RJ Blog

During his trip to Houston earlier this month, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, sat down for an interview with Texas’s Jewish Herald-Voice. Here’s a quick excerpt: JHV: What sort of narrative, if any, drives the Reform Movement today? Jacobs: What drives our narrative is this incredible moment in Jewish history. We are currently the largest movement in Jewish life in the United States. What are we going to be as we go forward? The early founders of the movement articulated something so compelling, that there was a change and uniqueness to the Jewish narrative. It [...]

by Rabbi Yair D. Robinson Last Shabbat, we commemorated the birthday of someone very special. A red-headed and red-bearded rabbi, a scholar, a prince of the Reform Movement who is inarguably one of the most important Reform rabbis — nay, one of the most important rabbis, period — of North America. Amazingly, I’m not speaking about myself (though last Shabbat was my birthday, too), but rather of Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of the Reform Movement we take for granted, who was born March 29, 1819. Wise was a great publisher of scholarly texts, a Jewish paper, the American Israelite, still published [...]

Jane Evans wasn’t a rabbi.  Nonetheless, she was quite a force in Reform Judaism, perhaps even its matriarch.  Beginning in 1933, and for the next 43 years, she was the executive director of what is now the Women of Reform Judaism.  From 1976 to 1979 she served as administrator of the Union’s building at 838 Fifth Avenue after which she was, until her death, an executive consultant on personnel, labor union and other functions for the Union. Although I could go on about her seven decades of devotion and diligence to Women of Reform Judaism, the Reform Movement, and her [...]

On behalf of all the branches of our American Reform Movement, Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom. Tonight we, as a movement, celebrate Israel’s 64th Birthday. We might wonder, to paraphrase the McCartney song we sang decades ago, “Does Israel still need me when she’s 64?” The truth is we, the American Jewish community, our Movement, and Israel need each other.

As I wrote in my first post, the question of the reasons for the commandments, ta’amei hamitzvot, has been a central issue in the historical evolution of Judaism from the middle ages till today. In the 19th century, Reform, influenced by the European Age of Reason, took up the idea that if a ritual mitzvah didn’t serve a rational purpose, it should no longer be observed. Kaufmann Kohler enshrined these ideas in the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform of Reform Judaism. Here are key passages on reasons for the mitzvot:

by Rabbi Henry Jay Karp In my first installment in this series, I spoke about the merger discussions between our congregation and the Tri City Jewish Center.  At that time I stated that since I addressed institutional reasons for why the resulting congregation should affiliate with the Reform movement in my answers to the Merger Task Force’s questionnaire, therefore in this series I would restrict the focus of these articles to personal ideological reasons for my love of and commitment to Reform Judaism.  However, as I now conclude this series, I wish to remove that self-imposed restriction and revisit why [...]

by Stephen Sacks Thank you Eric and thank you all for the great honor you have bestowed on me. I stand here today as a member of three different Reform congregations in North America.  Temple Shalom of Chevy Chase, Maryland, Temple Sinai of Washington, D.C., and our third congregation — the one i want to tell you about because it says so much about ab0ut our Reform Jewish future.

We are in the midst of the Jacob stories in our Torah readings. Jacob’s life is marked by a series of transitions: birth, taking of the birthright and blessing from Esau, the journey to live with Laban, marriage to Leah and Rachel, and finally the return to his homeland. Each one of these transitions is in service of the wider transformation of Jacob into Israel as he becomes the leader capable of taking his place in the covenant with God. The transitions are marked simultaneously with painful moments and blessings.So it is with us. As I wrote in my first [...]

by Rabbi Jonah PesnerIn less than 48 hours, the sound of the shofar will awaken us to renewal.  As the Union for Reform Judaism prepares to pass the mantle of leadership from Rabbi Eric Yoffie to Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the shofar calls us to honor the past by building for the future. That is why Rabbi Jacobs’ first and highest priority will be the Campaign for Youth Engagement (CYE), launched as a final act of leadership by Rabbi Yoffie. Fittingly, Rabbi Yoffie has asked that all funds raised for the tribute book being produced to honor his legacy be put [...]

by Larry Kaufman The resumption of religious school and the advent of the High Holy Days make this shul-shopping season at synagogues everywhere. But the congregational selection process was facilitated this year for potential joiners in the Springfield, MA area, thanks to a joint get-acquainted open house organized for the community with the help and support of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts.

by Rabbi Jonah PesnerDirector, Presidential Transition, URJFounding Director, Just Congregations, URJ As I write this update on the status of the URJ Presidential Transition, the summer is nearing its end.  Our incredible Reform Movement camps have ended their successful seasons, our young people have returned from NFTY in Israel, and our high school leaders are gathering at summer kallot and institutes.  Seeing our children engaged in Torah, prayer and deeds is a constant reminder of the importance of our shared, sacred task. The Presidential Transition Team met for a day-long retreat this past summer.  The role of the team is [...]

A professor at Harvard who runs a seminar for new university presidents teaches her high-powered students something they are not likely to figure out on their own.  She tells them that instead of hitting the ground running, they should “hit the ground learning.”  While I’m hardly a university president, still I’ve turned her advice into a kind of mantra.  It’s easy to come barreling into a new position with rapid-fire changes.  Doing so is tempting, right until I remember that learning always precedes effective action.  At the same time, I know that new leaders are tempted to study the challenges [...]

by Rabbi Elliott Kleinman Synagogues are the center of Jewish life in North America.  They are vibrant, dynamic kehillot that form the foundation for Jewish living, learning and celebration. For five days in December, however, when the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial Convention kicks off, the center of Reform Jewish life in North America will temporarily relocate to the Washington, DC area. Here thousands of members of the Reform Jewish family will gather to worship, sing, dance, learn, connect, reconnect and engage with one another about all aspects of synagogue life. Already, members from congregations in nearly 40 states and [...]

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 [...]