Word: jewish
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...have a great deal of freedom. They are free to destroy Buddhist shrines in Afghanistan without a word of protest from Muslim nations. They are free to deny non-Muslims the opportunity to worship freely, as in Saudi Arabia. They are free to deny the Holocaust and vilify the Jewish religion. Yet publish a few cartoons, and the Muslim world is aflame. Perhaps Islamic leaders will now acknowledge that their actions over many years have been deeply offensive to other religions and take steps toward a more balanced and sensitive approach. Michael Renan Cape Town...
Zachary Thacher often spends Friday nights at home in his New York City apartment, but not because he's skipping out on Sabbath-eve prayer services. Thacher, 32, is the founder of Kol haKfar, an independent Jewish community that, like a growing number of similar groups around the country, meets in the homes of community participants. Thacher says he started his group--which now has a Friday-eve attendance of about 25--because "having a meaningful, personal service just didn't seem possible in the harsh lighting and monotonous, institutional vibe of a synagogue...
...Throughout our history, Jewish communities were transient, so the tradition evolved to be portable and easy to take on the road," says Joelle Novey, 26, who founded Tikkun Leil Shabbat, which started meeting every other week in Washington apartments this past summer. "It's the people who gather for a holy purpose who create the sanctuary, not the building," she says. Just as the new minyanim--prayer communities--don't require a specific type of physical structure, they are also open to holding services without rabbis. "Laypeople can lead the service, read from the Torah, give a sermon and take...
Some veteran Jewish leaders draw inspiration from the new groups. "They're a reminder that we need to welcome unconventional approaches to Jewish life," says Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Niles Goldstein, a co-founder of the New Shul, a progressive Manhattan congregation, occasionally leads outdoor prayer sessions. "Who wants to sit against hard-backed pews?" says Goldstein. "I'd much rather sit up against a tree...
...Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law." KEN LIVINGSTONE, mayor of London, who was suspended for four weeks, beginning March 1, for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi war criminal and then refusing to apologize...