This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
The Latest
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Fast Forward Rabbi David Saperstein Named U.S. Religious Freedom Envoy
(Religion News Service) — Rabbi David Saperstein will be named the next ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, the first non-Christian to hold the job since it was created in 1998. As ambassador, the man named as the most influential rabbi in America by Newsweek magazine in 2009, will head the State Department’s Office of International…
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Fast Forward Russia Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar Brings Riot Police Escort to Crimea Synagogue
Russia’s chief rabbi Berel Lazar brought armed policemen, including riot police, to tour Crimea’s Reform synagogue in Simferopol, video footage shows. The chairman of the Ner Tamid Reform synagogue, Anatoliy Gendin, sharply criticized Lazar’s July 10 visit to his synagogue, suggesting that Lazar bullied his way inside the shul. Gendin, who was not in the…
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Fast Forward Crimea Reform Rabbi Accuses Russian Jewish Leaders of ‘Invading’ Synagogue
A prominent Chabad rabbi from Moscow denied accusations that he and several of his colleagues, including a chief rabbi of Russia, forced their way into a Crimean Reform synagogue’s offices. Anatoly Gendin, chairman of the Ner Tamid Reform Synagogue in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, made the accusation in a Facebook post Friday titled “synagogue…
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Life First Woman in Her Job, Toronto Rabbi Yael Splansky Has Big Plans
Copyright Mark Blinch The Toronto Star headline seemed almost comically anachronistic: “Holy Blossom Temple official appoints a female as senior rabbi”. But that was the news in Toronto last month as Canada’s largest reform temple named Rabbi Yael Splansky, 43, as its spiritual leader — a first for a major congregation in Canada’s largest city….
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News Rabbis Return to Florida Civil Rights Battleground as Heroes
(JTA) — For Rabbi Richard Levy, it was an emotional return to this historic northeastern Florida city. The first time Levy came to St. Augustine 50 years ago, he and 15 other rabbis and a Reform Jewish leader endured taunts from segregationists armed with broken bottles and bricks. They were jailed along with other civil…
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Fast Forward Rick Jacobs Asks Presbyterians to Meet With Netanyahu on Divestment
The leader of the Reform movement asked his Presbyterian counterparts to join him in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make their case against Israeli practices in the West Bank. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke Thursday in Detroit at the biennial general assembly of the…
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Fast Forward Reform Rabbis Join Push To End North Carolina Same-Sex Marriage Ban
The Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis joined a lawsuit against North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages. The lawsuit, which was filed April 28 by the United Church of Christ and several same-sex couples, alleges that North Carolina’s Amendment One and other state laws make it illegal for clergy to officiate at a same-sex…
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The Schmooze The ‘Jeopardy’ Rabbi
(JTA) — Sari Laufer isn’t allowed to say how well she did on the TV quiz show “Jeopardy” until the first episode featuring her airs Wednesday night June 11. One thing the 35-year-old Reform rabbi will share, however, is that she was “really determined” to answer correctly the one Jewish question that arose during the…
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In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish דער קאַפֿע-הױז װי אַ מקום-מקלט פֿאַר ייִדישער קולטורThe cafe as a refuge of Jewish culture
אין די בערלינער קאַפֿע־הײַזער האָט די אינטעליגענץ געשמועסט, געלײענט צײַטונגען און געשפּילן שאַך.
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Yiddish נײַע אָפּערע פֿאַרנעמט זיך מיט טבֿיהס טראַגישער טאָכטער שפּרינצעNew opera focuses on Tevye’s tragic daughter, Shprintse
די שאַפֿער פֿון דער אָפּערע שטעלן זיך פֿאָר די ווירקונג פֿון שפּרינצעס טויט אויף אירע שוועסטער און צייטלס אייניקל.
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Fast Forward Supreme Court ruling clears Goldman–Lander showdown for NYC congressional seat
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Opinion Marco Rubio invoked a medieval antisemitic trope in justifying war with Iran
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