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10 months into leadership crisis, fighting has renewed over German rabbinical schools’ future
BERLIN (JTA) — A plan to get Germany’s non-Orthodox rabbinical schools back on track after nearly a year of tumult has hit a snag: the country’s main Jewish organization says it can’t fund the group that took control of the schools in January.
The Jewish Community of Berlin had announced in a surprise move that it had paid 25,000 euros to buy out the ownership stake of the schools’ founder and rector Rabbi Walter Homolka, who stepped down from almost all positions amid investigations into whether he abused his power.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany, the country’s main Jewish group, had been working on a plan to overhaul the schools and initially expressed skepticism about the Berlin Jewish community’s purchase. But the Central Council’s president, Josef Schuster, said he had been persuaded to work with the new owners after getting assurance that Homolka would have no role at the revamped schools.
Now, the Central Council says its auditors have advised that it cannot legally pass along government funds to the Jewish Community of Berlin. The Central Council announced on Thursday that it would instead create a new foundation to support the Reform Abraham Geiger College and Conservative Zacharias Frankel College, and it could move to reopen the schools with new names. (Both schools are named for prominent 19th-century German rabbis.) The Central Council has supported both schools to the tune of about $530,000 a year.
“The takeover of the rabbinical training centers by the Jewish Community of Berlin was done with the best of intentions,” Schuster said in a statement. “However, it is not possible for the Central Council to support rabbinical training in the present support structure.”
Jewish Community of Berlin President Gideon Joffe attacked the plan as an “abuse of power,” saying that his organization would “not bow to the feudal fantasies of omnipotence harbored by old white men.” Joffe and Schuster have sparred intensely over the future of the two seminaries.
Joffe said the Central Council already had ceased transferring funds to the seminaries, “massively hindering rabbinical education in Germany, which it actually claims to protect.”
In fact, it is usually an entity’s owner — which since January has been Joffe’s group — that would be responsible for securing funding. The three major and longtime funders of the seminaries — the Central Council, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Brandenburg Ministry of Science — have all been aligned, declaring together in December their support for an independent liberal rabbinical seminary under a new structure.
The Central Council was in the midst of devising that new structure when Joffe’s group swooped in and purchased a leadership stake in the schools. The council had hired Gerhard Robbers, an expert in religion and law, to develop a new model for the schools, after an initial version of its commissioned investigation reported that Homolka had created a “culture of fear” there. A final report of the investigation by the law firm of Gercke Wollschläger is due out soon.
The council released Robbers’ “roadmap” for the schools on Thursday. He recommended that the Central Council establish a foundation under which two independent seminaries and a cantorial program would operate, under the auspices of the University of Potsdam. A board including the elected president and appointed executive director of the Central Council as well as representatives of both the Progressive and Masorti (Conservative) movements — appointed by themselves — would make fundamental decisions together. In general, the roadmap is designed to ensure stability and quality of education, and to prevent any one person or group from monopolizing the structure, Robbers wrote.
“If bringing in existing institutions is not possible or proves inopportune, institutions could be newly established,” Robbers’ recommendation says. “Through them, existing tasks, staff and students could be taken over. Appropriate names for the institutions should be found in agreement with the stakeholders.”
Schuster said the dramatic changes were warranted by the recent findings against Homolka. The former rector announced this week that he would resign from the leadership of another institution he had created: The Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Scholarship Foundation for talented Jewish students; he has also sought legal relief against the criticism against him, with some recent, albeit partial, success.
The Central Council aims to “offer students and employees a secure perspective, securing teaching in the long term and restoring lost credibility,” Schuster said. “With the present findings on the abuse of power, discrimination and the prevailing culture of fear at rabbinical training institutions, there can be no ‘business as usual.’ A new beginning is necessary.”
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The post 10 months into leadership crisis, fighting has renewed over German rabbinical schools’ future appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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How a klezmer parade became part of the annual carnival in Sao Paulo
דעם פֿאַרגאַנגענעם חודש איז אין סאַאָ־פּאָולאָ, בראַזיל פֿאָרגעקומען דער יערלעכער כּלי־זמר קאַרניוואַל און פּאַראַד — אַ טייל פֿונעם אַלגעמיינעם קאַרנאַװאַל וואָס איז די גרעסטע פֿאָלקס־שׂמחה אין לאַנד.
