Rabbis

Erin Leib, Daniel Smokler
From the New York Times:
Erin Dana Leib, the daughter of Naomi R. Leib and Dr. Martin L. Leib of Riverdale, the Bronx, is to be married Sunday to Rabbi Daniel Jonathan Smokler, a son of Carol S. (…)

Dear Rabbi:
David Deutsch emails:
So my first thought about your shul situation was an irate blog post. Then I thought "Will that actually help?" and I decided instead to write a letter to your rabbi to try and convince him to change his mind. Then I spoke about it to the missus, and when she got irate, I got irate again, and I thought "Why not write both?" Then I realized thought, that if this little episode teaches us anything, it's that we can't make any promises of online anonymity. So I've written this letter for your rabbi, which you can forward to him. I find your situation personally frustrating, and–without knowing your rabbi or your relationship to him–I hope that the awesome power of my didactic writing can't help but convince him to reconsider. (…)

Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles Names Rabbi Sharon Brous Recipient of Inaugural Inspired Leadership Award
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) today announced it has selected Rabbi Sharon Brous as the recipient of its first Inspired Leadership Award. (…)

Rabbi Gives Invocation For Democrats
From the Forward:
Washington — Presidential historians and convention observers believe this year’s Democratic convention will be the first time that a rabbi gives an invocation before the presidential nominee’s acceptance speech since the advent of modern American political conventions nearly a century ago. (…)
Staten Island's Bnai Jeshurun Gets A New Rabbi
From SIlive.com:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Rabbi Judah Kogen was determined not to be a rabbi. (…)

Private Tutoring For The Elite
From the New York Times news service:
Financial crises occur. Personal trainers need their access. The All-Star Game can run late. (…)
Rabbi David Saperstein To Give Invocation At Democratic Convention
DENVER, Aug 16, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, will deliver the invocation at the Democratic National Convention Thursday, August 28, at Denver's INVESCO Field, the night that Sen. (…)

Is God A Hermaphrodite?
Manya Bachear writes:
The journal of Reform rabbis published an article this week proclaiming that if the four-letter Hebrew name of God were spelled backward and pronounced, it would sound like the Hebrew words for "he" and "she."
Held by Jewish tradition to be unpronounceable, the Tetragrammaton is often replaced by "Adonai" or "Lord" when Jews read scripture. (…)

Rabbi Compares Life To Football
Moscow, August 1, Interfax - Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar urges believers to take footballers for a model. (…)
Blind Rabbi Runs For Congress
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Dennis Shulman is a blind psychologist who's also an ordained rabbi. Political experts say the 58-year-old Democrat's quest to unseat Rep. (…)

First Woman Ordained In Israel
From the Times of India:
Rabbi Naamah Kelman was the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in Israel. (…)
Chabad Rabbi Found Guilty Of Zoning Violation
From APP.com:
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Seven members of the township Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously decided Thursday that a local rabbi is, in fact, running a house of worship out of his home. (…)
Cleveland's Synagogue Without Walls
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
After spending 12 years at Congregation Bethaynu in Pepper Pike, Sukol left in June 2007 to start a new type of Jewish religious and learning experience that he calls Cleveland's Synagogue Without Walls. (…)
Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Advises Anglicans On Unity
From virtueonline.org:
CANTERBURY-Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, gave a stirring address to Anglican bishops gathered under the Big Top tent at the decennial Lambeth Conference Monday evening. (…)

The Winding Road To The Rabbinate
Cindy Mindell writes for the Jewish Ledger:
BLOOMFIELD - The call comes from someone “deep in southwest Texas, headed for New Mexico.” It’s Stephen Landau, the new rabbi at Tikvoh Chadoshoh in Bloomfield, and he’s driving through the familiar landscape, visiting friends and family, catching up on rest, before taking the Connecticut pulpit on Aug. (…)
Judaism Favors Organ Donation Says Rabbi
Rabbi Reuven Bulka writes:
Just recently, a highly respected sage, Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, son-in-law of the late, great venerated sage Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, shocked many by stating that Judaism is in favour of organ donation. (…)

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