Friday Night Services on a Transatlantic cruise….I was at sea on my 1^st cruise with my husband, Glenn, as we were celebrating our significant birthdays (divisible by 5, but in big numbers) and an anniversary. Curious as to what our options might be (if any) for Shabbat services we discovered that a service with great wine and very tasty challah was in the ship’s daily announcement. A timid, more than a minyan-sized group showed up. No one seemed confident to lead the services, so in the awkwardness of the silence, we shifted into our own synagogue and camp experiences to lead the group, amused that it was the Reform Jews taking charge of the rituals. It led to new friends who returned the next Friday with a few more friends. We were not all the Jews on the cruise, but it was an interesting portal to meeting some new friends.

We continued the celebratory trip to Paris, which was another place to seek out ones “Jewishness”, especially in current times where we hear about so many challenges for Jews and current anti-semitism.  Paris is a “pulled back into history” place which activates my childhood images of the impact of World War II, particularly on the Jews.  Visit Champs Elysee, climb the Arch de Triumph and once again visualize the Nazi Occupation of Paris. Racked with the conflicting image of then and the current hustle/bustle of tourists and locals, chic stores or high-end hotels, Paris continues to be striking.  The Marais District, full of Orthodox Jews, has long lines at the falafel stands and is considered a young trendy neighborhood with hip fashions.

We visited the Paris Jewish Museum, a converted old hotel with such a range of valuable Jewish Heritage and featured Jewish artists who often are lost in the Louvre or Musée d’Orsay. The Holocaust Memorial was a sensitive and artful tribute to Righteous Gentiles and Jews alike, documenting history for Parisians’ future. There is also the little Holocaust memorial located just behind the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  I accidently discovered this spot many years ago and you have to look carefully to not miss it.  Coincidentally, we came upon an exhibit about the Parisian children who were deported and/or saved during the Shoah. The exhibit was hosted by the city government and held at the historic Hotel de Ville. It was about the Jewish Parisian children of non-Parisian parents who were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. It was reassuring to know that institutions and exhibits like these are in Paris. It feels monumentally important to find, visit and support them when traveling.

“Jewish Camps make Jews”, and visiting URJ Camp Swig-Newman with 15 women from Women of Temple Sinai as part of our Temple Sinai, Oakland’s “Shabbat at Camp” is an annual treat. This is one of the most Jewishly reassuring annual summer pleasures.  Camp Swig and Camp Swig/Newman have personally impacted my family’s Jewish identity.  Has this happened to you?

Not only is it a treat to spend 24 hours with my “sisters” but to be able to spend Shabbat at camp with hundreds of “Happy Campers” celebrating their Jewishness.  There is the warmth of greeting old friends, like talking to the camp doctor who was one of my youth group “kids” when I was the advisor 30+ years ago. Teasing him about how he behaved when he was a teenager. There is the Shabbat service where you see a sea of tallit, held by the counselors, over the heads of the campers as a prayer for children is spoken. Later there is the gathering for the evening program on the blacktop for songs and watching the dancing youthful maniacs who welcome you into their circles or the youthful reminder as healthy teenage boys rush over to teach you the steps to the latest Israeli dances as they see you tripping over your feet and looking perplexed.  Camp blends all the Jewish senses and thoughts into magic.

Where do you find your “Jewishness” in the summer? And do you happen upon it or seek it out?  What makes you notice? And there is still more summer to find some more.

This experience is exactly what transpired just a few days ago in the Roosevelt Room, across the hall from the Oval Office, in the White House in Washington, DC.  Leaders of our Reform Movement and the Reconstructionist Movement were invited to a meeting with the White House Chief of Staff, Jacob Lew.  I must confess I was hoping that President Obama would stop in and spend a few minutes with our group.  Apparently, he has done that in previous meetings with leaders of the Conservative and Orthodox communities.  When last minute travel plans took President Obama to Florida, my hopes were dashed.   Nonetheless, armed with a folder of papers on the various issues that we would be discussing, I joined my colleagues in a taxi caravan from the RAC offices to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Let me tell you that following this meeting I was anything but disappointed  – and in fact, I was and continue to be overwhelmingly proud of the leaders of our Movement and incredibly impressed with the President’s Chief of Staff, Jack Lew.  Mr. Lew is an extremely thoughtful, articulate and intelligent man.  He is well versed in the issues of our day, and a consummate professional in representing the positions of this administration.  He is an excellent speaker, but more importantly, he is an superb listener.  I also believe that he will accurately reflect the conversations that occurred in our meeting to both White House staffers and to President Obama.  His interest and sincerity were readily apparent.

