Join Us: Demand Equality at Israel's Holiest Site
We need you to convey to the Israeli government the urgency and significance of equality for Reform and progressive Jews in Israel.
We need you to convey to the Israeli government the urgency and significance of equality for Reform and progressive Jews in Israel.
On Selichot, the Reform Movement will join a broad-based grass-roots email campaign directed at Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Rivlin, Speaker of the Knesset Edelstein, and Diaspora Affairs Minister Bennett to let them know that because Israel matters so deeply to us, we demand an end to the ultra-Orthodox monopoly that not only dictates under what conditions progressive Jews may pray at the Kotel (Western Wall), but also how Israel rejects the diversity of our people by representing only one living Judaism through its courts, its governmental policies, and its public spaces.
On Wednesday, September 21st, Reform Jewish leaders will host a webinar to discuss the ongoing situation at the Western Wall.
In recent days, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has been under a blistering attack by various political and social groups. On the eve of the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, whose theme this year will be a memorial to 16-year-old Shira Banki, who was stabbed to death at last year's parade by an ultra-Orthodox extremist, there is a heavy feeling in the LGBT community.v
Rabbi John Rosove has a list of issues for which he thinks the American Reform movement can provide much-needed support in Israel, from African immigration to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Earlier this month, Rosove assumed the position of board chairman for the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), the Zionist wing of the national Reform movement.
During a crisis, we collaborated with Reform leadership on aspects of our response from diplomacy and communications to social media and public relations. Every one of the 900 North American Reform congregations should recognize and value the range of expertise and resources available within the URJ’s congregational network.
As news reports with more details came in from Tel Aviv last night, we are shocked and horrified at the sight of two gunmen, dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews, who opened fire at diners in the Sarona Market.
Rabbi Mona Alfi, the senior rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel in Sacramento, CA, sent a letter today to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing “great concern and distress” about the detainment of Lesley Sachs, director of Women of the Wall, at the Kotel today.
We caught up with young Jewish leader Andrew Keene, a student at Drexel University, to talk about going global, being engaged, and serving as a young lay leader - and why it’s all so important.
Figures show that an offensive statement against the Arab public is posted every 6 minutes, while a call for actual physical violence is posted every 27 minutes.