I’ve highlighted some poets and poems that speak to me for the moment we are in, but I encourage you, too, to poke around on your own from among Israeli writers and find what resonates with you.

With all of the stress, anxiety, and potential panic that this moment in time brings, may new of these political developments offer us a small silver lining with which to find and grasp a glimmer of hope.

With Netanyahu still in power, issues of religious pluralism, equality, and civil marriage will likely take a backseat, leaving the power of the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate firmly in place and leaving little hope for progressive change.

The election for the 2020 World Zionist Congress is open for another two weeks, and a strong showing by the “Vote Reform” slate is critical. 

We all have the right to study Torah, to interpret it, and to make ourselves heard in the never-ending Jewish conversation about what our treasured texts mean.

The irony is stark. For once, your vote as a non-Israeli living outside of Israel may have more lasting impact than my vote as an Israeli living in Israel. That’s because regardless of what happens in Israeli elections – whether we get a new government or not – the WZC will meet in Jerusalem later this year.

Teacher: “Class, what’s the definition of Zionism?”

Students, in unison: “Zionism is the aspiration of the Jewish people to build a Jewish democratic state in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel)!”

High schoolers in the URJ Heller High study-abroad program in

Reform Judaism is becoming a major pillar of world Jewry – and as such, we should analyze the major challenges of the Jewish people today.

“To lead The Jewish Agency is an enormous responsibility,” says Isaac Herzog, “but one that I grabbed with both hands.”