This is the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
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Fast Forward Reform Movement’s Kutz Camp, Incubator For Teen Leaders, Is Shutting Down
(JTA) — Kutz Camp, the Union for Reform Judaism summer camp for teens and an incubator for modern spiritual Jewish folk music, is closing. URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacob made the announcement in a statement Wednesday, citing competition from other programs. The camp celebrated its 50th anniversary on July 4, 2015. The summer 2019 session will…
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News Is The Temple Sisterhood Over? Or Reinventing Itself?
Congregation Shaarai Shomayim, in Lancaster, PA, is one of the oldest continually operating congregations in North America. Its cemetery has graves from the colonial period. Its sisterhood was founded in 1894. But when that sisterhood decided a couple years ago to try to attract younger members, they changed their name — the Temple Sisterhood became…
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Fast Forward Reform Movement’s Rabbinical Group Appoints First Female Leader
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Reform movement’s rabbinical wing has appointed Rabbi Hara Person as its first female chief executive. The Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represents 2,100 Reform rabbis around the world, made the announcement on Thursday. Person succeeds Rabbi Steven Fox, who is retiring in June after 13 years as CEO. With…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Races Into Temple To Rescue Torahs From Raging California Wildfire
Despite fires raging in the distance, a Southern California rabbi ran into his synagogue to rescue its Torahs. Temple Adat Elohim, a Reform synagogue in Thousand Oaks, sits in the path of two fires, Hill and Woolsey. Rabbi Barry Diamond and President Sandy Greenstein made it to the synagogue before mandatory evacuations to save the…
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Fast Forward Jewish Groups Helped To Pass Florida Amendment Allowing Felons To Vote
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An amendment to Florida’s constitution that would restore voting rights for felons passed Tuesday with the help of Jewish groups that campaigned for the measure. Amendment 4 won 64 percent of the vote, passing the needed 60 percent threshold for passage. A number of Florida branches of Jewish groups, including the Reform…
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Fast Forward Study: Increase In Israeli Jews Identifying As Reform And Conservative
Only about 12,000 Israeli-Jewish adults – not even a fraction of a percent – are registered dues-paying members of Conservative and Reform synagogues, according to a study published on Monday. Roughly 7,500 are registered with the Conservative movement and 4,500 with the Reform movement. On the other hand, the study, published by the Jewish People…
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Opinion Israel Doesn’t Need Liberal Judaism. It Needs Liberalism.
This summer, we wrote an article in these pages in which we argued that Reform and Conservative American Jews should stop importing their brand of Judaism to Israel on the grounds that we already have too much religion. What Israelis need is not softer versions of Judaism, but rather help strengthening our liberalism, which is…
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Fast Forward Union For Reform Judaism Calls For Release Of Detained Pro-Palestinian Student
The largest Jewish movement in American has called for the release of the American student with Palestinian grandparents who has been detained at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport for the past week. Rabbi Joshua Weinberg, vice president for Israel and Reform Zionism of the Union for Reform Judaism, wrote in a statement that the organization is…
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