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The association that oversees Reform rabbis detailed problems with the way it handles accusations of sexual misconduct and other ethical violations in an extensive report released Wednesday. The report found that despite numerous revisions since its code of ethics was created in 1991, the Central Conference of American Rabbis has often failed to effectively investigate…
When Rabbi Sheldom Zimmerman was suspended by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 2000 and simultaneously stepped down as president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, even many insiders at the Reform movement’s flagship institutions had no idea of the severity or even the real nature of his offense. The official word from…
The former senior rabbi of a historic Reform synagogue in Baltimore has been expelled by the movement’s rabbinical association two months after being fired by the board for over unspecified allegations of the movement’s ethical code, Rabbi Steven Fink was fired in October after the members of Temple Oheb Shalom, a large, 165-year-old community, voted…
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Reform movement’s rabbinical wing has appointed Rabbi Hara Person as its first female chief executive. The Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represents 2,100 Reform rabbis around the world, made the announcement on Thursday. Person succeeds Rabbi Steven Fox, who is retiring in June after 13 years as CEO. With…
The surprise email from Rabbi Rick Jacobs, leader of 2.2 million Reform Jews, arrived in the inboxes of Temple Oheb Shalom’s members just before Shabbat. The Baltimore congregation was in crisis, less than two days away from deciding whether to fire their senior rabbi of nearly two decades for unspecified violations of the Reform movement’s…
The Reform movement’s rabbinical association has suspended a rabbi accused of sexual and emotional exploitation by a woman who regularly worshipped at his synagogue. Rabbi Larry Bach, a well-known religious leader in Durham, North Carolina, was the subject of a several-months-long investigation by the Ethics Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The suspension…
The Reform movement’s rabbinical association censured the rabbi of a Durham, North Carolina synagogue after receiving a complaint that was “sexual in nature,” but didn’t tell his congregation, spurring a watchdog group to demand that the movement be more forthcoming about accusations of sexual wrongdoing against its clergy. “It’s kind of shocking,” said Shulamit Magnus,…
A Reform rabbi who led a congregation in Maryland for over a decade until resigning late last year has been suspended from his movement’s main rabbinical organization for violating its code of ethics, the Frederick (Md.) News-Post reported. Rabbi Dan Sikowitz was suspended from the Central Conference of American Rabbis in May, the organization confirmed…
