Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
The Latest
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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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News How a Small Mississippi Town Helped Build Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism, America’s largest denominational stream, boasts some 900 congregations in America, including some with thousands of member families. So what possessed Rabbi David Ellenson, the renowned scholar and then-president of Reform Judaism’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, to travel to tiny Temple Beth El, in Lexington, Mississippi, — population 2,000 — for that…
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Breaking News As Betsy DeVos Faces Confirmation, Jews Split Over Education Agenda
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Orthodox Jewish umbrella group urged the Senate to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary and another expressed enthusiasm for her agenda, while the Reform movement expressed concerns about her support for government funding of religious schools. Agudath Israel of America said in a letter Tuesday to the Senate Education Committee as it…
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Breaking News Orthodox Synagogue Visits Selma Reform Temple to Honor MLK
(JTA) — More than 100 members of the Orthodox National Synagogue in Washington DC traveled to Selma, Alabama, to visit the historic Reform Temple Mishkan Israel. The Reform temple in Selma only has seven remaining members, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of the Orthodox National Synagogue said the purpose of the group’s visit…
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Opinion Opening the Gates of Justice at ‘Hashem’s House’
When I was invited to sing in Israel this past Hanukkah, my heart filled with joy at the chance to celebrate the Holiday of Light in the City of Eternal Light. I went in search of truth and to return to my home of homes. But going home is never as easy as you think…
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Breaking News Reform Movement Denounces Trump’s AG Pick of Sessions
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Reform movement said it “strongly opposes” the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, a day after the Senate concluded his confirmation hearings. “Senator Sessions’ testimony failed to signal a clear departure from his longstanding record of insufficient commitment to voting rights, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ equality, women’s rights,…
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News America’s Largest Jewish Group Has Big Concerns About Jeff Sessions
The largest American Jewish religious organization has “significant concerns” about Donald Trump’s nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. In a statement Monday morning, the central institutions of Reform Judaism, which represent roughly 1.5 million American Jews, called on Sessions to “enforce and interpret the law to promote justice and equality for all.” The…
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