What did we talk about?  Issues ranging from Israel’s security, concerns regarding Iran, the DREAM act and religious liberty were all addressed.  In addition to myself, several other colleagues also discussed our concern for the civil rights of women and access to preventative health care and contraception.  Specifically, we urged the Administration to consider new ways to ensure this access to health care for the hundreds of thousands of women who work for pervasively sectarian institutions.   Currently, these institutions (some hospitals, for example) are part of the exemption that covers churches, synagogues and other religious entities.  We do not want any of these women to fall through cracks in the system!

Watch the WRJ website, Action Alerts and this WRJ blog for more information and your opportunity to act and make your voice heard on these and many other issues.  Thank you for the opportunity to represent Women of Reform Judaism.  I am proud of all that we do and I truly believe that we are strong together when we join our collective voices.

Coincidentally the following video was sent to us from the NETZER FSU* camps and along with a stack of letters from campers thanking WRJ for their camp experiences. My first thought: YES Fund dollars sent these kids to camp! We need to share this video!

Though the YES Fund, WRJ has granted thousands of dollars to NETZER FSU camps. Camp is such a special experience for so many people. For the NETZER FSU kids, these camps allow them to learn about Judaism, make Jewish friends, and find their Jewish identities; opportunities they may have not had if it was not for our sisterhoods’ YES Fund tea/sale/fill-in-the-blank fundraiser as well as the donations of those outside of our sisterhood members.

It can be hard to see how your $18, $36, even your $360 donation can make much of a difference. But, just like our motto, “Stronger Together”, says, the YES Fund donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to Youth, Education, and Special Projects. All donations add up and matter!

As the year goes on, I hope to be able to share numerous videos, pictures, and letters with you from all of the YES Fund grantees. I hope in turn you will share them with your congregation, friends, and family so that they can learn the important work of WRJ and the YES Fund.

*Netzer FSU holds different camps for various age groups in Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lipetsk and Russia. The participants experienced a broad range of interesting and challenging programs. Many diverse aspects of Jewish and general history played a major part in many of the camp themes, providing a unique camp experience that was both entertaining and educational.

I spend the last year of my studies in Toulouse, France, where I have a full-time placement in the Liberal Jewish Community of Toulouse, which allows me to help develop the community in several ways. Besides the usual rabbinic tasks of leading services and teaching, I started a cantillation course, in order to create a new generation of Torah readers in the community. There are around six very enthusiastic participants in the course, which is a huge number in such a small community.

The community had a lot of success in the past few months. We moved into a new building which allowed us to increase the number of the participants in services and programs. The new place gives us huge potential to grow in number and in to increase the number of educational programs.

The building also features some wonderful colored windows created by Anita Bartha (my fiancée), which play with patterns of the Margheb region, from where, many of our members originated.

Then the terrorists attack happened on the 19^th of March. Immediately after hearing the news, we (me, Anita, and other members of the community) rushed to the scene. Several families and journalists were there of course, with slight police presence. Two boys from the community just came out from the school, unharmed. We just celebrated the bar mitzvah of one of them, the weekend before. We hugged them, kissed them, and let them head home. The attack hugely affected the Jewish life in the town, mainly on an emotional level. There were at least three families from our community who were traumatized. For a week, it seemed that many of our dreams were shattered among the hopes to create a large and dynamic community.

But our successful Pesach Seder and services showed that this is a community which will not let itself be overwhelmed by fear. It is true, everything is changed, and it will be a long process to heal the wounds. But I feel that with the enthusiastic, collective work of the community, we shall be able to overcome the terrible, long-term effects of the attack, and to continue our growth. I would like to emphasize that all of this work would not have been possible without the financial support of the Women of Reform Judaism.

Peter Radvanszki is a 5^th year student in the rabbinical seminary Leo Baeck College, London. He is a recipient of a WRJ YES Fund grant.

