A New Community of Practice: Moving Social Justice to the Center of Synagogue Life
On an otherwise unremarkable Friday night in January, extra chairs were being set up as Reform Jews filled the sanctuary for Shabbat evening services at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, California. The room shone with the positive energy of a community engaged in a shared purpose.&nb
Lessons from Bad Segeberg after 80 Years
The faces in the photo that hangs in the new synagogue in Bad Segeberg haunt me. They seared themselves into my brain the first time I saw it, and they do not let go.
What were these 26 souls thinking when – in hiding – they celebrated Purim in 1936? Their eyes and their smiles betray fear, and their resolve to celebrate the festival with joy.
Reform Movement Response To News That Donald Trump Will Speak At AIPAC Policy Conference
The Reform Jewish Movement has always worked very closely with AIPAC. We respect completely its decision to invite all the viable candidates for president to speak at its upcoming Policy Conference. By inviting the candidates to speak, AIPAC does not support or oppose their candidacies, nor does it condone or commend their policies. AIPAC has, as it must, a singular focus: the U.S./Israel relationship. AIPAC's intent – and its responsibility – is to better understand the candidates' views on issues that impact the U.S./Israel relationship.
Strange Fruit
After seeing the infamous 1930 photograph by Lawrence Beitler, which depicts the mob lynching of two young black men, a Jewish high school teacher named Abel Meeropol wrote a haunting poem titled "Strange Fruit." The poem was first published in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magaz
A Liturgy after Terror Attacks
This is a four-prayer liturgy to be used after terrorists strike.