While camp is an oasis away from everyday life, it still exists in a world that has much work to do around harm prevention, particularly for Campers of Color, gender-diverse campers, campers with a variety of body sizes, and campers with disabilities.

"What if people protest the program and disrupt Shabbat?" I admit, I heard a loud voice in my head repeating this question as our Pride Shabbat festivities approached last June.

Reform Judaism stands for a Judaism that is inclusive and encourages the participation of all members of interfaith families in our communities. Here are some steps we can take as community leaders to affirm members of interfaith families, ensure they know they are valued and understood as critical members of our Reform communities, and do our best to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience a sense of belonging.

We sat down with Rabbi Jonah Pesner to discuss his work in the Reform Movement, as a SCoRE member, and his experience as the first Jewish person appointed to SCoRE.

In 2021, many of the URJ's 15 camps engaged in the creation of a URJ-structured Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (REDI) Working Group & Camp Assessment process. One of those camps was Camp George in Ontario, Canada.

Along with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the Jewish Grandparents Network (JGN) and Keshet share a commitment to an inclusive Jewish community that reflects and affirms marginalized identities. We realized we could have the greatest impact towards a more inclusive community if we worked together.

I read a quote today by Sy Smith that said, "Black people in the U.S. are expected to keep on keeping on, no matter what..."

As a graduate of both Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, the bomb threats to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are personal to me. Since January 2022, over a dozen HBCUs have received bomb threats; several of those threats were received on the first day of Black history month. The continuous attacks on institutions of higher learning; places of worship and individual attacks are a direct threat to our everyday existence.

Many Americans remember Rosa Parks as the tired seamstress who refused to move to the back of a bus, but Rosa Parks is much more than that story. Though she did not identify as Jewish, her life reflected a commitment to we might identify as tikkun olam – repairing what is broken in our world. Here are three key insights from Rosa Parks’s life we can bear in mind as Black History Month begins.