RJ Blog

Leaders of the Reform Movement issued a statement today about a recent ruling from the Jerusalem District Court that determined that recent detention of Women of the Wall members for their activities at the Western Wall was unjustified and for denying local police requests for restraining orders against the group. Haaretz has more on the ruling and its implications. URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs said of the ruling, We were especially pleased to hear the judge state that the Law of Holy Places, which gives visitors to the Kotel the opportunity to pray according to ‘local custom,’ does not mandate [...]

Today I am ending a three-week trip to the United States, and tomorrow I will return home to Israel (assuming the El Al strike is over). This has been a particularly emotional trip as I was in Boston the day of Marathon. I saw firsthand how resilient the people of Boston are in a crisis. We all send our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families. I spoke at nearly a dozen synagogues and universities during my three weeks in the United States. This trip was an opportunity for me to start explaining in person to our supporters [...]

Imagine making aliyah – leaving your work, family and friends behind. Making a bold journey – only to be rejected by the Israeli authorities. In the past couple of weeks we lived an intense drama with one of our brave olim (new immigrants), who was arrested and almost deported. We managed to stop the deportation just as he was boarding the plane. Kirk Maxfield, who had a Reform conversion in 1993, was arrested at his home in Haifa for overstaying his tourist visa. Mr. Maxfield had applied for citizenship, but was not permitted to stay in the country while his [...]

Policeman: Open your coat. Is this a shawl you are wearing? Woman: Are shawls a problem? Policeman: Shawls are allowed. I am looking for a tallit. Woman: Why? Policeman: As of this morning the Rabbi of the Wall is forbidding tallitot at the Kotel. Woman: But wait, over there is a man carrying a tallit? Policeman: The decree applies only to women. Open your bag please. I need to search for a tallit. 

This week we want to shed light on one of the most vulnerable populations in Israel. During the last five to 10 years, thousands of asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa have crossed the Sinai Desert to reach Israel, on a perilous and heroic journey, like our own Exodus from Egypt. Scores of African refugees, trying to escape civil war, forced conscription, and other forms of political oppression in their home countries have fled to Egypt. As life for Africans in Egypt became increasingly dangerous, some of them chose to go north towards Israel; a country they felt would be a [...]

by Menachem Z. Rosensaft Israel’s Declaration of Independence provides that “The State of Israel…will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex” and “will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture.” Last week, officials of the Jerusalem police violated Anat Hoffman’s most basic civil and human rights by subjecting her to crude misogynistic and demeaning mistreatment that crossed all boundaries of decency. Hoffman is the executive director of the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center. On Tuesday evening, October 16, she was arrested for leading a group of [...]

Add your name to a petition urging the Israeli government to ensure that oversight of the Kotel includes a range of Jewish views and voices and protects gender equality. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, in the words and Yiddish accent of Issac Bashevis Singer, is “like any other Veilin Vall (wailing wall).” It is the only distinct and concrete holy place for the Jewish people. The site of the Western Wall is run by an ultra-Orthodox group of bureaucrats and rabbis who are dictating the life choices of all who enter. Pope Benedict XVI was lucky in 2009, to be allowed [...]

Last night Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center and chairwoman of Women of the Wall, was arrested at the Western Wall. This occurred during a prayer service in the woman’s section with 250 other participants, including members of Women of the Wall and Hadassah. Anat was detained and held overnight in police custody for disturbing the peace. She was arrested for saying the Shema, Judaism’s central declaration of faith, out loud at the Western Wall.

The holidays are over and Israel is open for business. The relative quiet that characterizes the chaggim has been replaced by the type of chaos that only politics can create. Israel is going to have early elections on January 22, 2013. The Knesset will be dissolved and Israelis will have a chance to vote for a new government. Will the next government be ready to make the hard choices necessary to push forward the changes we need in so many areas of our civil life?

I once spoke at a synagogue in the United States, when I was confronted by a woman. She had come with her 16-year-old grandson to hear me talk about IRAC’s work fighting for pluralism. She had brought him along because she wanted him to connect to Israel. She told me that he loved my message. But as a result, he wanted nothing to do with Israel. 

I shudder to think how many times I became so immersed in my desire to make everyone I meet push back against the Orthodox monopoly in Israel that I also pushed them away from [...]

Ariella Marsden is a hero. This brave 15-year-old girl from the town of Beit Shemesh recently won a landmark court case that shook the ultra-Orthodox world. One day, riding home from school on a public bus, Ariella took a seat in the front of the bus. A few ultra-Orthodox men also boarded the bus and stood next to her. Then the bus driver asked her to move from her seat in the front to the back of the bus where she had to stand for the duration of her journey.  Seeing the sign posted on the bus saying that passengers [...]

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin apologized to Jamal Julany, one of the victims of a racist attack in Zion Square, during his visit to the 17-year-old. “We are sorry,” said Rivlin, a Likud Party leader. He went on to say, “It is hard to see you hospitalized because of an inconceivable act” and “What happened is the responsibility of every leader and member of Knesset.” The Jewish month of Elul calls us to evaluate our actions and mend our ways to avoid the same mistakes next year. An honest evaluation will reveal that this unprovoked attack on three Arab youths by [...]

From a profound commitment to the Jewish people and progressive Jewish values, we are joining the campaign to raise the alarm about the appointment of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu by Magen David Adom (MDA). Rabbi Eliyahu, as the chief rabbi of Safed, has used his position of authority to incite to racism and xenophobia. His extreme views pose a real danger to Israeli democracy and have no place in such a worthy organization. MDA assists people in their most difficult moments regardless of race, religion or creed. We admire MDA for their holy work and we share with them a profound [...]

by Nechama Namal I’ve never been much of a rebel. Instead, when I feel strongly about something, I do my best to act wisely, sensibly, and sensitively to show my support. I have found that in Israel, opportunities arise frequently for me to advocate for Reform Judaism, social justice, plurality, equality, and respect for all. Today was one of those days to speak my mind without saying a word. My friend Diane (also an olah chadashah who made aliyah with her husband on the same day as my husband and me) had been in touch with the Israel Religious Action [...]