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Fast Forward Reform Movement Slams Israel’s Anti-BDS Ban As Anti-Democratic
(JTA) — The Union for Reform Judaism criticized Israel’s new law banning entry to boycott supporters as anti-democratic. The URJ, which has the largest membership of any Jewish denomination, said it opposes both the law and boycotts of Israel. “We are frustrated that by passing this law, the Israeli government has in essence posted a giant sign…
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Opinion The Political Rabbi’s Survival Guide
On my desk, there is a small black and white photograph depicting the late Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld of Cleveland, his face bloody from a beating that he suffered at the hands of segregationists in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, during the Freedom Summer of 1964. It is now more than a half century later, and from what I…
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Fast Forward Reform Movement ‘Deeply Disappointed’ By Sessions Confirmation
In a statement issued Wednesday night, the leadership of American Judaism’s Reform Movement said it was “deeply disappointed” by the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General. Sessions, a U.S. Senator from Alabama, faced strong opposition from Democrats, who has opposed various civil rights measures throughout his career in the Senate. “We are deeply…
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Opinion Report From the Road: Can America’s Squabbling Jews Still Listen to Each Other?
A bitter wind is coursing through the corridors and alleyways of American Jewry. Across the country, wherever they gather, Jews seem anxious and afraid. They’re afraid for America. They’re afraid for Israel. And, to an alarming degree, they’re afraid of each other. That’s the impression I’m left with after visiting Jewish communities in about two…
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Letters Letter to the Editor: Jared Kushner Reveals The Fissures In American Judaism
In his recent column in the Forward (“How Could Modern Orthodox Judaism Produce Jared Kushner?” ) Beinart examines Jared’s recent, little-more-than-a-week long record as a member of the Trump administration. He looks at what the administration has thus far produced, and how Jared has stood by and watched it happen. In Beinart’s telling, Jared is…
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Community Are We Praying Against Trump?
Some American Jews may now find themselves in a largely unprecedented predicament: that of praying against their own government. It is well known among synagogue goers that there is a prayer for the U.S. government in most prayer books, recited on Shabbat after the Torah service (usually followed by a prayer for the welfare of…
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Breaking News Rabbi Herman Schaalman, Oldest Reform Rabbi, Dies at 100
(JTA) — Rabbi Herman Schaalman, who was the oldest living Reform rabbi, has died at the age of 100. Schaalman, a leader in the Reform movement for seven decades, died on Tuesday, according to the Union for Reform Judaism. He served a small congregation in Iowa before moving to Chicago to become the Midwest…
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Breaking News Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Recon Movements Denounce ‘Muslim Ban’
(JTA) — Two large groups representing Orthodox Jews responded to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring migrants from seven mostly Muslim countries and refugees from around the world by warning against policies that would place any limits on immigration based on religion. With the combined statement by the Orthodox Union and Rabbinical Council of America, all…
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Opinion This is the most disorienting Rosh Hashanah in memory
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Special Report At the kibbutz hit hardest on Oct. 7, a wrenching debate over how to rebuild
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