RJ Blog

Celebrate Israel’s birthday with the Reform Movement! You’re invited to join friends from across the world for a special celebration of Israel’s 65th Birthday, broadcast live from Kehillat Yozma in Modi’in, Israel. On Monday, April 15th, ARZA and the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism will host a special online “Havdalah” ceremony to mark the conclusion of Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror and begin Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) celebrations. The program, led by Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon and Rabbi Nir Barkin of Kehillat Yozma, will be done in both Hebrew and English. It will include prayers and [...]

Awesome news! Last week, the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) and ARZA, the Association for Reform Zionists of America, announced that there are now 40 Reform Jewish congregations in Israel. New Reform communities in Megiddo, Gilboa, Shoham, Kibbutz Beit HaShitta, the Arava and Caesaria have begun meeting for prayer, study and activities, as well as have chavurot in Be’er Sheva, Haifa, and the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat HaYovel. Rabbi Bennett F. Miller, National Chair of ARZA, said of this development, “The fact that there are now some 40 Reform congregations in Israel represents a powerful shift in [...]

Va-Yetzeh Ya’akov m’Beersheva – And Jacob left Beersheva. These were, eerily, the first words of the parashah for last Shabbat, which I spent in Israel as part of a mission with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the central coordinating body for 52 North American Jewish agencies. While in Israel, I met with top military and political leaders to learn firsthand about the situation on the ground. But my schedule also included visits with young Reform Jews. I wanted to be with them, both personally and on behalf of our Movement, and to see how they were [...]

by Leslie Niren I was surrounded by lush green rolling hills, covered with tall magnificent trees.  My bike blazed along a dirt path lined by an array of colorful flowers, scattered among the greenery. Cows grazed peacefully to my left, and to my right a bold patch of red and orange birds-of-paradise glistened in the sunlight. I drank in the bold fragrance of springtime, and the fresh mountain air filled my soul. With each pedal stoke, I became more intoxicated with the sounds and sights of nature all around me. If I close my eyes for a moment now, I [...]

Long before Israel gained independence, the city of Jaffa was a bustling port. Today, it swarms with multi-national populations, whose tenuous coexistence is constantly on the brink of conflict. The ones who suffer most from this situation are the weaker populations – the children, the youth and the elderly. The participants in the IMPJ pre-army Mechina program in Jaffa volunteer in this unique mosaic in an attempt to assist its weaker populations.

This is an excerpt from a recent op-ed by Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, published in Yedioth Ahronot on August 2nd. I recently received an explanation from the service manager of an El-Al flight regarding the PR system on the airplane. A list alongside the control box detailed numerous languages used for the announcements on the flight. Only one language was missing from the list: Israel’s second official language, Arabic. Neither was Arabic to be found on the safety cards placed in the pockets of the seats, or in the airline’s [...]

by Rabbi Gilad Kariv Earlier this month, over a million Israeli Muslim citizens celebrated Eid el-Fitr – the holiday that ends the month-long Fast of Ramadan. At the same time, we began our month of mercy and forgiveness, and with it, the many preparations prior to the New Year. In less than one month’s time, on the first days of the New Year, we will read the story of the birth of Isaac and his complicated relationship with his brother Ishmael. Scholars who have dealt with the inherent difficulties of this story, have posited that after the death of Sarah, [...]

The last two weeks of June were sort of a blur of meetings and conferences in Israel. Many of our ARZA leaders participated in several of these meetings including Rabbi Bob Orkand, Didi Gilbert, Sue Fratkin, Ellie Danker, Phil Meltzer, Rabbi Stan Davids, and Bill Hess. The various meetings also included the leadership of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, including Yaron Shavit, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Gusti Braverman, Menachem Leibovich and others. ARZA was pleased to attend with Rabbi Rick Jacobs in several of these gatherings in his first Israel visit as President of the URJ.

by Sharon Mann I am Israeli, a Reform Jew, and still a little American after 20 years of living in Israel. I feel that I can be me as a member of Emet VeShalom, a progressive, multi-cultural, warm and welcoming congregation in Nahariya. I joined Emet VeShalom when my son, now 18, received his Torah during a special celebration in one of the many Orthodox neighborhood synagogues – he was to begin studying Bible in the local public elementary school in second grade. At that moment, I realized that it would be important to me to raise my children as [...]

By Rabbi Stacey Blank In the midst of the modern State of Israel’s “High Holidays” – last week being Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and this Wednesday being Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) which leads right into Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day), I am considering what it means to be a Zionist or a lover of Israel, what it means to be a citizen of the State of Israel, and what it means to live outside of Israel and feel a connection with this entity. I have been thinking about it in the context of my parents’ (who live in the US) [...]

With Yom Ha Atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) on April 26th, and the first Reform Israel Shabbat immediately following, we know that Israel is on a lot of people’s minds right now. The easiest, most basic way for a Reform Jew to support Israel and its democratic, inclusive nature is to join ARZA! By belonging to ARZA with your $36 yearly dues, you help grow the Reform Zionist movement in the United States and the Reform Movement in Israel.  Our members and their dues, collectively, make ARZA the single largest funder of the Reform Movement in Israel and its Israel Religious [...]

On behalf of the North American Reform Jewish Movement and all people who appreciate equality in Israel, we offer our sincere and hearty congratulations to Anat Hoffman on her 10th anniversary with the Israel Religious Action Center. It is a true milestone for this committed Israeli activist. Anat has long been a partner of the Reform Movement in North America, and it has been our unique pleasure to work closely with her on matters affecting progressive Jews in Israel and beyond. A fierce and inspiring Jewish leader, Anat has touched the lives of so many people in Israel and around [...]

by Rabbi Daniel AllenExecutive Director, ARZAAlso posted in Ten Minutes of Torah Moses concludes his recitation of blessing and curses when instructing what it means to come into the land by telling the people that only today, forty years after their birth as a people, forty years after the wandering in the desert, have they attained a “heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear”. “The people demand social justice” has been the slogan of the “Israeli summer”.  In many ways the 460,000 people in the streets on Saturday night September 3rd are the new generation coming into [...]

Shortly after arriving in Israel a few weeks back, I had the privilege of welcoming a few busloads of our teens to Jerusalem. Blindfolded, they stepped off their buses holding hands, moving slowly towards the edge of the Haas Promenade that overlooks the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem, a spot some have called the axis mundi, the place where heaven and earth touch.  Just days before, these Reform Jewish teens had left their homes in North America and traveled to Eastern Europe where they stood together at Auschwitz and Birkenau contemplating the darkest moment in all of human [...]