Reform Jewish Movement Responds to School Shooting in South Florida
Reform Movement leadership statements in response to yesterday’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left at least 17 people dead and many more injured.
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.
Debt Limit Deal Temporarily Averts Threat to Essential Social Safety Net Programs
Reform Jewish Movement Leaders: "Despite its flaws, the compromise averts economic calamity and, by postponing negotiation over entitlement and tax reform, turns down the political thermostat in Congress for a chance at a sober resolution of the nations fiscal challeng
Ruling to Remove Circumcision Ban from Ballot Welcomed
Rabbi Saperstein: "We welcome Judge Giorgi's ruling, and vow to oppose similar measures in the future with the same vigor our people have fought to defend our rights as Jews for millennia."
Reform Leaders Worldwide Condemn Israeli Boycott Bill
Rabbis Eric Yoffie, Gilad Kariv and Danny Allen and Anat Hoffman join together in opposing dangerous new legislation passed in Israel
Contact: Annette Powers
apowers@urj.org 212-650-4154