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SEATTLE — Rabbi Steven Greenberg is not shy about proclaiming who he is, though it raises eyebrows. He is, he says, the world’s first openly gay Orthodox rabbi. And since he came out in 1999, Greenberg has traveled the world, speaking at Jewish organizations, community groups, forums.. His aim: To get congregations to be more welcoming and understanding of gays and lesbians – which sometimes means just helping them learn how to even bring the topic up. Ultimately, he hopes the work he’s doing can, over time, lead to changes in people’s hearts, and to corresponding changes in Jewish theology and law. “By addressing the realities of human life, Jewish law does move,” Greenberg said. “It just…

(author unknown) Gay, Judaism, Lesbian, Orthodox, People, Theology

Read the Full Article at NYT > Religion and Belief

For people who convert to Judaism, Christmas represents, in some ways, the essence of what they are giving up.

By JENNIFER MEDINA Christmas, Judaism, People

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In one of its most controversial and divisive cases, Britain’s Supreme Court has decided that a London Jewish school’s policy of admitting students based on the nature of their mother’s Jewish identity — a classic test of Judaism — constitutes racial discrimination.

(author unknown) Court, Judaism, School

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Rabbi Reuven Bulka, photographed in front of the Holy Ark in the sanctuary of Congregation Machzikel Hada, which he has led for more than 40 years, has chosen to no longer perform conversions to Orthodox Judaism while the controversy about the validity of such conversions rages.

(author unknown) Conversion, Judaism, Orthodox

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Editor’s Note: In the modern age, religious mythologies – when mixed with politics – have led to very harmful and often bloody consequences, especially involving the leading monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

So, in this guest essay, Baptist minister Howard Bess reminds Christians that many of their most cherished beliefs about the birth of Jesus were not based on empirical evidence, but on politically motivated mythology:

(author unknown) Baptist, Jesus, Judaism, Politics

Read the Full Article at blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Oh dear, it’s official (nearly): a belief in man-made climate change grants you the same anti-discrimination protection in the British work-place you’d get if, say, you were a Muslim and your employer forced you to eat pork, or you were a Christian and your boss insisted you sacrifice a big black cock at the stroke of midnight on the Winter Solstice in the middle of a ruddy great pentacle, or you were a Rastafarian, and your boss wouldn’t allow you to pop outside for your statutory religious reefer-break.

(author unknown) Judaism, Muslim, Worship

Read the Full Article at Faith & Reason: Top Stories & Community Feed

Would you switch faiths, like Ivanka Trump, for love? The blonde heiress became Jewish before her Sunday wedding.

(author unknown) Catholic, Judaism

Read the Full Article at Christian News

The Elijah Interfaith Institute will be hosting the Fourth Meeting of the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders in Israel from October 18-22. Over 50 religious leaders from around the world will be participating, representing Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Sikh, reports Elijah Interfaith Institute in its press release. Representatives from the Vatican and of the Dalai Lama will be in attendance. Previous meetings were held in Spain, Taiwan and India, and this year’s event is be… >>

(author unknown) Buddhism, India, Interfaith, Israel, Judaism, Survey, Vatican

Read the Full Article at Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

Christian and Jewish leaders joined forces to re-energize the push for comprehensive immigration reform. At a Washington forum, Los Angeles Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony, Rabbi Jack Moline of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism, and other leaders urged new religious activism at the grassroots to convince Congress to take up immigration legislation.

fred yi Catholic, Immigration, Judaism

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Rebel traditionalists seeking a return to the fold of the Roman Catholic Church are to be told they must respect Judaism, other world faiths and other Christian churches. The Holy See is to tell the Society of Saint Pius X that it can no longer reject the reforms of the Second Vatican Council if it wishes to be fully integrated back into the Church. The council, which sat from 1962 to 1965, challenged…

(author unknown) Catholic, Judaism, Vatican

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AP – Israeli archaeologists have uncovered one of the earliest depictions of a menorah, the seven-branched candelabra that has come to symbolize Judaism, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Friday. The menorah was engraved in stone around 2,000 years ago and found in a synagogue recently discovered by the Sea of Galilee.

(author unknown) Israel, Judaism

Read the Full Article at www.haaretz.com

Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism said Thursday that their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops’ statement on salvation.

Jewish groups said they interpret the new document to mean that the bishops view interfaith dialogue as a chance to invite Jews to become Catholic. The Jewish leaders said they “pose no objection” to Christians sharing their faith, but said dialogue with Jews becomes “untenable” if the goal is to persuade Jews to accept Christ as their savior.

