Rabbi

On February 14, 2004 RABBI AARON JACOB ROSENBLEETH, Judaic Principal of the Hebrew Academy of San Francisco, 41, died after his battle with lung cancer. Aaron is survived by his devoted wife, Chanie and children Yossi, Dovid Uri, Alana and Rina; beloved son of Herb Rosenbleeth of Flemington, NJ and Sandy Berlack of Baltimore, MD; loving brother of Lynn Rosenbleeth and Alisa Shuman; brother-in-law of Dr. Ian Shuman. Burial was February 17 at Beth Israel Memorial Park, Woodbridge, NJ.

JERUSALEM -- With Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, expected to visit the West Bank and Gaza Strip this month, a former Israeli chief rabbi issued yesterday a religious ruling calling upon Jews to kill him.Rabbi Shlomo Goren said he had made a formal rabbinic ruling that declared, "There is no doubt that Yasser Arafat deserves death according to Israeli and international law. . . ."It is, therefore, a commandment to kill Arafat, and there is no need to wait to bring him to trial," Rabbi Goren said, in interpreting Jewish religious law. "Every [Jew]

Rabbi Seymour Essrog wants to "reawaken the Jewish soul in people away from tradition," and he hopes more Carroll County residents will embrace the opportunity."

Rabbi Herschel Leibowitz of Pikesville, rabbi emeritus of the Greenspring Valley Synagogue, died of heart failure yesterday at Sinai Hospital. He was 73.He was rabbi of the Greenspring Valley Synagogue from 1958 until his retirement in 1985."

Rabbi Jerome Yaakov Markowitz, whose career as a Hebrew school teacher spanned more than four decades, died of heart failure Feb. 28 at his Northwest Baltimore home. He was 77. Rabbi Markowitz was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and moved to Baltimore with his family in 1935. He attended City College and the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. In 1950, he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Baltimore, and was ordained as a rabbi after graduating from Ner Israel Rabbinical College.

Rabbi Meyer F. Zywica, who as a rabbinical student escaped wartime Poland, completed his studies in Shanghai, China, and subsequently was a spiritual leader in Connecticut for more than three decades, died of pneumonia March 6 at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital. The Baltimore resident was 85. Rabbi Zywica was born in 1919 in a small town near Bialystok, Poland. He began attending the noted Kletzk Yeshiva, but left the country in 1941 in the middle of his studies. After securing a visa from a Japanese diplomat, Rabbi Zywica took a train and then a boat to Japan.

Members of Beth Shalom Synagogue exchanged greetings of "Good Shabbas" as they welcomed Shabbat with candles, song and blessings Friday."May the merciful one bless all of us together with the blessing of peace," about 30 people prayed.Twice a year, the Taylorsville congregation gathers at a table laden with challah bread and bottles of sweet red wine to celebrate Shabbat with the traditional Friday evening dinner for Jewish families.After Joyce Wiener lighted the candles that signified the beginning of the Sabbath, Rabbi Seymour Essrog promised "an eating experience" and instructions that would be "everything you ever wanted to know about Shabbat."

WOODBRIDGE, Conn. -- When she was 38, Chana Timone achieved one of her career goals: She was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. Now, at 41, she has achieved another: She is becoming a soldier.In the process, she is making history.Rabbi Timoner, an officer in the Army Reserve, will be the first Jewish woman to hold a long-term assignment as a chaplain in the Army, says Lt. Col. Marilla Cushman, an Army spokeswoman. In the past, female rabbis in the Reserve, including Rabbi Timoner, have been called up for active duty, but only briefly, she says.

"In order to be a rabbi in America, you have to learn to play baseball." Rabbi Seth Gordon sits on the couch of the Annapolis home he is about to leave and quotes a Jewish proverb.Rabbi Gordon, for four years the rabbi of the largest synagogue in Annapolis, leaves Kneseth Israel this week to begin new work in Long Island, N.Y. He carries with him memories of significant accomplishment here, and also of dissension over what he calls loyalty to his convictions.Some of the difficulties could be summarized as an interpretation of the proverb.