RJ Blog

Today is Yom Hashoah, the remembrance day for the Holocaust. This day is a very emotional and heart wrenching time for Israelis, as many have family members who were in the Holocaust or are survivors.

I have had the pleasure of sitting in David Alon’s Jewish history class in EIE at Tzuba for the past two days. As David told the class of 22 students that due to scheduling he was spending two days on the Middle Ages from the Golden Age of Spain, I forgot how much I love to sit in class and learn.

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 Alex Cicelsky While we on Kibbutz Lotan are located geographically outside of the areas that are directly impacted by the violence stemming from Gaza, we of course are connected directly by family, friends and national interest in what is happening there. Our prayers go to our children, our soldiers, who on the front lines and all those on both sides of the conflict that simply want to live in peace. Kibbutz Lotan has become, along with the other kibbutzim in our region, a refuge for women and their children needing a respite from the constant dangers. Our houses and [...]

In just a few hours, I will be leaving for Israel. As rockets continue to fall on Southern Israel, and as Hamas is targeting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, I believe it is critical that, on behalf of our entire Movement, I demonstrate our solidarity with, and commitment to, the people of Israel. I realize, of course, that Thanksgiving week is a time of travel and family gatherings for those in the United States. But, as the rockets continue to fall, I know that this week will not be “as usual” for many of us. This evening, I will be traveling [...]

Why welcome home our kids? We want our kids to know that we support them, missed them, and are glad to have them back in our congregational home as well, back at their Jewish address. We want them to know they are important to us and to the future of our Judaism. We want it to be clear to them that we are interested in what they have to say.

Monday, the students of EIE wake up at 6:45, are eating by 7:15, and are standing outside the dorms in the shape of a Chet and everyone is vocalizing excitement for our very first real Tiyul – our first learning-on-site field trip.

My experience on NFTY EIE was incredible. On my first day in Israel I was told that on this trip we are Pilgrims in Israel not travelers. At first I did not understand what being a “pilgrim” in Israel was but looking back I know exactly what Baruch meant.

Did you attend a URJ summer camp or a Reform congregation’s day camp? Maybe you studied in Israel with NFTY-EIE’s summer session, volunteered with Mitzvah Corps, or attended the Religious Action Center’s Machon Kaplan program? The Reform Movement offers a number of opportunities for youth to engage in immersive Jewish experiences during the summer months. In addition to thousands of current participants, we also have a massive alumni network – and each person has his or her own story to tell. Whatever your Reform Jewish summer experience as a youth, we want to see your photos and hear your stories! [...]

by Jonathan Segal The year 70 BCE, the most valuable place to the Jewish people was destroyed. The second temple and everything that came along with it was demolished, leaving the Jewish people without a religious center in the world. Although the temple was destroyed, the west wall of the complex remained standing and to this day this wall is remembered as the greatest physical evidence of prosperous Jewish life before the Common Era. Today, the Western Wall stands for many things and for many people. To some people the wall stands for history, loss, or victory while to others [...]

by Aaron Selkow I sat in a classroom last week with fellow URJ camp directors Rabbi Mark Covitz (GUCI) and Bobby Harris (Coleman), along with my colleague at Camp Harlam, Rabbi Vicki Tuckman. There was a graph mapped out on the floor with lots of different papers spread across it, and there were more than 40 Israeli staff (Shlichim, or “emissaries”) sitting around the room. These staff members will be travelling to work with our camps this summer, including 26 at Harlam, and the classroom was at Kibbutz Shefayim in Israel. This was my tenth time at the Summer Shlichim [...]

by Liza Tuzmen(originally posted on Youth and College Israel Programs -The Blog) Before coming to Israel, everyone I spoke to gave the same warning, “Why are you going to Israel now?” or “You chose a very interesting time to go,” (and by interesting, they meant awful). But with two months down, our group has come to quite a different consensus: we chose the best time. One of the main goals of coming to Israel with NFTY-EIE is to learn Jewish history and culture. 34 other students and I are not only learning about history, but experiencing it being made. Gilad [...]

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 [...]

by Rabbi Marla FeldmanURJ Director of Development Editor’s note: Every summer hundreds of teens travel to Prague, Poland and Israel on our NFTY in Israel programs. Through these experiences they learn to become the guardians of our shared history and witnesses of the Shoah. Read Rabbi Marla Feldman’s accounting of her experience as a group chaperone and how the teens are proving to be loving and capable stewards for the future. Read the rest of the posts from this journey as it continues on this month, by Rabbi Feldman and others on the Blog of the URJ Youth & College [...]