This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
The Latest
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Opinion Why Are Israelis Lashing Out at Reform Jews? Because We’ve Reached the Tipping Point!
Malcolm Gladwell had it right: “There comes a time when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” Thomas Kuhn, a historian of science who wrote of similar tendencies in his classic “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” would have called this the moment of “paradigm change.” Whichever author’s construction…
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Opinion Can Reform Jews Win Battle for the Soul of Israel?
The attacks continue. I am speaking not of the violent physical attacks that have dominated the news in Israel lately, but rather the attacks by the Israeli Orthodox establishment upon Jews standing up for their rights. Jews striving to bring to fruition the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which call for “complete equality of…
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News Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Slams Reform Jews as ‘Heretics’ — but Backs Western Wall Prayer Deal Anyway
(JTA) — Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, former chief rabbi of Jerusalem’s Old City, is no fan of Reform and Conservative Judaism. In a letter sent Thursday to Israel’s chief rabbis, the haredi Orthodox Nebenzahl calls the movements “heretical religions.” They are “uprooting the religion and hurting everything holy to us,” he writes. “Their war against the…
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Fast Forward Ultra-Orthodox Lawmaker Compares Reform Jews to Mentally Ill
A haredi Orthodox lawmaker in Israel reportedly compared the Reform movement to a mentally ill person. Israel Eichler of the United Torah Judaism party made his remarks Tuesday in the lead-up to a Knesset debate the next day on the Supreme Court’s decision that non-Orthodox converts can immerse in a public mikvah, according to the…
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Fast Forward Reform Jews Thank Bibi for Western Wall Prayer Deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with leaders of the American Reform movement, who thanked him for the decision to expand the egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall. The leaders, in Israel for the annual meeting of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform movement’s rabbinical organization, met with Netanyahu on…
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Life Is the Kotel Compromise Another ‘Status Quo’ Agreement?
Yesterday the leaders of the Reform Movement in Israel and the U.S. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deal to expand the egalitarian prayer plaza at Robinson’s Arch. Less than a year ago, on the day I was viciously stomped in the stomach at the Kotel, a friend cynically asked: “Why did you put yourself…
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Fast Forward Ultra-Orthodox Man Burns Reform Prayer Book at Western Wall
A haredi Orthodox man burned a Reform prayer book while protesting a women’s prayer service at the Western Wall. The man, Itamar Gadassi, set the book on fire during the monthly service Wednesday of Women of the Wall, which meets at the wall’s women’s section. Protesters regularly shout epithets at the group and have thrown…
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Fast Forward Reform Jewish Leaders at Interfaith Rally Call For Tighter Gun Rules
WASHINGTON — Reform movement officials joined a protest rally calling on gun manufacturers to increase safeguards that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals. The event, organized by the Do Not Stand Idly By gun safety campaign, drew faith leaders to the protest Tuesday in front of a store, Realco Guns, in a…
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