יעדן פֿעברואַר פֿאַרשטעלן זיך מיליאָנען מענטשן און גײען טאַנצן אױף די גאַסן פֿון טױזנטער שטעט און שטעטלעך צום טאַקט פֿון פֿרײלעכער מוזיק, דער עיקר — סאַמבאַ און אַשע מוזיק. אין באָם־רעטיראָ, אַ געגנט װאָס האָט זיך אױסגעפֿורעמט דורך כּסדרדיקע און פֿאַרשײדנאַרטיקע אימיגראַציע־כװאַליעס, איז די דאָזיקע שׂמחה געװאָרן אַ פּלאַטפֿאָרמע צו פֿײַערן אויך די ייִדישע קולטור.
אַ װידעאָ פֿונעם פּאַראַד קען מען זען דאָ.
די טעמע פֿונעם הײַיאָריקן פּאַראַד, וואָס איז פֿאָרגעקומען דעם 8טן פֿעברואַר, איז געווען „באָמרעלע“ — די הײמישע באַצײכענונג פֿון דער געגנט וווּ אימיגראַנטן האָבן געוווינט אױפֿן סאַאָ־פּאַולער ייִדיש. דער ציל איז געװען אָפּצוגעבן כּבֿוד די אומפֿאַרגעסלעכע ייִדישע פּאַרשױנען פֿונעם פֿאָלקלאָר פֿון דער אָרטיקער קהילה. אָט זענען עטלעכע פֿון זיי:
- מעכעלע דער קליענטלטשיק (פּעדלער, אױף בראַזיליאַנער ייִדיש) מיט זײַן גראָבן מאַנטל, פֿול געפּאַקט מיט סחורה
- בעני־יאַנגאַ, אַ ייִד פֿון ראַזשאַסטאַן װאָס האָט זיך אַזױ גוט אױסגעלערנט ייִדיש אַז ער איז געװאָרן אַ ייִדיש־לערער אין דער אָרטיקער שלום־עליכם שול
- דער בײגל־פֿאַרקױפֿער װאָס פֿלעג גײען איבער די גאַסן פֿון באָם־רעטיראָ שרײַענדיק „דער בײגלמאַן גײט שױן אַװעק!“
צװישן אַנדערע פֿיגורן האָט מען אויך אָפּגעגעבן כּבֿוד די אַזױ גערופֿענע „פּאָלאַקאַס“ — די ייִדישקעס, דער עיקר פֿון פּױלן, װאָס זײַנען געװאָרן קרבנות פֿון פֿרױען־האַנדל דורך דער „צבֿי־מגדל מאַפֿיע“ און אַנדערע קרימינעלע באַנדעס. דערבײַ האָט דאָס דערמאָנט אַלטע מחלוקתן און װײטיקדיקע קאַפּיטלען פֿון דער בראַזיליאַנער ייִדישער געשיכטע.
די מערהײט פֿון די דאָזיקע פֿרױען האָט מען אָפּגענאַרט נאָך איידער זיי זענען אַוועק פֿון פּוילן, צוזאָגנדיק זיי חתנים און פֿעסטע אַרבעט־שטעלעס. אָנקומענדיק קײן בראַזיל, האָט מען זײ אָבער געצװוּנגען צו אַרבעטן ווי פּראָסטיטוטקעס. די ייִדישע קהילה, אַנשטאָט זײ אױפֿצונעמען און העלפֿן פֿאַרבעסערן זײער לאַגע, האָט זײ באַרעדט און זיי אויסגעשלאָסן פֿון דער געזעלשאַפֿט. האָבן די דאָזיקע מוטיקע פֿרױען געמוזט גרינדן זײערע אײגענע ייִדישע אינסטיטוציעס, שולן און בית־עולמס.
