Rabbi Rick Jacobs Named as 2012 GA Scholar-in-Residence
Six Teen Leaders To Watch: Newly Elected NFTY Board Steers the North American Reform Jewish Youth Movement, Including New Racial Justice Campaign
Six outstanding teen leaders have been elected to serve on the North American Board of NFTY, the Reform Jewish youth movement, for the 2017-2018 program year. Reform Judaism is the largest and most diverse movement in Jewish life, reaching nearly 900 congregations and more than 1.5 million people.
Israeli Government Poised To Walk Away From Agreement To Provide Egalitarian Prayer Space At The Kotel In Jerusalem
Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) President Rabbi Rick Jacobs issued the following statement today about the Israeli government's agreement to provide an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
We have seen the recent reporting that the Israeli government will suspend its plan to move forward with an egalitarian, pluralistic prayer space at the Kotel. Those reports are deeply alarming, but, sadly, not surprising.
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Israeli Government's Reversal On Egalitarian Prayer Space At The Kotel In Jerusalem Is "An Unconscionable Insult"
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Israeli Government's Reversal On Egalitarian Prayer Space At The Kotel In Jerusalem Is "An Unconscionable Insult"
Reform Movement Cancels Meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu
Rabbi Rick Jacobs: “We cannot go about our scheduled meetings as if nothing has happened. The annulment of the Kotel resolution and the passing of the conversion law have caused an acute crisis between the Israeli government and diaspora Jewry. After yesterday's shameful decisions, we feel that at this moment, after more than four years of negotiations, it is not clear that the current Israeli government honors its agreements."
Reform Movement Leadership on Today's Conversion Bill Postponement
Leaders of the Reform Movement in Israel and North America, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, President and CEO of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, have issued the following statement:
Today’s decision by the Israeli cabinet to postpone further action on the offensive “conversion bill” is an important rebuke to the aggressive behavior of the ultra-Orthodox toward diaspora Jewry and the non-Orthodox streams. That is why we supported the temporary delay.
The Union for Reform Judaism Launches Interactive Hebrew Curriculum
September 6, 2012, New York, NY -- The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) announced today the launch of Mitkadem Digital-- an interactive, fully supported, online component of Mitkadem, a 5-year Hebrew curriculum for religious school students, which explores grammar, vocabu
URJ Founds New Specialty Jewish Summer Camp Dedicated to Science and Technology
September 14, 2012, New York, NY -- The Reform Movement announced this week the founding of the first Jewish specialty camp for science and technology.
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.