RJ Blog

To celebrate Shavuot last week I joined with friends at a nearby community-wide tikkun leil Shavuot (an all night Torah study) hosted by our congregation, Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. As in so many communities, it was a lively scene as people gathered together, listened, learned, questioned and challenged each other. This inclusive form of community gathering is a foundation of Reform Judaism and has served as a core element for the Campaign for Youth Engagement.

Following the launch of the campaign at the Biennial in 2011, the URJ began reflecting on NFTY, URJ camps, Mitzvah Corps, Israel programs, and all other aspects of our youth engagement work. At the same time, many congregations and communities across North America began their own process of gathering, listening, learning, questioning and challenging their own work of youth engagement. In just over a year, the Campaign for Youth Engagement has supported more than 150 congregations and institutions, and over 300 clergy, professionals, and community leaders as they invest in the process of change around youth engagement. Read more…

All eyes are on Grapevine, Texas today as the Boy Scouts of America begins the annual meeting of its National Council. Earlier this year the Boy Scouts of America announced that it would postpone a reconsideration of its policy prohibiting gay scouts and scout leaders until the meeting this week (see the letter that Rabbi Saperstein sent to the BSA in response to that decision). Today the 1,400 person National Council, including representatives from across the country, will vote on whether or not to lift this ban and make the organization a more inclusive one.

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By Rabbi Leon A. Morris

There was a time, more than century and a half ago, when piyutim were seen largely as a kind of cultural burden to be cast aside in order to make the service shorter and more meaningful. Early liturgical reformers argued that the siddur and machzor had grown too lengthy and no longer inspired modern Jews. Piyutim – medieval poetic extensions of the traditional prayers, with allusions incomprehensible to the average congregant – were first on the chopping block. The irony, however, lies in the fact that the piyut was itself a sort of liturgical reform. While earlier generations of Jews were unable to change the statutory service itself, piuyutim allowed for an imaginative embellishment of that same service. It highlighted and expanded particular parts of the liturgy. It added additional opportunities for congregational singing. It was, in short, an early version of the “creative service.”  Read more…

On May 2, Rhode Island’s governor signed a marriage equality bill, making it the tenth state to take this important step.   Shortly afterwards, Delaware and Minnesota also passed marriage bills, making this a remarkable spring of advancement towards equality. I composed the following reflection after the last critical step in the long process of advocacy and legislative debate, the hearing held by the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee in March.

The prescribed biblical reading for the beginning of Passover includes Exodus 12:42…in describing the end of the 430 years of oppression, the text describes that final night as a “leil shimurim,” a night of watching for God, a night of vigil.  The commentaries put forth the perspective that there were two vigils going on that awesome night: the people were watching for God and God watched vigilantly to uphold His promise to bring the people out of the land of Egypt.

I have been reflecting on this biblical image ever since I joined together with hundreds of my fellow Rhode Islanders in an all night vigil before the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee.  On that night at the State House, there were many moments of admirable passion and eloquence.  Sadly, there were also many moments where hateful and harmful things were said…many who argued against equality and opportunity, who couldn’t accept that their personal beliefs should not be imposed on all in our state and country.  It was a night of anxious watching and waiting, wondering whether this was a step towards equality or whether this was a night when hatred and ignorance would rule the day.

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Despite the fact that summer, with its hopefully slower pace, is just around the corner, the last few weeks have been packed!

At the end of April, I joined 117 congregational presidents who had gathered in Atlanta for the annual Scheidt Seminar, the URJ’s unique leadership training initiative specifically designed for current and incoming presidents. During the gathering, we honored with an aliyah those participants whose parents or grandparents also had served as presidents. In a moving tribute to these former leaders, 25% of the participants stepped forward, not only to recite the Torah blessings, but also to carry on their families’ tradition of leadership l’dor v’dor.

From Atlanta, I headed to Jerusalem together with 33 other North American delegates to attend the World Union for Progressive Judaism’s Connections conference. During the five-day gathering, 200 leaders from around the world participated in workshops, worship and discussions, all of which focused on our commitment to building and sustaining vibrant, Progressive Jewish communities throughout the world. Read more…

by Sharon Mann

Editor’s Note:  This post is the first of two about Congregation Emet VeShalom.  Read the complementary post.

Reform Judaism and religious pluralism, which are taken for granted in the United States, are not axiomatic in Israel. As a member of Emet VeShalom—a Reform congregation in Nahariya, a peripheral area of Israel eight miles from Lebanon’s border—I know maintaining a non-Orthodox congregation is fraught with challenges. At present, one major challenge facing ours is that we do not have a rabbi serving as spiritual leader of our community. Our members are facing this challenge by stepping up and taking on the different roles of leading our Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday evening) services on a weekly basis, in addition to many of their other voluntary activities for our congregation.

