In 2018, Netzer Olami introduced a new focus for Shnat Netzer participants increasing the partnership between participants of Shnat Netzer and Shnat Sheirut (pre-army volunteer program of Noar Telem, Israel’s Reform Youth Movement). Throughout the year, participants of both young leadership programs met for joint activities and discussions in an effort to build connections between them. This added focus received great feedback, leading to stronger social and ideological relationships among all involved.
Summer camps are in full swing in Belarus, Russia, Poland and Ukraine, with more than 600 campers enjoying outdoor activities and exploring Reform Judaism. Many are still celebrating 70 years of the State of Israel as central themes for cultural, artistic and historical activities in their camps.
The Nation-State basic law passed by the Knesset this week comes dangerously close to declaring Jewish superiority. We are grateful to those who lobbied the members of the Knesset, and are relieved by some of the amendments to the original drafts of the law; but we remain concerned that the bill gives special rights to Jews that are not guaranteed to all citizens of the State of Israel.
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.
For the last number of years, the summer edition of our synagogue magazine has focused on the Jewish travel experiences of our members. As well as boasting as a member, Cathy Winston, the travel editor for the British Jewish Chronicle, congregants wrote about Crete and Corfu, Dubrovnik and Copenhagen and the Judah Hyam synagogue in New Delhi. Numbers 33, the opening chapter of the sidrah, Mase’ei reads like a travel itinerary, the stages of the Israelites wanderings in the wilderness.
Recently, I was privileged to participate in the WUPJ – WRJ Wilkenfeld International Women’s Leadership Seminar at Beit Shmuel, headquarters of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, in Jerusalem. This intense and intimate learning experience, conceived of and endowed by WRJ Past President Dolores Wilkenfeld, brings together Reform and Progressive Jewish women from different parts […]
Just a few days after the much-vaunted Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore, the latest Asia Progressive Judaism Shabbaton was held in the South Korean capital, Seoul. All the overseas participants were keen to hear from the locals their view on what had just happened, and the latter did not hold back. The Shabbaton began with a […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ARZENU, representing Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists around the world and in Israel, congratulates longtime friend of our Movement Isaac Herzog on his unanimous election to the post of Chairman of the Jewish Agency of Israel. Mr. Herzog’s appointment reflects the deep concern of the Jewish Zionist leadership […]
Led in partnership with the Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), the Wilkenfeld International Women’s Leadership Seminar is a leadership training program for women in Reform/Progressive congregations around the world who have been identified as potential emerging leaders. This year, 21 participants from 15 countries, representing a variety of the WUPJ regions, came to Jerusalem for […]
On May 23-24, the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), the Institute for Modern Jewish Studies and the Russian State University of Humanities (RSUH) in Moscow, in cooperation with The Department for Diaspora Activities, the Department for Zionist Activities in Israel and Combatting against Antisemitism of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) held a momentous academic […]
