RJ Blog

In a column for Jerusalem Post titled “Getting Zionism Right,” Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism, explains what he sees as the vital message of Zionism – and two major obstacles to reaching that goal. He begins, As I sat with my family and friends at our Passover sedarim this year, doing what Jews have been doing for more than 3000 years, it occurred to me that the Jewish world continues to get Zionism mostly wrong. Zionism was created in order to throw off the yoke of subjugation to which we Jews have been subjected [...]

Religious leaders have long known that if you want to attract worshipers and increase your membership rolls, food can be a valuable tool. Christian services are often followed by coffee hours, and for Jews, Sabbath worship – on Friday night or Saturday morning – is generally followed by a Kiddush. For some in the Jewish world, the Kiddush has become an elaborate feast at which sumptuous food and fine wines and liquors are offered to those, both members and guests, who come to pray. This new phenomenon, healthy in some ways and deeply unsettling in others, was described in a [...]

Thanksgiving tells us a lot about America, about our yearning for community and connection, about loneliness and about God. Loneliness destroys us in the same way that bullets and poverty destroy us. It eats away at our spiritual wellbeing. It eviscerates our sense of wholeness. In fact, loneliness kills. “O chevruta, o mituta,” it says in the Talmud (Taanit 23a): Either companionship or death. And the other great religious traditions agree. No human being is capable of living an atomized life. We live by community; otherwise, we live badly, or not at all. But now the puzzle: Americans seem to [...]

Shabbat is a time to unplug. Otherwise, there will be no Shabbat. Many, many Reform Jews have had no Shabbat for a very long time. Even when we want to be attentive to the holy, we can’t seem to do it. In our sophisticated, highly educated community, the pace of our lives has long been cranked up to a level that could not have been imagined 50 years ago. Shabbat is usually a time for more work, or a time to engage in a hectic whirlwind of errands. And then technology came along and made everything worse. Technology stalks us. [...]

My colleagues in the Reform Movement reacted harshly to the statement of Israeli Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar that on the High Holidays it would be better for a Jew to pray by himself or herself than with Reform Jews.I understand their furor, but my own response is actually the opposite: I would like to thank Rabbi Amar for helping Israel’s Reform movement and for advancing the cause of religious freedom in the Jewish state.In the first place, he has provided confirmation of what I know but many Jews in the world do not: Reform Judaism is growing and thriving in the State [...]

One morning last week, I spent some time reading through the traditional liturgy for Yom Kippur. The Yom Kippur prayers are so stark, jarring, and intensely powerful that I find it impossible to absorb them on Yom Kippur day if I have not prepared myself by studying them in advance. And even the advance study does not always help. This year, once again, I struggled mightily with the troubling, difficult words. At a certain point I decided I needed a break, and turned on the television. By chance, a well- known televangelist and author was talking about his most recent [...]

I support outsourcing and offshoring. I applaud globalization and free trade. And I do so because of my moral convictions and religious beliefs, and my deep commitment to American exceptionalism. As the election season heats up, I am troubled by the moral confusion of those who discuss these policies. The Democrats, sensing advantage, generally attack them, while the Republicans respond by twisting in the wind, showing little if any conviction.

In the aftermath of the recent shooting at an Aurora, CO, movie theater, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, rabbi emeritus of the URJ, writes in a recent op-ed in Haaretz called “U.S. Jews support gun control, but the political debate ignores it.” He wonders why both major U.S. political parties avoid the top of gun control – and what that means for American Jews, who overwhelmingly support stronger gun restrictions. He writes, The massacre at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater has left Americans stunned, devastated, and once again searching for answers. The killings, first and foremost, are a personal tragedy for the [...]

Some recent, angry exchanges between leaders of different religious traditions have led me to consider the principles that should guide us when reacting to disagreements with other faith groups. If I strongly disagree with a Christian or Muslim, I am free to say what I wish, of course, and there is an argument to be made that I should always say what I think. As a believing and practicing Jew, I do not hesitate to comment on, praise, criticize or analyze statements by any Jewish leader or Jewish group. Should I not be true to myself and my beliefs whenever [...]

In a much discussed article in the new online publication Religion & Politics Journal, New York Times religion reporter Mark Oppenheimer offers an enthusiastic endorsement of Jon Stewart’s coverage of religion on “The Daily Show,” which Stewart hosts on Comedy Central. “Jon Stewart may not be a believer,” writes Oppenheimer, “but he is one hell of a teacher.” This is an interesting claim – and a ridiculous one. Stewart is hilarious, and I consider his show to be must-see TV. My wife and I watch it every night that it is on, discuss it with our adult children (who otherwise [...]

Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. At times I worry whether enough is being done to maintain her democratic character, and at times I worry about whether or not we are preserving her Jewish soul. At the moment, it is the Jewish side of the equation that troubles me. This concern was brought on by two brief items in the Israeli press. ITEM ONE: A few weeks ago, a competition was held for eighth grade students in the Israeli school system on Pirkei Avot (The Chapters of the Fathers), the ethical/legal tract from the Talmud that is studied throughout [...]

It is not likely that either President Obama or Gov. Romney will say much about their religious beliefs during the upcoming election campaign, and this is unfortunate. If they were to do so, it would be good for them and good for the American people. America is by far the most religious of the western, industrialized democracies, and Americans expect their presidential candidates to have a connection to religion. To be sure, religion and politics are not an easy fit. Religion deals with absolutes: what is right and what is wrong. Politics is about mediating between competing views of truth [...]

The following column is part of a series. For more, go to Liberal Zionists Speak Out. I am a Zionist. Zionism is the belief that the establishment of a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel is essential for the creative survival of the Jewish people. Being a Zionist does not require that I live in the Jewish state, but it does require serious and thoughtful advocacy for the proposition noted above. My definition is carefully phrased and is rooted in the values and ideals of historical Zionism. Zionism calls for a state that is democratic, and that [...]

I usually spend Yom HaAtzmaut here in New York, but when the day comes, I am always sorry that I am not in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. I have been a proud Israel activist all of my life, but the problem with being an activist is that when you spend so much time focusing on Israel as a cause, you sometimes lose touch with Israel as a place. Thus I always find myself thinking how much I would prefer to be there for this day—for the sounds, the smells, the arguments, the passions, and the language of the Jewish state. [...]