Jewish Religion

Rabbi seeks help from other clergy in stopping hate

EDISON, New Jersey. (Press Release)–Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg, pulpit rabbi at Congregation Beth El here, is tired of counting swastikas and hearing antisemitic cat calls when he heads home from synagogue. It happened to him again on Friday night August 20th on Route 27, where Jew-baiting by local teens has become trendy over the last year. […]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Jewish Religion, USA

Completion of Torah Scroll in Old City prompts celebration

  By Judy Lash Balint   JERUSALEM–The Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem’s Old City celebrated the completion of a new Torah scroll Wednesday night, July 28, in a lively celebration of Jews from around the world. A scribe dips his quill pen into special ink and puts the finishing touches to a new Torah scroll before

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Commentary:Tisha B’Av feels more auspicious in Jerusalem than elsewhere

By Judy Lash Balint JERUSALEM — I’ve never been in Tel Aviv or Haifa for Tisha B’Av, but my guess is that it probably doesn’t feel too much different than Tisha B’Av in Seattle–a few hardy souls sitting on the floor of their synagogues in the evening and then spending the day itself struggling to

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Female rabbis assume leadership of Rabbinical Assembly

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO–On Thursday evening I returned from attending the International Rabbinical Assembly Convention. For the first time in its history, this year’s RA Convention was held at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. JTS is the premiere academic institution of the Conservative Movement and many  JTS scholars, as well

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

3-Year-Old’s Lag b’Omer haircut indicative of a return to tradition

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO–Thursday evening my wife Judy and I returned from visiting our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons. Shortly after our first grandson, Neriya, was born, his mother  called and asked us to reserve Lag B’Omer of this year for his upshirin. My son, Rabbi Adam Rosenthal, and his wife, Sarah, were

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Jewish Religion, Travel and Food

A moral code for those people and companies making headlines and the rest of us

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — On Mondays and Thursdays, the market days of times gone by, we read the Torah during daily minyan. We normally read the first three aliyot of the parasha of the approaching Shabbat. On Thursday a member of our minyan nudged me during the Torah reading and said, “I

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Jewish Religion

The kashrut of self-control

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO–Kashrut observance is one of the defining rituals of Judaism. For Jews, the food we put into our mouths is equally as important as the words that come out. Parashat Shemini cites the defining characteristics of Kosher mammals and fish. Mammals must have cleft hooves and chew their cud. Sea

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Jewish Religion