Free Republic

The leading liberal Orthodox rabbinical school quietly ordained an out gay rabbi this summer, marking a first for an Orthodox Jewish institution in the U.S. Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, an all-male seminary in Riverdale, New York, ordained Rabbi Tadhg Cleary in a June 12 ceremony alongside three other graduates. Cleary’s ordination, or semicha, came six years after YCT’s controversial refusal to ordain a different gay student whose public wedding engagement went viral. The same rosh yeshiva (head of school) who made that decision, Rabbi Dov Linzer, gave final approval to Cleary’s admission into the program and conferred his ordination, the significance...

Moscow, January 26, Interfax - The passage of a resolution condemning totalitarian communist regimes by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) might led to armed actions against countries that are still guided by the communist ideology, said Professor Andrei Kurayev of the Moscow Religious Academy. "The PACE rapporteurs' attempt to equalize communism and Nazism implies the justification of any forms of counterpropaganda, the justification of confrontation and violence against communist regimes in general," Father Andrei told Interfax. If communist China, North Korea, or Cuba is put on the same level with Nazi Germany, this implies "a carte blanche for...