(author unknown) Bishop, Catholic, Interfaith, Judaism

Read the Full Article at Yahoo! News: Religion News

AP – Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism said Thursday that their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops’ statement on salvation.

(author unknown) Bishop, Catholic, Judaism

Read the Full Article at WN.com - Religion News

(AP) – JERUSALEM – Most Israelis expect their military rabbis to confine themselves to such tasks as making sure the army provides kosher food and respects the Sabbath. But lately, some of them are asserting their own idea of Jewish virtue at the risk of stepping into the country’s culture wars. Some critics worry that the rabbinate and its charismatic chief, Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki, are infusing a militant mix of Judaism and nationalism into a traditionally secular institution that embodies the Israeli consensus. On the Palestinian side, Islamic hard-liners already see their war with Israel through an…

(author unknown) Cult, Culture, Islamic, Israel, Judaism

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At an East Galveston beach, Mari Barkhausen is waist-deep in the cool, brown water. After repeating Hebrew blessings, she is immersed once, twice. When she emerges from the water a third time, she is a Jew. She hugs her rabbi, looking to the shoreline at her husband and two sons who are waiting for their mikveh, the ritual immersion for Jewish converts. “Mazel tov, everyone,” declares Rabbi Stuart Federow. “This day begins the rest of your education. Jewish learning never stops.” Barkhausen’s journey began decades ago as she watched her maternal grandmother’s peculiar ways. Her Mexican-American abuela would light candles on Fridays and draw the curtains before sundown, cover mirrors at home…

(author unknown) Judaism

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How Jewish is Jerusalem?

You might think that’s a silly question, but in the world of academia, revisionist history and even biblical archaeology, scholars have cast the shadow of doubt over Judaism’s intrinsic connection to Jerusalem. The Moslem Waqf, the religious authority that administers the Temple Mount — the site of Judaism’s First and Second Temples — has been claiming for years that there was never a temple there. But the idea that Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and Jerusalem its holy capital has been under attack from far more reputable sources in recent decades as well.

(author unknown) Archaeology, History, Israel, Judaism, People

Read the Full Article at news.yahoo.com

Times have changed for the Islamic Society of North America and for Syeed, who leads the group’s interfaith outreach. In a sign of growing acceptance of U.S. Muslims, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country, evangelical pastor Rick Warren, will speak at the Islamic Society’s annual convention this weekend. Representatives from the two largest streams of American Judaism, the Reform and Conservative movements, will also be there to highlight their recently formed partnerships with the Muslim group.

(author unknown) Evangelical, Interfaith, Islamic, Judaism, Muslim, Pastor, Rick Warren

Read the Full Article at WN.com - Religion News

Comment RSS Email Print   What is a Christian? This is a question that is not easily answered. A Google query brings up some 20 million hits on the topic. They cover a wide range of anwers. Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines the term Christian as "one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ." Historically, the term "Christian" was originally a derogatory term directed at believers in Jesus Christ by Jews who regarded them as a heretical sect of Judaism. It was used in the same derogatory manner as the term "Mormon" was hurled as an epithet at Christians who believed in the Book of Mormon in the 19th century. Over time, the usage changed as…

(author unknown) Jesus, Judaism, Mormon, Web

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The pope’s visit reminds us of the folk memory of a medieval pope who was Jewish. The various versions agree that there was a Jewish boy who was abducted and raised as a Christian, he became a priest and in time a pope, he learned or knew of his Jewish origins and he finally returned to Judaism.

But his identity is a question. In the Jewish versions he could have been Elhanan, one of two sons of Rabbi Simeon ben Isaac ben Abun of Mainz, a 10th-century liturgical poet and an associate of Rabbenu Gershom Me’or Hagolah, “The Light of the Exile,” or maybe the son of Rabbi Solomon ben Adret (Rashba) of 13th-century Spain.

In Christian writings he is sometimes the 12th-century antipope Anacletus II, from a Roman family, a descendant of one Baruch, a Jewish convert who became Benedictus Christianus. Anacletus was attacked by his opponents for being of Jewish origin. Another possibility is that he was Gregory VI of the 11th century, formerly John Gratiano, who had Jewish connections. It is also possible that the various stories have been confused and conflated.

(author unknown) Family, Judaism, Pope, Priest

Read the Full Article at L.A. Times - Religious News

To promote understanding, a rabbi and a priest host a Seder to teach high schoolers the similarities and differences between Judaism and Catholic Christianity.

It wasn’t so much that about 85 high school kids were in a synagogue for a Passover Seder; it was that there was hardly a Jew in sight.

(author unknown) Catholic, Judaism, Passover, Priest, School