The URJ is committed to ensuring that our environments are safe, equitable, and inclusive. As part of our ongoing work to create a culture that prioritizes safety and accountability, we encourage every congregation to craft and adopt a congregational ethics code.

The URJ’s ethics accountability efforts over the past year have included a key commitment to accountability and restorative justice for all victims-survivors of abuse and misconduct in URJ spaces.

Twenty-eight congregational leaders met in Cincinnati in the summer of 1873 to establish the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), which we now call the Union for Reform Judaism. And so, 150 years ago, the Reform Movement in North America was born.

As part of the continuing effort by the URJ and our Movement partners to ensure safe, respectful, and equitable workplaces, the URJ is urging all congregations to adopt an ethics code that addresses the behavior of lay leaders, volunteers, congregants, and staff.

A message to anyone who has been subject to abuse or harm within the URJ - or by the URJ as a result - and to the wider URJ communities, from Dr. Guila Benchimol and Dr. Alissa Ackerman.

Last week, we traveled together to Israel and the Palestinian territories with a remarkable group of Black civil rights leaders and Reform Jewish leaders, including those who sit at the intersection of being Black and Jewish. We imagined that there would likely be bumps along the way, and there were. However, our group knew one another from our ongoing social justice and racial equity work in the United States, so there was a reservoir of goodwill and commonality that served us well.

As part of the URJ’s ongoing ethics work, we are writing to let you know of new and expanded reporting channels and protocols, including the hiring of a new Ombuds.  These steps have been informed by our field experts and the courageous voices of victims and survivors who have publicly and privately shared their experiences and feedback.

We are sharing this update on our ethics accountability work as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, protection of every member of our community, and to the implementation of recommendations from the Debevoise & Plimpton investigation report.