How Can We Find Hope and Faith in the Face of Death?
Rabbi Stephen Karol's new book is based on his many years of helping congregants in mourning, which shaped and sharpened his perceptions of death and Jewish mourning tradition.
A River Flows from Eden: Rabbi Rick Jacobs' Address to the URJ Biennial
This movement’s task, in this moment, is to nurture the natural waterways that connect us. To keep our congregations the strong sources of life they have always been and will always be.
Suffering in Silence: Jews, Therapy, and the Stigma of Mental Illness
I was 20 when I learned that my first love had committed suicide. His death shattered me, both mentally and emotionally – but it also saved my life. You see, in the months leading up to his suicide, I had been planning my own.
A Rabbi and a DACA Recipient Call for the Dream Act
Before members of Congress leave Washington for the holidays, they need to rectify a crisis of their and the Trump administration’s own making.
From Political Scientist to Reform Seminary President
We recently sat down with Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., the new president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, to ask him about the path that led to this role.
Slaughter Does Not Honor Anyone: Remembering that Fateful Day in Pittsburgh
As I was leading Torah study at our synagogue nearly a year ago, an evil man murdered my friends and co-religionists because to him, Jews are strangers and dangerous.
How the Living Serve the Dead
In Vayechi, we hear the final requests of Jacob, and then Joseph, to bring back their remains to be buried in the land God promised to their ancestors. In carrying Joseph’s bones, Moses moves draws closer to his progenitor, giving us the opportunity to reflect on our connections to our forebears.
The True Measure of Repentance
In Vayigash, Joseph now a powerful man in Egypt conceals his identity from the brothers who had sold him into slavery years ago. In so doing, he allows them to confront their past mistakes.
Happy New Year! Check out the Reform Movement's Top 18 Stories of 2017
What a year it’s been. With 2018 fast-approaching, we’ve rounded up the top 18 Reform Movement stories of 2017, listed below in somewhat chronological order.
What I Learned in the Small Moments at a Major Jewish Conference
URJ Biennials are filled with lots of big moments, but sometimes the magic – and the most important lessons – are in the small ones.