Strong Evidence of the Impact of Reform Movement Youth Programs on Lifelong Jewish Identity
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.”
URJ Grants Support Innovative Outreach Programs
URJ President on United Methodist Church Rejecting BDS
This week’s clear decision by the United Methodist Church rejecting the efforts of those who misguidedly sought to draw the Church into the boycott, divestment, sanctions campaign to delegitimize Israel is a welcome step in support of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
URJ Launches JewV’Nation Fellowship: An Interfaith Outreach Incubator for Emerging Jewish Leaders
Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) today launched the JewV’Nation Fellowship, an innovative year-long project incubator and leadership development program supporting emerging Jewish leaders and creative interfaith outreach initiatives. The program, which will begin in early 2017, is supported in part with a Jewish Funders Network grant from Avenues to Jewish Engagement for Intermarried Couples and their Families, in honor of 2015 Genesis Prize Laureate Michael Douglas.
The JewV’Nation (pronounced “juvination”) Fellowship program will be led by April Baskin, URJ’s Vice President of Audacious Hospitality, and seeks to engage a new generation of leadership by valuing the perspectives and insights of the younger members of the community and supporting them with resources and strategies to bring their best ideas to life. The fellows themselves will define and create exciting and contemporarily relevant Jewish programming.
Court Decision Overturns DOMA, Welcome Step Toward Equality
Pelavin: "Today's decision is a vital, overdue, and very welcome step toward marriage equality and a more just society."
Contact: Sean Thibault or Noah Baron
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Jewish Leader Testifies in Support of Carbon Standards
Barbara Weinstein: "If we fail to preserve and protect this world _ our only world - by failing to address rising levels of carbon pollution, we betray our responsibility to one another and to future generations."
Reform Leader Condemns Attacks on African Refugees in Israel
Saperstein: Such violence has no place in any civilized society, much less Israel, the nation state of the Jewish people who have throughout history known similar horrors rooted in ethnic and religious differences.
Rabbi Saperstein Welcomes Public School Guidelines on Harassment, Bullying, and Free Expression
Saperstein: "This document, along with existing state laws and policies and the 2010 guidance issued by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, will help administrators and teachers respond appropriately when challenges arise concerning speech and harassm