די געגנט באָם־רעטיראָ איז דער טראַדיציאָנעלער ייִדישער קוואַרטאַל פֿון סאַאָ פּאַולאָ, װוּ טױזנטער ייִדישע אימיגראַנטן, דער עיקר פֿון מזרח־אײראָפּע, האָבן זיך באַזעצט במשך דעם 19טן און 20סטן יאָרהונדערט. אַחוץ ייִדן, האָט די געגנט מקבל־פּנים געװען איטאַליענישע, גריכישע און אַרמענישע אימיגראַנטן, װי אױך בראַזיליאַנער פֿון צפֿון־מזרח לאַנד. הײַנט װערט די געגנט איבערהױפּט באַצײכנט דורך די קאָרעאַנישע און לאַטײַן־אַמעריקאַנער באַפֿעלקערונגען. לעצטנס האַלטן די באָליװיאַנער אײַנוווינער אָפּ זייער אײגענעם קאַרנאַװאַל־פּאַראַד אין דעם קװאַרטאַל.
פּונקט אין דער דאָזיקער פֿאַרשײדנאַרטיקער טעריטאָריע דעפֿילירט די קאַפּעליע, „בלאָקאָ כּלי־זמר“. יעדעס יאָר קלײַבט זי צונױף איבער 30 כּלי־זמרים און ברענגט דערמיט די ייִדישע מוזיק צו די גאַסן לױטן בראַזיליאַנער סטיל׃ מיט שװוּנג און פֿרײד פֿון טאַנצנדיקע מאַסן.
דער בלאָקאָ באַגרענעצט זיך ניט נאָר מיט מוזיק, װאָרן עס באַטײליקן זיך אין פּאַראַד אױך אַקטיאָרן, פֿאָרשערס, פּאָעטן, פּראָדוצענטן, דעזײַנערס און אײַנװױנערס פֿון דער געגנט, װאָס גרײטן זיך צו במשך די פֿילצאָליקע רעפּעטיציעס ממש אַ יאָר לאַנג. דורך פֿילפֿאַרביקע קאָסטיומען און גרויסע טאַנצנדיקע ליאַלקעס ווערט די גאַס פֿאַרװאַנדלט אין אַ לעבעדיקן אַרכיװ פֿון ייִדישן געדעכעניש פֿון שטאָט.
דער „בלאָקאָ“ האָט דעפֿילירט צום ערשטן מאָל מיט צװײ יאָר צוריק און איז זינט דעמאָלט ממשותדיק געװאַקסן. אין 2025 איז דער לאָזונג פֿון פּאַראַד געװען „ס’איז פֿרײלעך אין שטעטל“ און מע האָט געפֿײַערט די „חתונה“ צװישן דער כּלי־זמר־מוזיק און דעם בראַזיליאַנער קאַרנאַװאַל, מיט אַ קאָלעקטיװן טאַנץ אונטער אַ גיגאַנטישער חופּה, װאָס איז געשטעלט געװאָרן אין מיטן גאַס.
אינספּירירט דורכן קאָנצעפּט פֿון דאָיִקײט, האָט דער בלאָקאָ װידער אױפֿגעלעבט די זכרונות פֿון אַ מאָל און באַװיזן אַז ייִדן געהערן אױך צו דער פֿילמיניקער קולטורעלער לאַנדשאַפֿט פֿון בראַזיל. דער בלאָקאָ כּלי־זמר האָט אױך דערװיזן אַז די רײַכע קולטור־ירושה פֿון מזרח־אײראָפּעיִשן ייִדנטום לעבט דאָ װײַטער, מחוץ אַרכיװן און אַקאַדעמישע אַנשטאַלטן. זי לעבט אױך אין דער היץ פֿונעם טראָפּישן זומער, צװישן קאָנפֿעטי, שװייס און די קלאַנגען פֿונעם קלאַרנעט.
[דער אַרטיקל איז רעדאַקטירט געוואָרן מיט דער הילף פֿון גוסטאַװאָ־גרשום עמאָס]
The post How a klezmer parade became part of the annual carnival in Sao Paulo appeared first on The Forward.
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Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims
Jewish institutions are on high alert after Tucker Carlson falsely claimed on his podcast Wednesday that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement is behind the war in Iran.
Carlson claimed that Chabad is orchestrating a religious war aimed at destroying the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’s Old City so that the Third Temple could be rebuilt in its place.
“This has been going on a long time in public through, in part, the efforts of a group called Chabad. C-H-A-B-A-D,” Carlson said.
Chabad, a sect of Hasidic Judaism known for its global religious outreach and houses on hundreds of college campuses, does not function as a political advocacy organization. Its teachings describe the rebuilding of the Third Temple as part of a future messianic redemption achieved through acts of mitzvot — not a project to be advanced through modern warfare or the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“To blame it on a Hasidic movement based in Brooklyn that just goes around the world, spreading Judaism, spreading love, spreading kindness, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Yossi Farro, a member of the Chabad movement known for wrapping tefillin with celebrities, told the Forward in a phone interview. “He’s appealing to people that have never heard of Chabad and now, their first opinion is, this is horrible, these people are warmongers — which is the exact opposite of what we represent.”
The right-wing podcaster Candace Owens amplified the claim, posting to X, “Tucker is telling the truth about the Chabad Lubavitch.”
The comments come as Congress is set to vote today on a war powers resolution that would halt President Donald Trump’s military action in Iran. Several polls show that Republicans overwhelmingly support the decision to attack Iran, while a majority of Democrats oppose the military action.
The rhetoric also follows a series of attacks targeting Chabad celebrations. In December, a gunman opened fire at a Chabad Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. The incident left 15 people dead, including a Chabad rabbi, a Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl.
In January, a driver repeatedly rammed his car into an entrance to the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, damaging the building on a night thousands had gathered there to celebrate.
Both Owens and Carlson have ramped up their use of conspiratorial anti-Israel rhetoric over the past year. In October 2025, Carlson drew widespread condemnation after hosting avowed antisemite and white nationalist Nick Fuentes for a friendly conversation.
During yesterday’s podcast, Carlson showed photos of IDF soldiers wearing patches embroidered with an outline of the Temple Mount as evidence of his claim that Chabad was behind the war in Iran, saying that “it seems like, from the reading we did recently, that those patches actually came from Chabad.”
The photos Carlson shared match those posted by the Temple Institute in January 2024 — long before the U.S. military campaign in Iran. The Temple Institute is a Jerusalem-based nonprofit that aims to “bring about the building of the Holy Temple in our time” and is unaffiliated with Chabad.
“He is also wrong about the Temple patches. They did not come from Chabad. Had he done even basic research, that would be clear,” Rabbi Yaacov Berman, a Chabad spokesperson, posted to X. “It would also show that many who wear the Temple patches see them as symbols of faith and hope for peace, and a yearning for the day when there will be no more war.”
The post Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims appeared first on The Forward.
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Top PLO, Fatah Officials: Hamas Should Join Us, No Need to Disarm
Hamas police officers stand guard, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Oct. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The Palestinian Authority (PA) appears eager to hijack the Board of Peace’s UN Security Council-approved administration of Gaza and unite with Hamas to control the Strip themselves, according to comments made by a top PLO official in a new interview documented by Palestinian Media Watch.
According to Egyptian reports, PLO Executive Committee Secretary Azzam Al-Ahmad has been in Cairo meeting with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad:
Two informed Palestinian sources said Azzam Al-Ahmad, the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, held talks in Cairo with faction leaders including Hamas and Islamic Jihad about the two movements joining the PLO.
[Manassa.news (Egypt), Feb. 22, 2026]
Officials from the governing PA and its parent political body the Palestine Liberation Organization have been making repeated overtures to Hamas to join the PLO.
In November 2025, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub called on Egyptian help to “bridge the gaps” between Fatah and Hamas so they can unite against Israel.
The previous month, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash declared “our hands are extended, and our hearts are open to rapprochement with Hamas.”
