WUPJ Library

Recent Issues Parashat Shelach-Lecha – How we see ourselves By: Rabbi Danny Burkeman Whenever I look in the mirror, I’m always a little bit surprised at the face looking back at me. It’s not that I don’t know what I look like, it’s just that in my mind I think I still look the same […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Fred Morgan , Temple Beth Israel , Melbourne, Australia Sometimes it’s valuable to remember where we came from and how far we’ve travelled.  When I was a child, the synagogue I grew up in was what we today call classical Reform. Head coverings were no-where to be seen, and the only […]

by Rabbi Pauline Bebe, Centre Maayan, Communauté Juive Libérale , Paris (for the French version, please click here or scroll down) What draws us to explore strange lands? Is it the desire to conquer one’s self? The other? A country? A promised land? We embark into an elsewhere which is inevitably filled with promise: “And […]

by Rabbi Fred Davidow, Chaplain, Glendale Uptown Home, Philadelphia, PA Blue has been a distinctive color of Judaism since Biblical times. In the Torah, God commands the Israelites to wear a garment with fringes at each corner and to attach a blue thread to the fringes (Numbers 15:37-38). The blue dye used to color the […]

by Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor, Vice President, Philanthropy, World Union for Progressive Judaism Perhaps the greatest human tragedy is our inability to deal with a plague that has surfaced over and over again, from generation to generation. It is a disease that prevents human beings from ever achieving their highest goals: from societies that aspire […]

By Rabbi Dr. Charles Middleburgh, Cardiff Reform Synagogue , Wales It has often been said that you can find anything you wish to find on the Internet, and although I cannot assert that this statement is true I know from my own experience that for one reason or another, people have put up in the […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Grisha Abramovich, head Rabbi of the Religious Union for Progressive Judaism in the Republic of Belarus Stop Just Complaining and Do Something Question – What technology, instrument or human resources do we need to run a Jewish community, its programs, services and events? There are many books, instructions, lessons and ideas […]

by Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Director, The Anita Saltz International Education Center of the World Union for Progressive Judaism Noam Chomsky (who I cannot stand), Elvis Costello (whose music I still like), and now shooting missiles into the Flotilla… What exactly is Israel thinking these days? We need a far more sophisticated response to our detractors… So […]

Recent Issues This Shabbat we will read Parashat “Beha’alotcha”, the third portion in the book of Bamidbar (Numbers). “Beha’alotcha” is the 36th portion in the Torah (which contains 54 Portions), from Numbers 8:1 to 12:16. It has 136 verses, 7,055 Hebrew letters, 1,840 Hebrew words, and about 240 lines in a regular Torah Scroll. Our […]

Recent Issues By Rabbi Uri Lam, 44, Sociedade Israelita da Bahia ( SIB – Jewish Congregation of Bahia ), Salvador, Bahia St., Brazil “El Na Refa Na La” (God, please, heal her, please) Five words. From one moment to the next, Moses – the only man who saw God face to face – humbles himself […]

by Rabbi Lawrence Englander, Solel Congregation of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada A lone street musician in Santa Monica, California, strums his guitar and begins to sing “Stand By Me” (click here for YouTube clip). Then, through the marvel of technology, the camera shifts to New Orleans where another musician picks up the tune and carries on. […]

by Rabbi David Ariel-Joel, Congregation Adath Israel Brith Shalom , Louisville, Kentucky Let us take a look at a small segment of the ‘Be’haalot’cha’ Torah portion, a section which challenges the concept of prophecy as a leadership and ruling tool. “ A young man ran and told Moshe, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the […]