Women of Reform Judaism

Editor’s Note: This piece is excerpted from Rabbi Abrahmson’s keynote address at the 2013 WRJ Fried Leadership Conference. by Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson It has been a remarkable week for women. On Monday, the women’s restrooms in the United States Capitol happily boasted a line, thanks to the record-smashing 94 female House members needing to [...]

The YES Fund (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) represents the collective financial efforts of our member sisterhoods and donors to strengthen the institutions of our Reform Movement and ensure the future of Reform Judaism. Together we are able to achieve what no one individual or sisterhood could accomplish alone. Through the YES Fund, WRJ is [...]

by Rabbi Mark Goldfarb The regular Torah reading cycle is interrupted this Shabbat with a special reading for the holiday of Sukkot, from the Book of Exodus. We read of the second covenant entered into between God, Moses and the Children of Israel – this covenant follows the incident of the Golden Calf and the [...]

My summer travels this year took me to Paris, where I had a wonderful time visiting museums, touring, and spending time with family. Emblematic of our increasingly international community, my French cousins are involved in the Reform/Progressive community in Paris. During my visit, they introduced me to Rabbis Pauline Bebe and Tom Cohen. Rabbi Bebe, [...]

“Rosh HaShanah is coming.  It will be a good time to just turn the page, and start the new year fresh,” a friend said a few weeks ago.  “Then, you can focus on moving forward.  Leave all of the unpleasantness behind.”  Is it really that easy?  Is that what the High Holidays are about?  Turn [...]

“Click, click, click.” Nonnie, my beloved maternal grandmother, was never far away from her knitting bag. She carried it with her to the beauty parlor where, sitting under the dryer, she could knit uninterrupted for 20 minutes. She carried it to doctor’s appointments and movies—she could actually knit in the dark—turning out sweaters, scarves, and [...]

By:  Renee Morris Roth This week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, is a list of seventy four laws given to the people. The topics of the laws address relationships between family, neighbors, members of society and even laws concerning animals. They speak to sexual misconduct, clothing, and forbidden relations. They address laws protecting the vulnerable, with special [...]

By: Marcy Frost I am writing this from a hotel lobby.  Beginning tomorrow, I will be participating in a two and a half day training session for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (“ESGR”).  ESGR is a program of the United States Department of Defense with which I have been involved for the [...]

By: Myra Feiger My favorite part of this section of the Torah is: “See this day, I set before you blessing and curses: blessing if you obey the commandments of your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God.” I was not scheduled to [...]

I must confess, I never blog. I sometimes go on Facebook, I listen to phone messages, I text, I do not tweet, and I am sometimes challenged to answer my e-mail on a timely basis. I work full time, have an elderly mother, a household to manage and although officially an empty nester, I do [...]