This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
The Latest
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News New group fears rabbis are drifting away from Zionism
Some clergy worry that the Reform and Conservative movements aren't doing enough to defend Israel
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News Reform movement sends mixed messages in response to harassment report
The Union for Reform Judaism pledged this week to make improvements to the way it handles sexual harassment, but some members of the community say the announced changes do not go far enough. The URJ, the congregational arm of the largest Jewish denomination in North America, released an investigation in February detailing its past failures…
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Opinion Want more Reform rabbis? Stop turning away Jews in interfaith relationships
The board of Hebrew Union College will soon vote on a proposal to stop enrolling rabbinic students at its Cincinnati campus, one of the Reform movement’s three North American rabbinical college locations. As revealed in publicly available papers and the proposal itself, enrollment across HUC’s three campuses is down 37% over the past 15 years….
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Fast Forward Teacher suing Westchester Reform Temple says she was fired for anti-Zionism
A teacher who says she was fired for identifying as an anti-Zionist online is suing a high-profile Reform synagogue, and dozens of Jewish leaders have signed a letter supporting her. In her complaint, Jessie Sander said she began teaching Hebrew language at Westchester Reform Temple’s religious school last July, and was fired three weeks later…
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Opinion Our Reform leaders sinned. Should we still sing songs they wrote?
Reform synagogues across the nation are struggling to make sense of the damning report released earlier this month showing nearly unfettered patterns of unwanted sexual contact between male faculty and female students at Hebrew Union College over five decades. Released on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the report, conducted by an independent law firm, showed that…
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News Reform seminary investigation: ‘Good old boys’ culture has left scars
The Reform movement’s seminary system has been plagued by an “old boys’ club” mentality that allowed sexual harassment, racism and discrimination against LGBTQ students to fester for decades, according an investigation released Tuesday by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The two presidents who led the school from 1971 until 2000 were both implicated in…
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News Too young to vote, these kids are helping get others to the polls in Georgia
Sarah Dowling and Justin Meszler may not be old enough to vote, but they’re making an impact in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoff election. “Everyone deserves to have their voice represented in government,” Dowling said. Dowling and Meszler, both 16, are youth volunteers and organizers for “Every Voice, Every Vote,” the Reform movement’s national, non-partisan…
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News Pinched by the pandemic, congregants are cutting synagogues dues from their household budgets
Across denominations and across the United States, Jewish families under financial pressure from the coronavirus pandemic are deciding that synagogue dues are an expense they can cut. “More congregations are seeing declines in members than are seeing growth,” said Amy Asin, vice-president of Strengthening Congregations, the synagogue advising arm at the Union of Reform Judaism….
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Fast Forward Helen Mirren criticizes Israel at film festival after being called ‘evil Zionist’ in viral video
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Fast Forward After dozens of Jewish girls get lost in NY creek tunnel, antisemitic comments follow online
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Yiddish דער קאַמף צװישן טראַדיציע און רעװאָלוציע אין סאָװעטיש־ייִדישער קולטור The battle between tradition and revolution in Soviet-Yiddish culture
סאָװעטיש־ייִדיש איז געװען אַ ראַדיקאַלער עקספּערימענט, װאָס פֿאַרנעמט אַ װיכטיקן פּלאַץ אױף דער װעלטמאַפּע פֿון ייִדישער קולטור
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News A Jewish nonprofit was training men to prevent sexual abuse. Then the funding disappeared