This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
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News How Rabbi Eric Siroka Made Me Lose My Jewish Identity
This woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, met Rabbi Eric Siroka at the Reform synagogue Or Chadash, in Flemington, New Jersey, in 2000. She was 17 at the time and was looking for someone to mentor her through a Reform youth fellowship program. Siroka became her teacher, leading her in weekly evening study sessions when…
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News When Reform Leaders Downplay Charges of Rabbis Behaving Badly
Rabbi Eric Siroka was quietly expelled from the nation’s leading association for Reform rabbis, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, this past spring. At the time, the CCAR said only that Siroka had been expelled for refusing to comply with an ethics investigation. By then, Siroka, a married father with two children, had moved to…
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Opinion As Reconstructionists Accept Rabbis With Non-Jewish Partners, Will Reform Jews Follow Suit?
Moved either by a brave spirit or by the notion that widespread intermarriage in the Jewish faith demands this change, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College recently announced that it is revoking its “Non-Jewish Partner” policy, which denied admission to students married to, or in a committed relationship with, a non-Jew. This decision is likely to have…
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Fast Forward Benjamin Netanyahu Affirms Rights of Reform and Conservative Jews
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his commitment to assuring the rights of all Jewish denominations in Israel. He made the statement in a letter to the AJC, the organization reported Thursday. The statement came in response to a letter sent to Netanyahu by AJC Jerusalem chair Matthew Bronfman and director Avital Leibovich following comments…
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Fast Forward Nashville Temple Hosts Planned Parenthood Event After JCC Balks
A Nashville synagogue has offered its facility as a venue for a Planned Parenthood event in the wake of a city JCC backing out of an agreement to host. Congregation Ohabai Sholom, also known as The Temple, reached out to Planned Parenthood of Middle & East Tennessee after learning of the Gordon Jewish Community Center’s…
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Fast Forward Jewish Groups Slam White House for ‘Baby Step’ on Syrian Refugees
Two U.S. Jewish organizations said the Obama administration’s offer to absorb at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year was inadequate. “Increasing the total number of refugees from 70,000 to 85,000 for next year and to 100,000 for the year after is a nice symbolic gesture,” Mark Hetfield, the president of HIAS, a Jewish…
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Opinion The Choose-Your-Own-Adventure High Holidays Prayer Book
At the Central Conference of American Rabbis, we have to wrestle with the question “What does it mean to be Jewish in America today?” beyond the theoretical. In our charge is the basic structure and tone of worship for the largest group of Jews in the country, the Reform Movement. And when we took a…
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News Pew Study Finds Orthodox Similar to Evangelical Christians — Not Other Jews
Wearing black hats or donning small yarmulkes, Orthodox Jews represent a distinct subgroup within the Jewish community — more observant, more conservative and more insular. But the revelation in a report released today by the Pew Research Center is that Orthodox Jews vote, believe, worship, act and raise their children more like white evangelical Protestants…
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