The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered
A prism on a kitchen windowsill performs the miracle of fracturing sunlight into the complete spectrum, throwing rainbows on mundane surfaces, elevating them to something celestial and rare. Benjamin Taylor, in his compact and precise memoir, The Hue and Cry at Our House: A Year Remembered (Penguin, 2017), performs the same miracle. His last year of childhood in Forth Worth, TX, explodes into multicolored fragments, illuminating intersecting themes from the Kennedy assassination to Taylor’s homosexuality and eventual diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome.
The Netanyahu Years
On November 21, 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu surpassed David Ben Gurion’s record of longest continuous service as prime minister of Israel. Though Netanyahu’s years in power have been marked by scandal and political intrigue, his popularity with the Israeli electorate over the past seven years has grown, allowing him to do practically anything he wants.
The Shoah Through Muslim Eyes
A Pakistan-born Muslim woman with a Ph.D. from a South African university who directs the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College, a New York City Catholic school, has written a pioneering and courageous book about the Shoah (Holocaust).
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.”
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.