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BOOKS & MUSIC Pirke Avot: A Modern Commentary on Jewish Ethics Edited and translated by Leonard Kravitz and Kerry M. Olitzky, Foreword by W. Gunther Plaut (URJ Press) *STUDY GUIDE* Judaism and Spiritual Ethics Niles E. Goldstein and Steven S. Mason, Foreword by Eugene B. Borowitz (URJ Press) Sacred Choices: Adolescent Relationships and Sexual Ethics (Middle School Module) by Rabbi Laura Novak Winer (URJ Press)

Union for Reform Judaism

Learning from youth October 10, 2008 By Gardening Grandma A story in this morning's New York Times about the growing army of "eco-kids" not only grabbed my attention, it made me proud: "Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy" highlights how children are teaching their parents a lesson or two about caring for this earth, sometimes to the frustration of their parents. While Judaism was not mentioned in the story, nothing could be closer to our hearts than protecting the earth and working to repair the damage we've created. As today's emailed Ten Minutes of Torah by Rabbi Marla Feldman notes, "to neglect our role in maintaining the fragile balance of nature is to default on our very first commitment in our covenant with God - our sacred duty to be stewards of God's Creation." She goes on to note that Sukkot is a perfect time to reinforce our connection to the natural world around us. For more ideas about what to do this Sukkot, check out www.urj.org.  read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Holidays | Social Action

Strengthening Reform 16: Ethical and Ritual Mitzvot October 6, 2008 (5 Comments) By William Berkson In the previous post in this series, I sketched the history of Reform treatment of Mitzvot, concluding with Rabbi Richard Levy's A Vision of Holiness: The Future of Reform Judaism (URJ, 2005). In this book Rabbi Levy, who led the 1999 "Pittsburgh Principles" effort, rejects the traditional Reform distinction in the status of ethical and ritual mitzvot. As I wrote, I think the abolition of this distinction is a spectacularly bad idea. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Religious Life

L'Shana Tovah October 6, 2008 (1 Comment) By David Singer Yes, a good year and a happy year. But to whom? To my family everywhere and to my friends also, and to colleagues, clients, and those I will meet this year. It goes without saying; I want all to have a good year with health and peace for them. And for myself, don't forget myself, who needs good health, who seeks peace for his daughter and wife and clients. But for whom else is L'Shana Tovah said? It depends where you listen. If you were to visit a synagogue today, would you hear L'Shana Tovah said in honor of families who lost loved ones at wars fought today? Indeed, you would hear thoughts for those Americans fighting in Iraq. But would you hear thoughts of health and peace for Iraqi citizens in their country? Perhaps you would hear words for them, perhaps not. Some Iraqis are part of the war there; most are not and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do you hear L'Shana Tovah for them? Not much, I say. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Holidays

This Week Is Like a Box of Chocolates September 28, 2008 By Barbara Weinstein Legislative Director of the Religious Action Center  I'm an I Love Lucy aficionado. I have seen every episode, can recite by heart the Vitametavegamin routine that ends with Lucy sloshed on the alcohol-laced health tonic, and know that the longest laugh the show recorded came when Lucy did the tango with a shirt stuffed full of raw eggs. But for my money, the funniest episode is called "Job Switching," where Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a candy factory. Watching Lucy-as-candy-wrapper try and keep up with the ever-faster conveyor belt of chocolates is watching a master comedian at her best. Sometimes, I feel a bit like Lucy at Kramer's Kandy Kitchen. That's particularly true this week as Congress tries to work through myriad bills that have languished for months, while also dealing with the economic challenges on Wall Street, and trying to leave town to campaign before Election Day. The legislative team at the RAC has been busily strategizing, posting action alerts, firing off letters to members of Congress, issuing press releases, and trying to make sure that social justice values are reflected in our laws. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics | Social Action

Strengthening Reform 15: The Great Mitzvah Muddle September 26, 2008 (6 Comments) by William Berkson The latest expression of the principles of Reform Judaism is the six-page "Pittsburgh Principles" of 1999. The book A Vision of Holiness: The Future of Reform Judaism, by Rabbi Richard Levy, begins with this statement, and expands on it to explain it more fully. One of the questions that was put to focus groups concerned autonomy and mitzvot: "... It is a given that Jews have the autonomous right to choose what beliefs and practices will inform their lives, but for Reform Jews the hard question is the role of Torah and mitzvot in their lives." read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Religious Life | The Future

Philanthropy as a Rite of Passage September 22, 2008 (1 Comment) By Gardening Grandma Every synagogue I know has some sort of "mitzvah" requirement built into the bar/bat mitzvah program. Often the mitzvah is so small--"I spent an afternoon reading to children in an after-school program!" or "I gave my old children's books to the hospital!" -- that the chance that the 13-year-old learned a lifelong lesson is pretty slim. But today I read about Jared and Colby Kash on Jewlicious. I've no doubt that these two brothers are on their way to a lifelong habit. What's happening in your family?  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics | Lifecycle

Strengthening Reform: 14. The Idol of Autonomy September 20, 2008 (11 Comments) By William Berkson What should Reform congregations do by way of studies for children, for adults? What personal ethics should they espouse? What social reforms should they advocate? What rituals, celebrations, and memorials should they practice? What should the content of the prayer book? What home rituals should they encourage? And who should make these decisions? The rabbis in each congregation? The Union for Reform Judaism? The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion? The congregation members? A mixture? In what way? read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Religious Life

Is Your Food Just? September 16, 2008 (2 Comments) By Emily Grotta I don't keep kosher, but I have been appalled at the news about the  Agriprocessors plant in Postville, IA and the company's treatment of its workers. It's the kind of news story that gives all Jews a bad name. That's why I applaud the news today that the movement to develop a "ethical  standard" for food today received yet another stamp of approval from the Reform Movement, as the Union for Reform Judaism joined the Central Conference of American Rabbis in endorsing the Conservative Movement's Heksher Tsedek Commission.  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics

Straight or Gay, Marriage is Sacred September 10, 2008 By JanetheWriter  Three years ago last week, the California Assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the Golden State.  Earlier this week, the JTA reported that on September 4, perhaps to mark this anniversary, Orthodox Jewish and Catholic leaders signed a statement that affirms that affording same-sex unions the status of marriage "dilute[s] the special standing of marriage between a man and a woman." The signatories "hope that even those outside of our common religious traditions will recognize that we speak from the truth of human nature itself which is consistent with both reason and the moral life."  Although one of the statement's signatories, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, chairman of the OU/RCA Joint Committee on Interreligious Affairs, and I share a religious tradition, I don't believe that he speaks from the truth of human nature and I certainly don't believe that that truth is consistent with either reason or with the moral life. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Lifecycle

Hechsher tzedek September 10, 2008 By Larry Kaufman Well, our Reform rabbinate has endorsed the Conservative "hechsher tzedek"  stating whether or not the meat is kosher isn't just a factor of how the animal was slaughtered, but of how the workers were treated. Back in the days when we were boycotting California grapes, we probably talked about social justice and prophetic values - but the Reform movement wasn't at the point where it could have talked about kosher and treyf. As it happened, our speaker at Shabbat services on Labor Day weekend talked about his participation in the recent protest march at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville. (For those arriving in the middle of the movie, that's the large kosher meat company that's been the subject of a Forward investigation and of a raid and roundup of undocumented workers by the Feds.) I told our guest that I don't keep kosher, but I consider the Postville meat treyf. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Social Action