Union for Reform Judaism Invests in LGBTQIA+ Leadership Development
URJ Stands with Israel and the Residents of the South
URJ's Rabbi Rick Jacobs Welcomes Rabbi Hara Person as CCAR Chief Executive
Following today's announcement that Rabbi Hara Person will become the next Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), stated: "I could not be more excited to welcome my friend and colleague Rabbi Hara Person to her new, and richly deserved, position as Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis."
Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Israeli Ministers Must Stop Their Hate Speech
Union for Reform Judaism Establishes Presidential Fellowship on Millennial Engagement
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) is launching a new high-level fellowship to strengthen its engagement with millennials. The first Fellow will be Evan Traylor, 21, of Edmond, Oklahoma. Traylor, who will graduate from the University of Kansas in May, will work alongside URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs and leaders of the Reform Movement to develop a toolkit for engaging millennials as partners in creating a more just, whole, and compassionate world.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Ultra-Orthodox MKs Must Learn the Torah of Respect
Statement by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ):
MK Israel Eichler’s comments yesterday are yet another example of the extreme intolerance of the ultra-Orthodox religious establishment. Clearly they feel a seismic shift in their decades-old monopoly on Judaism in Israel. Their stranglehold on Judaism is being loosened, and their response is desperate and pathetic.
It is hard to imagine what twisted Torah MK Eichler studies when he characterizes the largest Movement in Jewish life as “mentally ill.” Our Torah teaches us the values of pluralism and of tolerance - and it teaches us not to use phrases like “mentally ill” as an epithet.
House Vote of D.C. School Vouchers Program Alarming
Pelavin: "The passage of the Scholarship for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act...by the House of Representatives is alarming both from the standpoint of our nation's long commitment to separation of church and state and to public education."
Reports About Bradley Manning' Treatment Cause for Concern
Pelavin: "The information which has been carried in the press raises significant concerns about the apparently degrading and humiliating treatment of Pfc. Manning."
Reform Movement Submits Amicus Defending Arizona's Public Campaign Financing Program
Pelavin: "As our religious texts recognize, any time something of value changes hands, the potential exists for those in a position of power to see the world in a hue tinted by the gift giver. Public financing forecloses the opportunity for such distortion."
One Year Later, Health Care Reform Still Vital
Pelavin: "We continue to oppose legislative attempts to repeal or de-fund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and urge lawmakers to, instead, focus on ways to strengthen the law and help fulfill its goals of providing inclusive, accessible, affordable and acc