Our Ritual Committee Chairperson and President work tirelessly to keep our congregation going and flowing from week to week by arranging a monthly schedule of participants. Each week, one person acts as leader of the services (or “coordinator,” as we refer to the position); one or more act as chazan (cantor), and a third member gives the drasha (discussion of the weekly Torah portion). Still, as Emet VeShalom is a relatively small congregation, it is not easy to fill all these roles and provide the spiritual nourishment that all seek at services. Read more…

by Ruben Arquilevich

“Camp Newman helps us feel closer to God”.    This is how I opened my dialogue with our 2013 leadership staff at our annual Spring retreat. You could have imagined the response. Even some of our Rabbinic students felt uneasy about this language and its timing (opening conversation). “God” talk is scary for many of us. It is not common language and many of us are just not comfortable with the term “God”. We are not alone and have a long history of struggling with this concept – after all, the term “Israel” means to “wrestle with God”. As Reform, progressive Jews, we do not strictly define God, so the sentiment of “closer to God” might feel foreign. Yet, the belief in God is a central pillar of Reform Judaism and of Camp Newman. Read more…

Here are just a few of the recent stories from across the webosphere that speak directly to (and about) Reform Jews. What Jewish stories have you been reading recently? Leave a comment and let us know!

• “Modern-Day Rabbi Must Be CEO, Teacher, and Spiritual Leader at Once,” Forward
  Are rabbis the new CEOs? Anne Cohen reports that “expectations have changed.” Rabbis are now required to read a spreadsheet as well as the Gemara. They need to be accessible, media-savvy public speakers; business-oriented entrepreneurs; fundraisers; program generators, and in touch with popular trends. To prepare rabbinical students for the challenges ahead, seminaries are reassessing their curriculum to focus more on professional development and pastoral skills than ever before. Read more…

By Rabbi Richard Sarason

In the traditional liturgy, the special character of each holiday is particularly conveyed by the piyyutim (hymns, liturgical poems) that are recited or chanted on that day. Most of these piyyutim have been omitted in Reform liturgies since the nineteenth century, out of a sense that their Hebrew diction is too arcane and their theology too medieval. Yet, some of these poems have routinely been retained in Reform High Holy Day prayer books, particularly for Yom Kippur.^{1 Read more…}

Here are just a few of the recent stories from across the webosphere that speak directly to (and about) Reform Jews. What Jewish stories have you been reading recently? Leave a comment and let us know!

• “His Father’s Murder Drives a Rabbi’s Pursuit of Gun Control,” New York Times
  This piece is actually a couple of weeks old, but it deserves ongoing attention. Rabbi Joel Mosbacher’s father was shot to death in a petty robbery in 1999. “I’ve carried this story with me, this anger, every day for the last 14 years,” says the rabbi, who serves Beth Haverim Shir Shalom in Mahwah, N.J., and now advocates for stricter gun laws. Read more…

For a long time the common refrain has been that “religious values” meant “conservative or traditional.” With the decline of the so-called Religious Right the monopoly on terms like “Values Voters” or descriptions that equate religion with only one set of beliefs and values about some contentious issues in civil society. So, when I saw this video from the Center for American Progress, I wondered if there’s a rising set of religious leaders who are asserting their values in the public sphere. Take a look after the jump.

By Cantor Hayley Kobilinsky

Tekiah! Teruah! Shevarim! Tekiah Gedolah!

If these words do not evoke within you a sense of excitement that is at the core of the High Holy Days, then surely the unmistakable blast of the shofar, the ram’s horn, will.  I can still remember the anticipation of hearing the shofar blown at services as a child.  I would count the pages remaining until that moment.  I would close my eyes as though doing so would let the sound absorb more deeply into my heart.  If my family was running late that morning, I dreaded the thought of missing it.  No blast was more exciting than Tekiah Gedolah – the longest blast, preceded by the biggest breath, and followed by a collective sigh or nervous giggle by the “Jews in the pews.”  Hearing the shofar blown, be it a clear, strong tone, or one which sputtered and wavered, was a visceral sensory experience that has never left me, along with the sight of the Torah scrolls dressed in white, the scent of the ushers’ white carnation boutonnieres, and the taste of apples dipped in sweet honey.  Read more…

By Allison K.

Allison recently wrote this letter to her daughter, Logan. Allison’s daughter is a freshman in NFTY-TOR, the same region she grew up in over 25 years ago. 

Dear Logan,

After dropping you off for your Freshman Spring Kallah, I was overcome with emotions. I was trying to sort through them and knew I needed to write them down to share with you.

• Joy – For your enthusiastic energy towards getting to go to this place of utter comfort.
• Excitement – You can hangout with incredible teens that truly know you.
• Pride – Watching you grow as a leader.
• Love – For your shining spirit.
• Happiness – Knowing these events, these people will help you define what Judiasm means to you. Read more…

I do not know of any colleague who has not, at one time or another, sat with a family as a loved one neared the end of life. It can be a heart-wrenching, spiritual, troublesome, anxious and fulfilling encounter — all at the same time. Sadly, too many families find themselves alone and adrift in a sea of medical terminology and health care controls. The physician, having tried “the arsenal of medical technology,” may ask what the family wishes to do next.

This month’s edition of Atlantic Monthly includes a thought-provoking piece on the need for “The Conversation.” Author Jonathan Rauch examines a situation where we see the division between what he calls “futile care” and “unwanted care.” Rauch suggests that “people getting medical interventions, that if they were more informed, they would not want,” is “the most urgent issue facing America today.” Rauch continues: “It happens all the time….Unwanted treatment is a particularly confounding problem because it is not a product of malevolence but a by-product of two strengths of American medical culture: the systems determination to save lives, and its technological virtuosity.” Read more…