Reform Movement

Summertime And The Camping Is Jewish

Rabbi Marci N. Bellows
07/29/2011
Rabbi Marci N. Bellows
Jewish Week Online Columnist
Extra! Extra! This week’s article comes to you directly from the Union for Reform Judaism’s Crane Lake Camp (http://cranelake.urjcamps.org/), in West Stockbridge, MA!
 
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New Reform Head Walking Pro-Israel Tightrope

Rabbi Rick Jacobs with IDF soldiers at Westchester Reform Temple in March 2010.

URJ President-designate Rabbi Rick Jacobs embraces J Street goals,
not necessarily all its actions.

04/05/2011
Stewart Ain
Staff Writer

Rabbi Richard Jacobs of Scarsdale, poised to become the next leader of the Reform movement, recalled this week taking part in an anti-government protest in Jerusalem last July sponsored by the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement.

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An Apology For An Offensive Blog

Submitted by Gary Rosenblatt on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 15:02

I have great admiration and respect for my colleague, Jewish Week Associate Editor Jonathan Mark, and for his writing, as I have for the important value of journalistic freedom of expression.

But a blog Jonathan wrote Feb. 23 and posted on our site that, in part, spoke unfavorably about Reform rabbis went beyond the boundaries of spirited debate, in my opinion, and I apologize for it having appeared.

It was removed from our web site.

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In Defending Israel, Mainstream U.S. Jewish Groups Critique It

01/12/2011
Ron Kampeas
JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Enmeshed in the battle against Israel’s delegitimization, mainstream American Jewish organizations are embracing a strategy of acknowledging what’s wrong about Israel as a way of getting across what’s right about the nation.

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Jewish Youth Movements Launch Anti-Bullying Campaign

12/21/2010

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- Three international Jewish youth movements have launched a campaign to combat homophobia.

The Coalition of Jewish Teen Leaders, comprised of the presidents of B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, the Reform movement’s National Federation of Temple Youth and the Conservative movement’s United Synagogue Youth, has joined a campaign started by Keshet, a national organization working for GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) inclusion in Jewish life.

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Reassessing Reform

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, left, is leading a think tank in which “everything’s on the table.”
11/30/2010
Sue Fishkoff/JTA

How much reform can even the Reform movement withstand?

Last month, the rabbinic arm of America’s largest Jewish denomination published an essay anthology that seems to call for a return to kashrut.

Now its Reform Think Tank is taking a hard look at where the movement is and where it’s going.

“Five years from now, congregations won’t look like they do today,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the longtime president of the Union for Reform Judaism, told JTA.

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Liberal Legislative Outlook Is ‘Daunting’

11/09/2010
Mark J. Pelavin
Special To The Jewish Week

With more than 60 House seats and 650 state legislature seats changing hands and decades-long office holders of all political stripes losing their jobs, we’re still coming to grips with what happened in last week’s congressional midterm elections, let alone what it means for the future.

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More Jewish groups speaking out against Islam bashing

Submitted by James Besser on Wed, 09/08/2010 - 10:38

More Jewish groups are getting the message that the epidemic of Islam bashing isn't ...well, good for the Jews or any other religious minority.

Yesterday a broad spectrum of religious leaders gathered in Washington to discuss the rising tide of anti-Islam bigotry. Representing the Jewish community at sessions hosted by the Islamic Society of North America: Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).

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Reform movement to Justice Department: protect Muslims

Submitted by James Besser on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 10:29

As invective about the proposed Islamic center in Manhattan gets uglier, the Reform movement has joined with several other faith and advocacy groups in calling on the Obama administration to take stronger measures to “protect millions of American Muslims” and to take stronger steps to protect r

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Reform Leader Yoffie To Retire In 2012

Rabbi Eric Yoffie

Rabbi Eric Yoffie outlines ambitious program for next two years

06/10/2010
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, one of the most outspoken and often controversial leaders in American Jewry, announced Thursday that he plans to retire as president of the Union for Reform Judaism in two years, when he will be 65 — but not before he tackles some major challenges facing the nation’s largest synagogue movement.

He told a URJ board meeting Thursday afternoon that he plans to spend his remaining time in office focusing on rebuilding the Reform youth movement, which he said has declined to “dangerously low levels,” and to promote teen engagement.

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