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URJ Youth Professional Development Interactive Learning Opportunities
We’re excited to introduce our brand new 3-Part Webinar Series for Spring 2018: Asking the Why: The Jewish in Jewish Youth Engagement!
Creating a Culture of Kindness
I sat down with Dr. Bruce Powell and Dr. Ron Wolfson via Zoom to discuss their significant new book, Raising A+ Human Beings: Crafting a Jewish School Culture of Academic Excellence and AP Kindness.
Ensuring the Sacred and the Ethical in Sacred Partnership
The URJ offers resources that address the challenges of building sacred partnerships and leading our institutions at this moment in time. We strongly suggest that you take a look at them and begin to apply what makes sense to ensure that you put as much care into how healthy your organization is emotionally as it is physically. Many of these are offered in partnership with movement partners.
8 Ways to Celebrate Hanukkah that Don’t Involve Gifts
Instead of eight days of gifts, here are eight ways to celebrate Hanukkah with your kids that relate the story and celebration for your enjoyment and to help you refocus your approach:
Sukkot Explained, for Families with Young Children
On the 15 th of Tishrei, just five days after Yom Kippur ends, we usher in the holiday of Sukkot (translated into English as “booths” or “huts”). Sukkot , our Festival of Booths, is a festival of thanksgiving: for the food we have harvested, the homes we are so privileged to call our own, and for the natural world that surrounds us
Simchat Torah for Families
As the sun sets on the seventh day of Sukkot, we transition immediately into the jubilant celebration of Simchat Torah. There is no time to spare; we’ve got to get this Torah party started! Simchat Torah means “rejoicing in Torah,” and this holiday is a true celebration of Torah, and all that it represents. We dance, we sing, and we make merry, long into the night
The Conversion Bill Backgrounder
The Conversion Bill refers to the pending legislation in Israel that would grant the Chief Rabbinate exclusive control over matters of conversion. This bill threatens the legitimacy of Reform, Conservative, and even many Orthodox communities in Israel and beyond. The question of who is a Jew and which denominations are considered valid in the Jewish State are at the heart of this issue
The Western Wall Agreement: A History
The struggle for an egalitarian section at the Western Wall (the Kotel) where progressive Jews can pray with dignity is an ongoing and complex story. Read about the major developments here.
Conversion Law in Israel: A History
Recent attempts by Haredi parties to solidify their monopoly over conversions and to be the sole determiners of Jewish identity are part of a long and complicated history of conversion law in Israel. Read about the major developments here.
The Western Wall Backgrounder
The Western Wall Agreement refers to the decision to add to the egalitarian section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel. Yet, this historic deal has come under fire and there are threats to undo the progress made by this momentous agreement.