In the fall of 1963 my Mother and I planned a trip to Europe and Israel.  Mother told our rabbi, Dr. Solomon B. Freehof, of our plans.  He advised that we plan to spend Yom Kippur in Jerusalem and offered to write to the rabbi there.

We re-arranged our schedule so that we could fly into Israel, to Lod Airport, before the holiday began.  Upon checking into the King David Hotel we received a welcome note from the rabbi with tickets for services and an invitation for tea, a few days later.  Kol Nidre evening we walked to the synagogue, which was very small, a converted house.  The city was still, nothing was moving.  Our reserved seats were in the front row!  Of course everything was in Hebrew and mostly chanted.  My Mother, with her Hebrew education was able to follow the service, much to the congregation’s amazement.  The cantor was very good and the rabbi was terrific!  Rabbi Zaoui, the head rabbi of Paris, was spending two years in Israel promoting Progressive/Reform Judaism. Although there were several hundred synagogues in Jerusalem, this was the first Progressive.

On Yom Kippur Day we returned to the synagogue. In the middle  of the service Rabbi Zaoui came over and said that he wanted me to read something in English. He introduced me by saying that, “It is only fitting that this tribute to the martyrs of the Bialystok Ghetto, that was written by a young woman who survived, be read by our young guest from America.”  I have never forgotten that experience and the fact that I did not get a headache on Yom Kippur!

During our most enjoyable visit to the Zaoui’s home, he told us of his plans and efforts to develop and advance Progressive Judaism in Israel. Obviously he got things off to a good start.  The numbers of congregations have continued to grow. According to Rabbi Stanley David, past president of ARZA, there are now over 40 Progressive Congregations in Israel.

 Marcia J. Levaur is Vice President of Women for Reform Judaism’s Atlantic District. She is also a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh, PA.

Visiting the Reform Movement in Israel can seem like visiting the whole alphabet with stops with HUC/JIR, WUPJ, Gan HaChaim, EIE, and IRAC.

WRJ is a major supporter of HUC, The Hebrew Union College, with its campuses in New York, Cincinnati, Los Angles, and Jerusalem.  We give scholarships to student rabbis and cantors.  The three of us invited the first year students to a luncheon and had an excellent discussion about the supportive role of WRJ in their future congregations and communities.  We discussed the tough issues, including tackling the question of why we need single gender organizations in today’s world. And we discussed the importance of our publication, The Torah:  A Women’s Commentary.

Our luncheon the following day was with the HUC/J Israeli Rabbinic students.  This time the conversation centered on the growth and work of WRJ-Israel and how the women are prepared to help in the establishment and support of Reform Congregations and communities throughout Israel.  Questions arose about the difficulties faced by young women with families attending the intensive rabbinic program for Israelis.  We need these young men and women. They are incredibly talented and they are in great need of financial and emotional support as they simultaneously go to school, work full time jobs, and raise their children.

Our next alphabet visit is to EIE, the Eisendrath International Exchange program, held at Kibbutz Tzuba just a short distance from Jerusalem. Students from North America come to Israel to study during the Fall or Spring semester of grades 10, 11 or 12.  In addition to their regular secular academics, they study 100 hours of Hebrew language and 210 hours of Israel: Land, Culture and People.  This course includes 25 field trips.  There is also a summer session that involves Hebrew language and all of the Israel studies with travel in the afternoons.

Our visit with WUPJ, the World Union for Progressive Judaism, involved discussions about how WRJ helps with scholarships for Rabbinic students at the Leo Baeck College in London and Geiger College in Potsdam, Germany.  These students come from many different areas of the world:  South American, the FSU, Hungary, and of course the UK and Germany.  These students make the commitment to return to serve the Jewish communities in their home communities for at least 3 years.

Our visit to Gane Haim, the IMPJ nursery school that is housed on the grounds of the HUC/JIR campus, gave us the opportunity to visit the special new class of children of foreign workers’ families.  This class provides a truly special opportunity for these youngsters and their families to learn Hebrew, to learn about Judaism, to learn about Israel, and to study together with Jewish children in a safe atmosphere.

Resa Davids is a member of the Board of Directors of Women for Reform Judaism, and a former ARZA Board Member.  She and her husband, Rabbi Stanley Davids (ARZA’s most recent Past President) made aliyah in 2004 and currently reside part-time in Jerusalem, and part-time in California. This is the second in a three-part series.

