Free Republic

Two complaints of incitement have been filed to the police against Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar for comments he has made calling men and women from the LGBT community “a cult of abomination,” and stating that they are liable to the death penalty according to Jewish law. Several more complaints are expected to be filed on Friday. Amar’s comments created a fierce political backlash from members of Knesset and the Jerusalem City Council who helped get the rabbi, who was Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel from 2003 to 2013, elected to his current post. Amar made his comments in...

When Yuval and Lin Djamchid decided to open a café in Eden Hotel, their intimate, 24-room hotel in Jerusalem, they knew they wanted it to be kosher, but not to have the traditional supervision from the Jerusalem rabbinate. So they chose Private Supervision, a new movement led by Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz, an Orthodox rabbi who is also a city councilor from the Yerushalmim movement, which is trying to revitalize Jerusalem. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter “It was a matter of principle,” Yuval Djamchid told The Media Line. “We don’t like the Rabbinate and what it represents. We have enough...

(IsraelNN.com) The Rabbi of Ber Sheva, Rabbi Yehuda Deri has slammed abortions in Israel. “The Torah clearly says that abortion is murder,” he said. Deri is Head of the Chief Rabbinate's Committee to Prevent Abortions.

Pope Benedict XVI insisted on Wednesday that he felt "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews. Benedict spoke days after his decision to revoke the excommunication of a bishop who says no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust provoked an outcry among Jews. Benedict said Wednesday that he hoped the memory of the Holocaust would also serve as a warning against the "unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the hearts of men." He spoke during a public audience at the Vatican. The Vatican had already distanced itself from comments by bishop Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews...