As he prayed in a packed Northeast Philadelphia congregation, with the clear morning light filtering through the windows, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar's long white beard appeared to become one with the tallis that was enshrouding his head. At a traditional break in the service, the Moroccan-born Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel -- on a rare visit to Philadelphia -- began...

Two Jewish Democratic lawmakers who sit on the State Senate's education committee recently found themselves on opposite sides of a heated Harrisburg debate over taxpayer-funded school vouchers. State Sen. Andy Dinniman's support for the voucher bill helped pass it out of committee, but he's got serious reservations about the measure and says he may ultimately oppose it. State Sen. Daylin...