By Resa Davids

Lynn Magid-Lazar, president of WRJ, and Rabbi Marla Feldman, executive director of WRJ, joined me in Israel for a 6-day whirlwind tour of WRJ-Israel and the IMPJ (Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism).

We began in the moshava (almost a town) of Even Yehuda at the new congregation, Kehilat HaShachar.  The community is renting space in a 2-room facility which is serving as their gan (nursery school) and becomes a Synagogue on Friday evenings.  It takes about 20 minutes to move the mattresses and toys out and to set up chairs facing the ark with its Torah, which was a gift of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

We enjoyed lunch and a discussion about the role of women in Israel at the home of Anna Kislanski, the IMPJ professional who is responsible for community outreach, which includes taking responsibility for work with WRJ-Israel.  Anna invited two of the women who are hoping to activate the WRJ-Israel women’s group in this new initiative community.  Their volunteer cantor, Benny, also joined us.  Three of their members are involved in the pilot women’s leadership program sponsored by WRJ-Israel and Beit Berl Foundation. The program meets on a regular basis with more than 20 women leaders from the greater Jerusalem area.

Rabbi Meir Azari, leader of Israel’s largest Reform communities, Tel Aviv’s Daniel Centers, met with us at Mishkenot Ruth, the site of their newest satellite congregation in Jaffa.  We discussed the challenges and opportunities for the growth of Reform Judaism in Israel and its impact on the development of Israeli society.  One challenge is reaching Israeli secular Jews with the message that their identity as “Israeli” can include identifying as a practicing Jew without compromising either.

A visit with a dozen girls participating in the Mechina program in Jaffa was fantastic.  Part of a group of 56 young people studying, volunteering and living together during the year between high school graduation and beginning their military service, these young women were impressive as they talked about their volunteer work and their studies.  They live together as an urban kibbutz, without adult supervision. Instead they have the support of their madrichim (counselors) or morim (teachers) when they ask for specific input.  Madrichim and morim do not live with the young people, instead they they are on their own to handle their shopping for food and supplies, their cooking, and, of course, attempting to keep their home clean – at least in the public spaces!

The young people form committees that determine everything from religious practice and celebration to initiating new volunteer programs in the Jaffa area, to the difficult job of budgets and economy.  There are 5 young people among the 56 who are from the diaspora – mainly North America, but also one Italian young woman.  Together, they are tackling the moral and ethical issues involved with military service while they discover the world of Reform Judaism for the first time or strengthen their knowledge and sense of personal religious identity apart from their families.

Resa Davids is a member of Women for Reform Judaism Board of Directors and a former ARZA board member.  She and her husband, Rabbi Stanley Davids (ARZA’s most recent Past President) made aliyah in 2004 and currently reside part-time in Jerusalem, and part-time in California. This is the first in a three-part series.

Since it is always difficult to begin a piece of writing, I will resort to a quotation. In “Shosha,” the eminent Isaac Bashevis Singer, states: “The walls were covered by paintings of Jewish artists …. In a display cabinet there were some Jewish antiques, boxes with spices, a gold and silver benediction glass, Chanukah candlesticks, a Passover plate, the cover of one of Esther scrolls, a Sabbath knife with wide blade and mother-of-pearl handle …. It was really tough for me to accept that all that intense Judaism was nothing but decoration, since its essence had long been forgotten for most of us.”

It is worth drawing an analogy between the character’s sorrow towards that shelved Judaism and the sensation of unease that I have always had to cope with as a young Argentinian Jew. This feeling is synonymous with living as a committed Jew in Argentina nowadays as the huge Argentina Jewish community, that used to be made up of 500,000 Jews, and that is now thought to contain only half this number. In the same way, Argentine Jewry used to have the most prestigious system of Jewish schools and higher education institutes in Latin America, but this structure has collapsed due to bad institutional policies and to the several economic crisis, our country has gone through.  While this Jewish heritage, developed by these great institutions, is gradually disappearing, its unbearable silence disturbs us with the authority given to it by thousands of years of literary, theological, and philosophical development.

