URJ President on United Methodist Church Rejecting BDS
This week’s clear decision by the United Methodist Church rejecting the efforts of those who misguidedly sought to draw the Church into the boycott, divestment, sanctions campaign to delegitimize Israel is a welcome step in support of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
URJ Launches JewV’Nation Fellowship: An Interfaith Outreach Incubator for Emerging Jewish Leaders
Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) today launched the JewV’Nation Fellowship, an innovative year-long project incubator and leadership development program supporting emerging Jewish leaders and creative interfaith outreach initiatives. The program, which will begin in early 2017, is supported in part with a Jewish Funders Network grant from Avenues to Jewish Engagement for Intermarried Couples and their Families, in honor of 2015 Genesis Prize Laureate Michael Douglas.
The JewV’Nation (pronounced “juvination”) Fellowship program will be led by April Baskin, URJ’s Vice President of Audacious Hospitality, and seeks to engage a new generation of leadership by valuing the perspectives and insights of the younger members of the community and supporting them with resources and strategies to bring their best ideas to life. The fellows themselves will define and create exciting and contemporarily relevant Jewish programming.
President Obama's Call for Assad to Relinquish Power Welcomed by Reform Movement
Pelavin: "We welcome President Obama's call for President Assad to step down. We agree that it is the only path that will allow the Syrian people to pursue a peaceful transition to a democratic government."
Opposing BDS
Reform Movement Leaders Speak Out Against State-Level Anti-LGBT Legislation
Contact: Max Rosenblum or Sarah Greenberg
202.387.2800 | news@rac.org
Reform Movement Leader Commends Obama Administration on New Inclusion Guidelines for Transgender Students
Washington, D.C., May 13, 2016 – In response to the letter sent today from the Obama Administration to all public schools directing them to ensure transgender students access to facilities consistent with their gender identity, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
Zubik v. Burwell Ruling Leaves Key Issues Unresolved
Washington, D.C., May 16, 2016– In response to today’s Supreme Court ruling in Zubik v. Burwell, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
Galilee Diary: Truth and Reconciliation
[Jeremiah dictated his prophecy to Baruch the scribe, who brought the scroll to the royal court]. ...And Yehudi [brought it and] read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes that stood beside the king.
Galilee Diary: Sacred Music
Praise Him with the blast of the horn; praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and the pipe. Praise Him with the loud-sounding cymbals; praise Him with the clanging cymbals.
Galilee Diary: Pioneers
[The ultra-Orthodox] look like our grandfathers. How can you slap your grandfather into jail, even if he throws stones at you? -David Ben Gurion