RJ Blog

In response to Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense this past November, a historic partnership was created between the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). The Reform Movement, the Federation system, and several other Jewish organizations joined together to have one coordinated campaign to raise relief funds for Israel. To date, the JFNA Terror Relief Fund has allocated and distributed $5 million dollars to provide relief, rescue, and resilience training to communities throughout Southern Israel that have been affected by bombings from Gaza. The Israel Movement of Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) has received [...]

By Rabbi John Rosove In my introductory remarks to the Peter Beinart-David Suissa debate at Temple Israel of Hollywood last Wednesday evening (May 16), I said the following to help give political context to what we would be hearing from each speaker: In a thoughtful piece published this past week, Professor Shaul Magid of Indiana University, wrote that the response and rancor around Peter Beinart’s book “The Crisis of Zionism” represented four broad groups in the American and Israeli communities – the ideological left and right and the pragmatic left and right. A brief word about each: Those in the [...]

by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary) Now available from URJ Books & MusicOrder Now! But the people would not listen to Samuel’s warning.  “No,” they said.  “We must have a king over us, that we may be like all the other nations: Let our king rule over us and go out at our head and fight our battles.”            -I Samuel 8:19-20 I have been asked by a few readers to write about the flotilla incident, and even though I generally refrain from commenting on “national” topics, this seems a good case study for examining [...]

by Rabbi Paul KipnesOriginally posted on Or Am I? The Baal Shem Tov (founder of Chasidism) urged his followers toward hishtavut, equanimity or levelheadedness. He recognized that powerful emotions of others will sway us in directions that lead us away from emet or truth. As we are assaulted by media messages about the Gaza Flotilla, let us strive for hishtavut (levelheadedness) in our response to the onslaught. Here’s what is known: A flotilla of 6 ships moved toward Gaza with the stated purpose either of delivering humanitarian supplies or of breaking Israel’s military blockade of Gaza. After repeatedly rejecting Israel’s request that the [...]

by Rabbi Ira Youdovin former ARZA Executive Director and current chair of ARZA’s Rabbinic Cabinet Televised images of Gaza, Israel’s security barrier and alleged mistreatment of the Palestinians have undermined the Jewish State’s standing in world opinion. CNN footage from Haiti tells a very different story, and reveals much about Israel’s soul, and the circumstances under which Israelis live. By last Thursday evening, only 48 hours after the devastating earthquake, Israel had assembled and sent airborne a flight loaded with military and civilian medical personnel, including 120 doctors and nurses, rescue teams, search dogs, and equipment and supplies for establishing  a sophisticated [...]

by Rabbi Rich Kirschen This morning was one of those mornings I dread living in Israel because I had given in to my wife’s demand that it was my turn to take the car to the garage and get it fixed. This is always the moment of truth when I know the essence of my manhood will be tested. A virtual auto motive Akedah (the binding of Isaac) if you will…. where I am forced to go up a mountain in Jerusalem (actually Talpiot where all the garages are) and hand myself over as an offering-  if not an actual [...]

by Michael L. Feshbach(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah) Dr. Adler asks, “Are unintentional lapses that serious?” Inadvertent misconduct is a category understood by our ancestors. In the course of weighing our actions and working to make the world a better place, it is a question worth considering in our lives. Most of us encounter the concept of accidental sin most clearly on Yom Kippur. In our machzor (High Holy Day prayer book) we read, Al cheit shechatanu l’fanecha, b’zadon uvishgagah , “The sin we have committed against You consciously or unconsciously” (Gates of [...]

This past Tuesday, Israelis went to the polls to elect a new prime minister, and Tzipi Livni’s moderate Kadima Party won a one-seat victory in the Israeli Parliament over Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line Likud Party. Kadima will get 28 seats in the 120-seat parliament and Likud 27, far less than the 61-seat majority needed to govern alone. The results set the stage for what could be weeks of coalition negotiations. Livni and Netanyahu are already hard at work trying to line up potential partners. Subscribers to the Union’s Ten Minutes of Torah received an editorial today written by The Editors of The [...]

By Rabbi Eric Yoffie (originally published on JTA.org and Ten Minutes of Torah) If one were intent on undermining Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, there would be no better way to accomplish this goal than to build a Jewish museum atop a historic Muslim cemetery in the heart of the city. Incredibly, the Simon Wiesenthal Center — a Los Angeles-based organization that combats anti-Semitism and advocates for Jewish rights around the world — has undertaken to do just that. It has begun construction of a Museum of Tolerance on the grounds of the Mamilla cemetery, located in the downtown area of [...]

By William BerksonOne of the fascinations of the Internet is the opportunity to talk with people having hugely different viewpoints, from all over the world. On the type design forum I frequent, I participated in a discussion of the recent Gaza battle. Included in the discussion were a Lubovicher in Brooklyn, an Israeli in Los Angeles, a Shiite in Basra, and Sunnis in New York and Japan, an Englishman and a Persian in Canada and a Christian in Australia. They design Hebrew, Arabic and latin language fonts. One thread was started by the Australian, who noted celebrities in London protesting [...]

By Paul Kipnes(First posted on Or Am I?)Israeli Avram Burg recently raised difficult questions as to whether the Holocaust has become ingrained as a dangerous lens through which Israeli leaders view the world. He suggests that the Holocaust skews their view of reality and leads to a “they are all out to get us” mentality. One may agree with or take issue with Burg’s argument, even as one praises the fact that a democratic society allows such critique from within. Sadly, the Holocaust is being used increasingly in another way, as a “weapon against Jews and the Jewish state.” This [...]

The Union has been receiving regular updates from Rabbi Edgar Nof of Or Hadash, a progressive congregation in Haifa, Israel. Here is a recent email: Dear Friends, Shalom!  I want to write tonight to all of our friends in America and around the world, to commemorate the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, and the first African American president, as a very special event. I hope that Obama’s administration will bring about positive change, embrace peace and security, and also promote economic stability to the world. Now it is our turn to be in support of you, [...]

by Rabbi Paul Kipnes (Originally published on Or Am I?)What does this all mean? Here are 5 Must-Read articles that offer perspective on what has happened and is happening: 1. Gaza and Hamas: Was it about Education or Eradication? The focus for Israel and Barack Obama’s team should be on creating a clear choice for Hamas for the world to see: Are you about destroying Israel or building Gaza? As Thomas Friedman writes: I was one of the few people who argued back in 2006 that Israel actually won the war in Lebanon started by Hezbollah. You need to study [...]

by Yigal RechtmanBrookyn Heights Synagogue, NYThis year, like many others before it, our family traveled to Israel. This time we had a double duty of being tourists (more on that later) and enjoying the simcha of my sister’s marriage to her fiancée Moshe. Like a true Israeli event, west and east were joined in this wedding: Moshe’s family’s from Tripoli, Libya and ours is of run-of-the-mill Polish and Russian descent. The wedding was lovely in every manner although it was rather small by Israeli standards (300 people). Our trip also included pre-arranged guided tours. We were joined by close friends [...]