This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
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Fast Forward Aaron Panken Named President of Hebrew Union College
Rabbi Aaron Panken was elected president of The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion by its board of governors. HUC, the international university and seminary for Reform Judaism, made the announcement on Wednesday. Panken, 49, of Mamaroneck, N.Y., has taught rabbinic and Second Temple literature at HUC-JIR in New York since 1995. He has served…
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Fast Forward Ultra-Orthodox Block Women From Praying at Western Wall
Several thousand ultra-Orthodox protesters effectively blocked Jewish women activists campaigning for equal worship rights at the Western Wall from holding a monthly prayer session on Monday at the holy site. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said members and supporters of the Women of the Wall group were escorted by police to a spot a short…
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Fast Forward Camper Ethan Kadish Still Critical After Being Hit By Lightning
Ethan Kadish, the only one of three campers still hospitalized after being struck by lightning Saturday at a Jewish camp in Indiana, remains in critical but stable condition. The 12-year-old from Cincinnati requires help with his breathing and needs his chest cleared, according to his family, who set up a website, Caringbridge.org/visit/ethankadish, to provide updates…
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News Jews Unite Behind Push for Immigration Reform
Rabbi Mark Diamond stood on the border with Mexico on a brisk February day, alongside the Rev. Alexei Smith of the Catholic Archdiocese, the Rev. Mary Glasspool of the Episcopal Diocese and a host of clergy from Presbyterian, Methodist and United Church of Christ ministries. All of them peered through the corrugated steel wall at…
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Opinion Time for Israel To Change Stance Toward Jewish Women
Is Judaism the problem or the solution to women’s equality? Try telling agunot, women who are chained to their husbands unable to obtain a get, a religious divorce, that they are equal to men. Overarching Jewish values like b’tzelem Elohim — that all people are created in the image of God — may teach equality,…
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Opinion Kotel Struggle a Civil Rights Battle for Jews
Fifty years ago civil rights activists staged a sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s in Jackson Mississippi to protest the segregated seating which existed, mandating separate areas for black and white patrons. Young students from nearby Tougaloo College, both black and white, sat together at the “whites only” counter, waiting futilely to be served….
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Opinion Foxman: Foes of ‘2 States’ Hurt Israel’s Credibility
As Washington and Jerusalem jockey over terms for renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman insists that his organization will continue to support Israel. But he warns that Israelis make the job harder and hurt their own cause by allowing hardline opponents of Palestinian statehood to speak for them. He singled out Israel’s…
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Fast Forward 7% of Israeli Jews Are Reform or Conservative
Some 7.1 percent of Israeli Jews define themselves as Reform or Conservative, according to the soon-to-be-released Israeli Democracy Index for 2013. This figure might sound surprisingly high, considering that there are only 110 Reform and Conservative synagogues in Israel. But it is actually slightly less than the figure found by a different survey published last…
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