Jewish Religion

‘180 Degrees’ tells of returns to Judaism

180 Degrees: 25 Amazing True Stories… That Caused a Turning Point in People’s Lives by Abraham Leib Berenstein, Feldheim Publishers, Nanuet, NY, © 2017, ISBN 978-1-68025-293-4, p. 340, plus a list of benefactors, $22.99 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – The Jewish High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are perceived by Jews as a time […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Israeli MP quits under fire after attending gay wedding

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israeli lawmaker quit his seat on Wednesday under fire from religious colleagues and rabbis for attending a gay relative’s wedding, his daughter said. Yigal Guetta recently told a radio interviewer about the marriage of his nephew, which took place two years ago but still brought a harsh reaction from prominent rabbis, local

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Israeli courts protect country’s founding values

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–In view of recent decisions by Israel’s Supreme Court, citizens may have a point when they ask, “Who’s really running the country, the Knesset or the Supreme Court?” Two Court decisions published earlier this week come especially to mind: the Supreme Court’s opinion that (1) the government has no right to

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Sderot municipality fines over ‘Shabbat sirens’

A few hours after a Chabad man in Herzliya was fined 730 shekels for helping passersby put on tefillin, a Sderot resident received a fine for activating “Shabbat sirens” near the city’s “Ha’ari Hakadosh” synagogue. “Shabbat sirens” are either music or an actual siren, sounded twenty minutes and five minutes before the start of Shabbat

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

That’s not kosher: Haredi soldiers fed non-kosher food

Haredi soldiers from the Netzach Yehuda Battalion, better known as the Nahal Haredi, were fed non-kosher food during an army education program last week, Radio Kol Hai reported. According to the report, a group of soldiers from the battalion were sent to participate in an educational program with the IDF”s Education and Youth Corps in

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Rabbis Won’t Call Trump for Jewish High Holidays

Jewish religious leaders will not organize a conference call with President Donald Trump ahead of the High Holidays—the major holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur—in a break from recent tradition. “The High Holy Days are an opportunity for reflection and introspection. As the leaders of major denominations in American Jewish life, we have been

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Jewish Religion, USA

What does Jewish tradition say about eclipses?

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — This past week, some of my congregants asked me: What does Jewish tradition have to say about solar eclipses? Like many ancient peoples, the Jews did not develop a scientific understanding of eclipses until much later in its history. Before we examine what exactly Jewish tradition

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Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Science, Medicine, & Education

High Court rules women must be allowed to administer rabbinical courts

Women’s rights groups hail ruling as judges nix job requirements that effectively precluded females By Times of Israel staff The entrance to the Rabbinical Court of Tel Aviv, November 27, 2013. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) Women must be allowed to serve as directors of rabbinical courts, the High Court of Justice ruled Wednesday, in a

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Rabbi tells rationale for accepting Torah as divine

Reason to Believe: Rational Explanations of Orthodox Jewish Faith by Chaim Jachter, Menorah Books, New Milford, CT, © 2017,ISBN 978-1-940516-71-4, p. 234 plus appendices, $24.95 By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.  WINCHESTER, California – If believing is having faith in the evidence, then one might suspect that religion and reason share no common ground, but this is not the

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish Religion

Elementary school teacher charged with molesting students

Court says Meir Zehnwirth inappropriately touched at least 2 girls he taught at the talmud Torah school in Tiberias By Times of Israel staff Meir Zehnwirth was charged with indecent assault on minors while he taught at the Talmud Torah elementary school in Tiberias on July 31, 2017. (Israel Police) An elementary school teacher at

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education