eida Olami, the global summit of Netzer leadership, took place on January 15 – 20 at Beit Shmuel in Jerusalem. The Veida is convened annually as the governing body of Netzer to share best practices in young adult education, leadership, Israel engagement, as well as provide a global networking opportunity.
A lifetime of Jewish connections in one summer! The WUPJ 2018 Youth Camping Report highlights the impact of our international camping movement throughout the world, featuring statistics and locations of summer camps, counselors in key countries around the world!
Ten years after its first lay leaders paved the way for a congregation in Copenhagen, and eight years later in Stockholm, the Progressiv Judendom Stockholm is proud to present its new siddur – the first progressive Siddur in Sweden since 1877.
Earlier this year, while I was diarising our summer cruise dates, I realised that we would land in Lisbon the morning before Rosh Hashanah. I knew we had a Progressive/Reform kehillah there – Ohel Jakov – as I had had the pleasure of meeting some of the community members four years earlier; and so I contacted their passionate leader and champion – Adriana de Souza – and arranged for us to join them for dinner and a service on Erev Rosh Hashanah, in their proudly sacred space– a five room apartment (up three flights of stairs, in an old building, hidden away in a suburb of Lisbon), which they had recently reorganised, repainted and refreshed. They had a “synagogue”, library, meeting/dining room, office and kitchen with a small balcony.
Soon Jewish families and congregations around the world will be getting together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Few are familiar with a Sephardic custom of a Rosh Hashanah Seder – a festive meal rich in symbolism. This new cookbook from the Reform Jewish Community of Madrid (English-language edition) is designed to teach people about this ancient tradition and – for those who are interested in organizing their own Seder – it provides recipes and tools to do it.
For three weeks, approximately 160 of us –campers, staff and rabbis– lived together as a community in the south west of France. Although we came from several different countries; we ate prayed, played and learned together. Imagine rolling hills filled with vineyards and fields overflowing with sunflowers. Can you hear voices singing and praying in […]
Are you aware of the many opportunities that our global Reform Movement provides for all of us? Because your congregation is part of the larger Reform Community, you belong to the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) here in North America or a similar national organization and to the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) connecting Jews around the world. Our new Find a Community app – currently in app stores for iPhone and Android users – gives you all the information you need to find a Reform Congregation anywhere from Wheeling, West Virginia here in the USA to Warsaw Poland, or even from Buenos Aires to Budapest.
Twelve men, representative from each tribe, have been sent to reconnoitre the land of Israel, and they come back with the same report but with two different conclusions. The land is very good and fertile, but the inhabitants are strong. Ten believe that it would be impossible to take the land and it is better not to try, two insist that trusting in God and refusal to be afraid will mean that they will indeed succeed.
“It is from here that we shall continue the enormous task of contributing to the renaissance of German and European Jewish life & learning,” said WUPJ chair Carole Sterling at the dedication of the new building of Abraham Geiger College and the School of Jewish Theology in Potsdam on 23 April. She conveyed the thanks […]
On March 18, more than 200 members of the Jewish communities as well as representatives of Christian congregations, non-governmental organizations, diplomats, schoolchildren, students, foreign visitors and residents of Grodno gathered at “March of Remembrence” in Grodno to honor the memory of Grodno ghetto demolition that happened 75 years ago. The event began with prayer led […]