What is the Reform position on clergy officiating at the wedding of a Jew to a person brought up in a different faith?
I’m Jewish and my partner is not. We’d like to have a Jewish wedding and plan to raise a Jewish family. Will a Reform rabbi or cantor officiate at our wedding?
If One Member of a Couple is Jewish, but the Other Isn't, is Their Child Considered Jewish by the Reform Movement?
Historically, since the Rabbinic period (post 70 CE), Jewish status was passed down by the mother.
Does listening to a podcast count as study? Is it OK to say the blessing if I’m listening to commentary without reading or hearing the Torah portion?
Listening to the podcast definitely counts as Torah study. It’s an opportunity to learn a bit of Torah and start to think about the weekly Torah while also incorporating some modern-day thinking into the traditional message.
Do Reform Jews Believe in the Messiah?
In the Jewish prayer book, the siddur, there are references to an “end of days”: the Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt, the dead who were righteous will be resurrected, and a figure known as the Messiah, or in Hebrew the Moshiach, will restore Israel to new-found glory.
Who Is Rich? Those Who Are Happy With What They Have
Parashat B'haalot'cha takes up the issue of the perils of materialism that Rabbinic interpreters found implicit in a verse from last week's portion, Numbers 6:24, "The Eternal bless you [with possessions] and protect you [from your possessions possessing you]." An incident occurring in t
L’dor Vador
From the time of the wilderness wanderings, the Levites formed an important part of the Israelite socio-economic structure.
The Blessing and the Curse of Material Prosperity
The separate census of the Levites' ancestral houses, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari and their clans, begun in the prior portion, continues in Parashat Naso, along with the assignment of specific tasks to those between the ages of thirty and fifty.
Encountering the Sacred in Uncharted Lands
A core teaching of Jewish spiritual practice is our readiness to read the Torah in many different ways. We find meaning and significance across entire books; or we zoom in, such that an individual letter or even an accent mark fills our field of vision and discloses sacred truth.
Insight into Parashat B’midbar
After weeks of dwelling upon the ideal, the vision that Leviticus sets forth of the pure and holy community the Israelites were commanded to construct, B'midbar ("In the Wilderness"), the Book of Numbers, brings the Torah back to the real, nitty-gritty world of conflict, dissension, and
What Is a Blessing?
Parashat Naso, the second portion in the Book of Numbers, incorporates some of the Torah's most challenging passages and one of its most beautiful ones.