It is precisely this feeling of grief towards this empty Judaism that called me to come to Israel in order to immerse myself into the world of Jewish knowledge and Jewish action; it was this feeling that called me to become a Jewish leader, capable of meeting the needs of the Argentinian Jewish community, which are no longer met by the old-fashioned community model that prevails nowadays. It is precisely this model which demands a complete renewal as a means of responding to most day-to-day questions of the Argentinian Jewish community, which continues to be the largest in Latin America and the sixth largest in the whole world.

Thanks to the generous support of Women of Reform Judaism, I was given the opportunity to fulfill my very deep desire of carrying out my plans to study in Israel and to obtain a cutting- edge education at the Israeli Rabbinical Program of HUC-Jerusalem. This education will allow me to develop the new outlook that the Argentinian Jewish community urgently requires in order to overcome the disintegration process that is taking place nowadays.

Jordán Raber is a WRJ Rabbinic Scholarship recipient studying at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. He receives scholarship through WRJ’s YES Fund allocation for overseas students who agree to serve either their home community or other WUPJ congregations after their ordination.

IRAC (Israel Religious Action Center)
IMPJ (Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism)
HUC-JIR (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion)
WUPJ (World Union for Progressive Judaism)
EIE (Eisendrath International Exchange)

In a variety of ways, each of these organizations deepens the Reform Movement’s engagement in Israel, builds Reform Judaism globally, and educates the next generation of Reform leaders.

You will read more from WRJ President, Lynn Magid Lazar, about the powerful experience we had on our ‘Freedom Ride’ with IRAC director Anat Hoffman, during which we ‘integrated’ gender-segregated buses in Jerusalem by sitting in the front of the bus. Equally important, however, is WRJ’s ongoing support of the daily work of IRAC, which empowers the social justice arm of the Reform Movement in Israel to challenge injustice, fight for religious pluralism, and litigate landmark Supreme Court cases on behalf of women, refugees, immigrants and non-Orthodox Jews in Israel. Anat and her IRAC team are today’s exemplars of the prophets and is a source of great pride to those of us who admire and support from afar in North America.

Lifelong education is the theme that ran through our meetings throughout the day. We had a delightful tour of the IMPJ’s gan (pre-school) based at the Reform Movement’s center in Jerusalem (Beit Shmuel). We have learned that many of our congregations in Israel begin by establishing pre-schools as a means of engaging Israeli families and introducing them to Progressive Judaism. The IMPJ schools in Jerusalem have continued to grow and now go through high school. Most inspiring was a special pre-school program for children of foreign workers who need extra assistance to acclimate to Israeli society before they will be prepared to enter kindergarten.

At HUC-JIR we had the opportunity to meet with the first-year students in the rabbinical, cantorial, and education programs. We treated them to lunch – maternal instincts cross international boundaries – and had the opportunity to expose them to the work of WRJ and the importance of their role as professional Reform leaders. They asked good, and sometimes challenging, questions, and we came away confident that these future leaders will be wonderful partners for us as we continue to define the role of WRJ within Reform Jewish life.

We continued discussions of our support of seminary students with the WUPJ. For many years, WRJ has provided scholarships to both North American students at HUC-JIR and overseas students studying at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem, Leo Baeck in London, and Geiger College in Berlin. This investment in our global future leadership is possible through the YES (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) Fund and the generosity of the sisterhood women who have sustained these efforts since WRJ was established nearly a hundred years ago.

Ending our day with a visit to the EIE students at Kibbutz Tzuba was a special treat. Over 60 high school youth are currently taking part in this semester exchange program, during which they learn about Jewish history, study Hebrew, cover all the normally required high school subjects and travel throughout the country. Each student we met was articulate, bright, engaging and totally enthralled with their experience. It takes very special educators to inspire youth to “love” being in classes for up to 10 hours days, 6 days per week. And it takes very special youth to choose such an experience and rise to the challenges. WRJ’s support of NFTY youth programs like EIE is an unbeatable investment in our future.

This WRJ mission to Israel has been an opportunity for us to check in with our grantees and see how WRJ funds are used to advance Reform Judaism and improve the world at large. In that regard, we can all be proud of what we are able to accomplish working together with other arms of the Movement and supporting Youth, Education, and Special Projects. Just say YES!

Rabbi Marla J. Feldman
WRJ Executive Director