Multi-Denominational Chicago Area Jewish Youth Received Pluralistic Leadership Training
New York, NY, January 5, 2015--The Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) was the proud recipient of a $25,000 Jewish United Fund (JUF) Breakthrough Fund Grant awarded to NFTY Chicago Area Region (NFTY CAR), to host a leadership training program for teens and staff across Jewish denominations in Chicago.
Reform Movement Reacts to Tragic Attack in Paris
January 7, 2015--The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) expresses our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims murdered on Wednesday January 7, when hooded gunmen stormed the Paris offices of a weekly satirical magazine, killing at least 12 people, including two polic
Violence in Paris Condemned; Religious Freedom Must Be a Principle Valued by All
New York, NY January 9, 2015 - In response to the terror in Paris this week, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
More Than a Thousand Jewish Teens, and Adults Invested in Their Future, Gather at Historic Convention
January 20, New York, NY -- Thousands of Jewish teens and adults will come together for the NFTY Convention and Youth Summit February 13 through 17, 2015, in Atlanta, GA.
Reform Movement Condemns Terrorist Attack in Tel Aviv
January 21, 2015, New York, NY -- In response to the brutal stabbing on a Tel Aviv bus this morning, URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs made the following statement:
Progressive Judaism on the Internet: ReformJudaism.org Exceeds Two Million Visitors in 2014
January 26, 2015, New York, NY - More than two million visitors have browsed the Union for Reform Judaism's (URJ) flagship website, ReformJudaism.org since its launch in March 2013.
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs On Charlottesville
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs on Charlottesville: We Condemn Neo-Nazi hate speech and call for an end to violence; but “Moral Equivalence of violence and hate “on many sides” is troubling. We commend the opening of President Trump’s statement condemning the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence” but are deeply troubled by the moral equivalence evident in President Trump’s statement today.
David Grossman, Award-Winning Israeli Author And Activist, To Receive Union For Reform Judaism’s Highest Honor
vid Grossman, the Israeli author and activist, whose books, essays and public advocacy have inspired a generation, will receive Reform Judaism’s highest honor, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 2017 Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award. The award will be presented at the 74th URJ Biennial in Boston in December 2017.
Outraged Reform Jewish Leaders to Israeli PM: Denounce Degrading Body Searches of Female Rabbinic Students at Kotel
Senior leadership of the Reform Movement, the largest movement in Jewish life, sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to unnecessary and demeaning body searches imposed on female rabbinic students at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,
We are writing to express our outrage and dismay about the humiliation of a cohort of Reform rabbinic students, all of whom are the future leadership of the Jewish people, at the entrance to the Kotel on August 23rd, Rosh Hodesh Elul.
Two of our female rabbinic students, who are spending their first year of studies in Israel, were stopped at the entrance to the Kotel. After they passed through a metal detector (which clearly indicated that they were not posing any security threat), they were asked to lift their skirts and shirts in a demeaning way, an action that completely defied the decisions the Supreme Court reached on this matter.