The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered
A prism on a kitchen windowsill performs the miracle of fracturing sunlight into the complete spectrum, throwing rainbows on mundane surfaces, elevating them to something celestial and rare. Benjamin Taylor, in his compact and precise memoir, The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered (Penguin, 2017), performs the same miracle. His last year of childhood in Forth Worth, TX, explodes into multicolored fragments, illuminating intersecting themes from the Kennedy assassination to Taylor’s homosexuality and eventual diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome.
The Netanyahu Years
On November 21, 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu surpassed David Ben Gurion’s record of longest continuous service as prime minister of Israel. Though Netanyahu’s years in power have been marked by scandal and political intrigue, his popularity with the Israeli electorate over the past seven years has grown, allowing him to do practically anything he wants.
The Shoah Through Muslim Eyes
A Pakistan-born Muslim woman with a Ph.D. from a South African university who directs the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College, a New York City Catholic school, has written a pioneering and courageous book about the Shoah (Holocaust).
Statement of Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs Responding to the Mass Shooting in El Paso, TX
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs: “Israel’s Decision To Bar U.S. Representatives Is Wrong. Democracies Do Not Hide.”
Reform Movement Leader on UNESCO's Hebron Resolution
Rabbi Rick Jacobs: It’s hard to fathom how UNESCO can, once again, vote to delegitimize what is demonstrated Jewish history at an ancient holy site. The place where Judaism’s patriarchs and matriarchs rest must not become a political pawn.
Reform Movement Appaulds Obama's Leadership on Sudan
Saperstein: "As people intimately acquainted with the horrors of ethnic cleansing and genocide, we know the dangers of international silence in the face of ethnic violence."
Reform Movement Urges Senate Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Pelavin: "It is clear that Don't Ask Don't Tell does not live up to our nation's highest ideals of liberty and freedom, nor does it meet our security needs."
Reform Movement Urges Swift Confirmation of Nominee Goodwin Liu
Pelavin: "The Senate should seize this second chance to give Professor Liu the fair consideration that every judicial nominee deserves."
Reform Movement Condemns Dove World Outreach Center's "Burn a Koran Day"
Rabbi Yoffie: "We reject attempts at dividing our nation along religious lines, and, together with the overwhelming majority of America's religious leaders, commit ourselves to standing up to those who wish to ostracize and intimidate our Muslim neighbors."