URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs Responds To Nomination Of David Friedman To Be U.S. Ambassador To Israel
URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs Asks President-Elect Trump About Comments By David Friedman
URJ Commends Prime Minister Netanyahu For Commitment To Aleppo's Wounded Civilians
In response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that Israel will find ways to assist wounded civilians from Aleppo, Syria, Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs issued the following statement: In these darkest days of the year, we applaud and are heartened by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bold decision to help alleviate the devastating scale of human suffering by, according to news reports, seeking ways to expand Israel’s medical assistance to the civilian casualties of the Syrian tragedy, specifically in Aleppo.
Statement of URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs On Proposed U.N. Resolution On Israeli Settlements
The Union for Reform Judaism, representing the largest segment of American Jewry, has a long-standing policy of opposition to the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. At the same time, we stand firmly against any U.N. resolution that would dictate the way forward on this complicated issue. The United Nations has a long and troubling record of hostility to Israel, and it has proved itself incapable of playing a constructive role.
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.
Reform Movement Leaders Speak Out Against State-Level Anti-LGBT Legislation
Contact: Max Rosenblum or Sarah Greenberg
202.387.2800 | news@rac.org
Reform Movement Leader Commends Obama Administration on New Inclusion Guidelines for Transgender Students
Washington, D.C., May 13, 2016 – In response to the letter sent today from the Obama Administration to all public schools directing them to ensure transgender students access to facilities consistent with their gender identity, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
Zubik v. Burwell Ruling Leaves Key Issues Unresolved
Washington, D.C., May 16, 2016– In response to today’s Supreme Court ruling in Zubik v. Burwell, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement: