Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Reform Judaism, a major liberal Jewish denomination.
Reform Judaism
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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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Life Rosé, Sex, & Bonfires: Inside The World Of Adult Jewish Summer Camp
‘There are four types of people who come to adult Jewish summer camp,” Carine Warsawsky, founder and CEO of Trybal Gatherings, said. “The FOMOs (people who never went to camp,) the Nostalgics (former campers,) the Do-Overs (former campers who had a rotten time,) and Tagalongs (people brought by their friends.)” I nodded, pretending to be…
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Life Why Are American Synagogues Of Different Denominations Merging?
For Kathy Jacobs, the decision to join Agudas Achim Congregation wasn’t really much of a decision. The Coralville, Iowa synagogue was the only one within miles of Iowa City when Jacobs and her late husband moved to the area in 1998. This also meant that it wasn’t necessarily her decision to join a synagogue that…
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Fast Forward Reform Congregation Wins Fight To Build Synagogue In Central Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Reform congregation has won a legal battle to build a synagogue building in the central Israeli city of Hod Hasharon. Kehillat Yonatan was founded in 2001 as an independent Progressive congregation. It is named after the son of its spiritual leader, Rabbi Michael Boyden, who moved with his family to Israel…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Accused Of Sexual Misconduct Is Suspended By Reform Rabbinical Association
The Reform movement’s rabbinical association has suspended a rabbi accused of sexual and emotional exploitation by a woman who regularly worshipped at his synagogue. Rabbi Larry Bach, a well-known religious leader in Durham, North Carolina, was the subject of a several-months-long investigation by the Ethics Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The suspension…
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Letters I Was The First Woman Ordained In Israel. Of Course Israel Needs Liberal Judaism
In 1992, when I was the first woman ordained in the State of Israel, I was an oddity at best. This year, we ordained our 100th Israeli Reform rabbi, and they are serving communities and institutions all over Israel. Over 25 years later, my daughter, a native born Israeli, great granddaughter of the founders of…
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News Liberal Rabbis Increasingly Support Officiating Weddings With Non-Jewish Clergy
Rabbi Lev Baesh has co-officiated a wedding with a Native American chief on the shores of Lake Michigan. He conducted Paris’ first Catholic-Jewish ceremony. One time, he stood under the chuppah with a Hindu pandit; another, with a Shiite cleric. Things finally got tricky with an evangelical preacher — who’d been asked by the Jewish…
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Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
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Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
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Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
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Fast Forward Brooklyn event with Itamar Ben-Gvir cancelled days before Israeli far-right minister’s US trip
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Culture How Abraham Lincoln in a kippah wound up making a $250,000 deal on ‘Shark Tank’
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