Outraged Reform Jewish Leaders to Israeli PM: Denounce Degrading Body Searches of Female Rabbinic Students at Kotel
Senior leadership of the Reform Movement, the largest movement in Jewish life, sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to unnecessary and demeaning body searches imposed on female rabbinic students at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,
We are writing to express our outrage and dismay about the humiliation of a cohort of Reform rabbinic students, all of whom are the future leadership of the Jewish people, at the entrance to the Kotel on August 23rd, Rosh Hodesh Elul.
Two of our female rabbinic students, who are spending their first year of studies in Israel, were stopped at the entrance to the Kotel. After they passed through a metal detector (which clearly indicated that they were not posing any security threat), they were asked to lift their skirts and shirts in a demeaning way, an action that completely defied the decisions the Supreme Court reached on this matter.
Reform Movement Distressed by Attack in Jerusalem
In response to today's apparent terrorist attack in Jerusalem, the Union for Reform Judaism's President, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, issued the following statement:
Reform Leaders Protest Klinghoffer Opera
October 2, 2014, New York, NY -- In response to recent controversy over the Metropolitan Opera's production "The Death of Klinghoffer," Reform Movement leaders sent the following letter to Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb:
Dear Mr. Gelb,
URJ Announces New Director for Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI) in Indiana
October 30, 2014, New York, NY-The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) announced this week that Jeremy Klotz will be the new director of the URJ's Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI) in Zionsville, Indiana. Mr.