This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
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Fast Forward Kotel Rabbi Questions Natan Sharansky’s Plan for Egalitarian Prayer
Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, said rabbis must weigh whether to oppose a compromise proposal over egalitarian prayer at Judaism’s holiest site. In a statement Thursday, Rabinowitz vowed to fight against “the slightest deviation” from customary practice at the Western Wall. However, he left unclear whether the compromise forged by Jewish Agency…
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Opinion Reform Jewry Grapples With Intermarriage Among Rabbinic Students
There’s a new controversy roiling the Reform movement: Can an applicant to rabbinic school be married to a non-Jewish partner? Everyone knows that many American Jews date men and women from other religious backgrounds. But rabbis? This might shock some readers — even today, when nothing shocks us anymore. But actually, the phenomenon is not…
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Fast Forward Orthodox Face of Women of the Wall
Earlier this month, while several hundred women held their monthly Rosh Chodesh prayer service at the Western Wall, a group of ultra-Orthodox men jeered loudly at them from across the barrier separating men and women. “Reform Jews, get out of here,” they shouted. “Reform Jews do not belong to the people of Israel. Reform Jews,…
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News Maine Rabbi’s Injury Forges Remarkable Partnership Between 2 Branches of Faith
One of the first things Rabbi Alice Goldfinger said as we sat down for our interview is that she would likely forget all about me. “I’ll know you were here, because the appointment is in my calendar,” she said. “But I won’t remember it. I have no short-term memory. I don’t feel time, so by…
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Opinion Orthodox Push Back on Kotel
The rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz isn’t opposed to the plan for an egalitarian prayer section there, he announced in a statement emailed to reporters yesterday. But it’s already clear that he doesn’t speak for the Haredi mainstream. Rabinowitz is Haredi, but softer on religious issues than most Haredi leaders. This is partly…
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Fast Forward Five Women Detained at Monthly Kotel Protest
Israeli police detained five women activists on Thursday at the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s most sacred sites, for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said. The incident occurred during a monthly prayer session by the Women of the Wall, a group opposed to police-enforced Orthodox controls at…
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News Kotel Egalitarian Prayer Plan Set in Motion by Dramatic Western Wall Compromise
A dramatic offer to set up a new egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was met with a no less dramatic willingness to compromise on behalf of all the major religious leaders in the American Jewish community. In a rare show of consensus, activists on the liberal side of the Reform movement…
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Books Projected Prayers Grow in Popularity as Part of Jewish ‘Visual Tefillah’ Services
Several years ago, Rabbi Lance Sussman, spiritual leader of the Reform synagogue Keneseth Israel, in Elkins Park, Pa., received the grim news that he was going blind. After surgery, eye patches and other treatments, his sight miraculously improved. The experience left him with a profound appreciation for the visual in life. “We live in an…
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