Israel

a laptop on a table with apples and honey, kiddish cup, candle sticks and flowers
Jewish Life Around the World

Keeping Family Close, Regardless of Distance

Rabbi Stacey Blank
 September 21, 2022
As I boarded the plane to Israel in the summer of 2002 for my first year of rabbinical school at HUC in Jerusalem, my mother said, "Please, just don't meet an Israeli." As soon as the plane touched down at Ben Gurion airport, I knew that I was home. A few months later, I met that Israeli. From our first conversation, he understood that I was studying to be a rabbi, and I understood that he wanted to live only in Israel.
Rabbi RIck Jacobs meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Bennett and others
Reform Movement in Israel

Shabbat Message: A Galvanizing Visit to Israel That Fills Me With Encouragement

Rabbi Rick Jacobs
 March 4, 2022
In meetings with the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, and Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, we discussed the crisis in Ukraine, the future of the Kotel, ensuring more funding and rights for non-Orthodox Jews, combatting racism, and stopping extremist violence against Palestinians, in addition to other pressing issues.
israel parilment building
Israel

Why Israel’s Next Government Gives Me Hope

Rabbi Josh Weinberg
 June 15, 2021
On Sunday, Israel’s Knesset narrowly voted in Israel’s 36th government with Naftali Bennett as the nation’s 13th prime minister, unseating the incumbant Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel

The Ethical Conundrum of a Jewish and Democratic State

Rabbi David Ellenson
 June 8, 2021
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, its secular founders envisioned a nation that would be both Jewish and attuned to the values of liberal democracy. They were confident that a country with an overwhelming Jewish majority could maintain a Jewish character and ensure civic equality for all its inhabitants.