URJ and CCAR Statement on Israel Under Attack
We hope and pray that the cease fire holds, and at the same time, the Union for Reform Judaism and Central Conference of American Rabbis deplore the massive rocket attack unleashed upon Israel and its citizens by Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the terrorist clients of the Iranian regime, which controls the Gaza Strip.
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.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Important Statement From Israeli Supreme Court Reminding Prime Minister's Government To Abide By Rule Of Law
Today, the Israeli Supreme Court made an important statement by signaling that they are fed up with the Netanyahu government’s decision to “freeze” its own governmental decision forged in compromise with our Reform Movement and our allies. The court gave the Israeli government two weeks to come back with a counter argument to the court, an extremely short window that seems to imply great impatience with the government’s behavior.
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Republican Jewish Coalition Leaders Must Ask Candidates Today about Gun Violence in America
An Urgent Open Letter to the Leadership of the Republican Jewish Coalition: RJC Leaders Must Ask Candidates about Gun Violence on America
URJ Leadership: President Obama Must Take Action to End Gun Violence in America
Contact: Lauren Theodore at 212-650-4154
December 3, 2015
21 Kislev 5776
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Reform Movement Leadership Meets with MK Ayman Odeh, Leader of the Joint List in Israel's Knesset, A Day After Trump’s Reprehensible Anti-Muslim Proposal
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), and Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in New York City, hosted a group of area rabbis and lay leaders from the Reform Movement on December 8 for a discussion with Member of Knesset Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List, the third largest party in the Knesset.
Statement by Rabbi Rick Jacobs on MK Ayman Odeh's Decision to Not Meet in the Offices of the Jewish Agency
The Union for Reform Judaism is committed to dialogue for equality and dialogue between Jewish and Arab Israeli citizens. This week, we invited MK Ayman Odeh to speak to Reform Jewish leaders. This was an opportunity for us to engage in the complexities of the issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the internal Jewish-Arab issues in Israel.