts of malicious harassment in the attack, which police have labeled a hate crime, the KTVB televisionContinue Reading
Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Following the discovery of Washington, D.C. rabbi Barry Freundel’s breach of privacy for spying on women preparing for immersion in the mikvah and his subsequent arrest, the Rabbinical Council of America voted to appoint ombudswomen across the country to support women in theContinue Reading
By Mark Dratch NEW YORK (JTA) – In a recent JTA Op-Ed, Rabbis Marc Angel and Avi Weiss made a number of claims about the Rabbinical Council of America’s conversion system. While some of their arguments have merit, they paint only a partial picture of what we’re doing in theContinue Reading
By Avi Weiss and Marc Angel NEW YORK (JTA) — The Israeli government recently moved to decentralize the conversion system by allowing local courts to convert individuals on their own. Ironically, as Israel moves away from centralization, here in America the Rabbinical Council of America is enthusiastically embracing it. TheContinue Reading
By Ben Sales, JTA World News Service TEL AVIV (JTA) – The Israeli government has adopted a major reform expected to ease the path to conversion for hundreds of thousands of Israelis now prohibited from marrying in the Jewish state. In the most significant response in decades to the estimatedContinue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) – Tzipporah Laura LaFianza and her family have been living as Orthodox Jews for four years now. They reside in a heavily Jewish suburb of Washington, go to shul every Shabbat and keep a strictly kosher kitchen. But they’re notContinue Reading
By Elana Sztokman, JTA World News Service MODIIN, Israel (JTA) — With the news that Rabbi Barry Freundel, a prominent Orthodox rabbi, has been arrested for peeping at the naked bodies of his female congregants through a secret camera in the mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath, many disturbing questions areContinue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (This is part of a special report on conversion in America. Read our other pieces about who’s converting to Judaism, and about the 10 questions about Jewish conversion you want to know but are afraid to ask.) ORTHODOX Number of converts: Unknown. Over the last seven years,Continue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service I understand you’re considering converting to Judaism. Shalom aleichem! What sort of conversion would you like? If Orthodox, the answer is no, no, no. Tradition dictates that prospective converts be rebuffed three times as a test of their true commitment. For a moreContinue Reading
(JTA) — Israel’s Health Ministry issued a warning declaring that therapies aimed at changing patients from gay to straight are not supported by medical evidence and could be harmful.Signed by Health Minister Yael German, Sunday’s decision adopts the position of the Council of Psychologists and the Israel Psychological Association.The HealthContinue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (This is part of a special JTA report on conversion in America. Read our other pieces about who’s converting to Judaism, and about the denomination-by-denomination breakdown of how the different denominations do conversion.) Must coverts pass a test to become a Jew? Generally, no. Across all the denominations,Continue Reading
Tuesday night marks the beginning of Shavuot, a holiday at which the story of Ruth, the Moabite convert and considered one of the greatest heroines of the Torah, is read. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach argues that the greatest challenge facing the world Jewish community is it’s shrinking size and looks at the possibilities of focusedContinue Reading
By Carlyn J. Steiner, Special to the Jewish Sound Last July, close to 800 Seattle Jews convened for a “community conversation” on what was called “The Jewish Peoplehood Crisis.” The organizers defined the crisis as a loss of “identification with Jews throughout the world,” the loss of “commitment to JewsContinue Reading