The implicit hope behind the unity push is that move might satisfy international demands for Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza. Back in October, Al-Habbash said that Hamas needed to disarm, but clearly the PA position has since softened. As a sweetener for Hamas to agree to join the PLO, the PLO says it is now ready to appease the terror group by allowing it to keep its weapons and remain an armed force on the ground.
The PA and PLO are aware that to legitimize absorbing Hamas into the PLO, Hamas – the perpetrators of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust – must also be laundered of the stigma of being defined as a terror organization.
During al-Ahmad’s visit, he was interviewed by an Egyptian newspaper, tacitly confirming his mission:
They [US President Donald Trump and the Board of Peace] do not want Hamas to play any role in the Gaza Strip, and we reject this completely, because Hamas is part of the Palestinian national activity. It is true that it has not yet joined the PLO, but we are in a constant national dialogue with them to complete what is required for their entry into the PLO. Therefore, all talk about disarming Hamas and it being a terror organization is unacceptable to us, because Hamas is not a terror organization. [emphasis added]
[Shorouk News (Egyptian paper), Feb. 23, 2026]
The immediate follow-up question in the interview was seen as so important by Al-Ahmad that he made it into a post for his Facebook page:
Shorouk News’ Mohammed Khayal: “You mean clearly that you in the PLO do not view Hamas as a terror organization?”
Azzam Al-Ahmad: “We have never viewed it as a terror organization, and we always oppose when a decision is made by any international institution or any government classifying them as a terror organization, because they are part of the Palestinian national fabric.”
[Azzam Al-Ahmed’s Facebook page, Feb. 23, 2026]
Lest anyone thought that Al-Ahmad had misspoken, his strong statement was soon backed by Rajoub:
“Fatah Central Committee [Secretary and] member Jibril Rajoub emphasized that [PLO Executive Committee member] Azzam Al-Ahmad did not err in defending the weapons of the Hamas Movement and stating that it is part of the Palestinian national fabric.”
[Shahed, independent Palestinian news website, Feb. 24, 2026]
Meanwhile, without referencing Al-Ahmad directly, Fatah Movement Central Committee member Abbas Zaki doubled down on the renewed push for unity with the Islamist terror groups.
“Fatah Movement Central Committee member Abbas Zaki emphasized that national dialogue among Palestinian factions, foremost among them Hamas and Islamic Jihad, constitutes a ‘necessary path and an urgent national need… The real enemy of this unity is the Israeli occupation, and those who stand behind it politically and militarily, foremost among them the US, which is working to rearrange the region in a way that will serve Israel’s sovereignty at the expense of the Arab and Islamic rights.’”
[Sanad News, independent Palestinian news agency, Feb. 26, 2026]
Statements like these are nothing new for PA or PLO officials, who have been making overtures to Hamas for years. Yet the timing and stridency of this particular effort is everything, as it seeks to directly undermine the Trump-brokered ceasefire agreement and Gaza reconstruction plan based on the establishment of a technocratic government.
A technocratic government, to be known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), was chosen as the most effective way to begin to restore services to Gazans, and that makes sense. It provides the administrative structure to deliver essential services while at the same time depriving oxygen to any resumption of warfare against Israel from the territory – at least the parts of Gaza that Hamas no longer controls.
While the PA has decided to go along with the plan, a recent letter from PA Vice Chairman Hussein Al-Sheikh welcoming a PA liaison office with the NCAG stressed the PA’s expectation that this was all just a “transitional” prelude to PA control.
“These constitute practical transitional steps that contribute to alleviating the suffering of our people and providing administrative and security services, without creating administrative, legal, or security duality among our people in Gaza and the West Bank, and while reinforcing the principle of one system, one law, and one legitimate authority over arms.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, English edition, Feb. 21, 2026]
In the PA’s mindset, whatever moves can hasten the end of this transition, the better, as the notion of suspending conflict with Israel in any Palestinian-populated area even temporarily is anathema to the PLO and Hamas alike.
As evidenced by Al-Ahmad’s latest remarks and others, the PA and PLO have no problem whatsoever with Hamas’ zeal for terrorism – but only appear to differ with the Islamist terror group on who gets to decide when and how it is used.
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.