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 [...]

By Rabbi Jack Alan Luxemburg Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:  “Go and tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to let the Israelites depart from his land.” But Moses appealed to Adonai, saying: “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech!” (Exodus 6:10-12) Rabbi Samuel Mohilever (1824-1898) was a pioneer of Religious Zionism and a founder of the Hovevei Zion Movement, an important precursor to modern Zionism. His efforts to promote Jewish settlement in Israel (then under the rule of the Ottoman Turks) and reclamation of the land through agriculture, gave him an [...]

Numerous news articles have come out in the Forward, New York Times, Jewish Week and Haaretz covering the vote in the UN on upgrading the status of Palestine in the world community. Statements have also been released by URJ and CCAR, with the support of ARZA and ARZA Canada, as well as controversies arising from positions that some groups have taken. At the same time, people have been contacting ARZA to find out what our “position” is.  I think this question relates to people wanting to know what ARZA is, what our role is in our American Jewish Community and [...]

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, [...]

Actions have consequences. That is the message of Ekev. It is the message each time we recite the full Shema. On the positive side, we read: “If you will obey the commandments that I enjoin you today, loving the lord your God and serving God with all your heart and soul. I will grant the rain for you in the Land of Israel.” On the negative side, the passage continues: “Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow down to them. For the Lord’s anger will flare up against you and God will shut up [...]

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 Laura Ben David Harvey Brooks, a former congregant of Temple Emanu-El in Tucson, Arizona, is accustomed to large crowds cheering for him, but when he landed in Israel as a new Oleh on a Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah flight in August 2009, the welcoming crowd of singing and flag-waving guests touched him in a more profound way.

By Rabbi John Rosove In my introductory remarks to the Peter Beinart-David Suissa debate at Temple Israel of Hollywood last Wednesday evening (May 16), I said the following to help give political context to what we would be hearing from each speaker: In a thoughtful piece published this past week, Professor Shaul Magid of Indiana University, wrote that the response and rancor around Peter Beinart’s book “The Crisis of Zionism” represented four broad groups in the American and Israeli communities – the ideological left and right and the pragmatic left and right. A brief word about each: Those in the [...]

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) [...]

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 [...]

Haggai. I danced at his wedding in the fall of 1971. He was a proud member of the IDF Tank Corps. The wedding was at Kibbutz Na’an not far from Rehovot. My first Israeli wedding. We laughed and danced. He embraced me into the “kibbutz family” into which my sister would marry in February. On the first day of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Haggai was killed on the Golan. He is buried not far from where he fell. Haggai was born on the 29th of November 1973, an auspicious day in our Zionist/Israeli history. He was the first child on Kibbutz [...]

by Rabbi David M. Weis As Israel celebrates the 64th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, I am celebrating my 57th birthday. I share that information, because my age tells a great deal about how Israel fits into my life and worldview. I was raised in the early years of the State of Israel. I was reared with a strong connection to the justice of the Jewish cause and the promise of Zionism’s mission to create a Jewish democratic state in Israel.

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 [...]

It’s time to fight for the Zionist dream.  And it’s time to give some thought to what that dream is—and what it’s not. During the recent hostilities in southern Israel, the image that caught my attention was the picture of terrified Israeli schoolgirls cowering behind the school bus that they had just evacuated and looking to the sky for missiles launched from Gaza.  That image has remained with me.  I know that the Iron Dome defense system performed admirably and that the military operations of the Israel Defense forces were deemed successful.   I know that plans are underway to expand [...]