WUPJ News

For five years, a march dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust has been held in Grodno. In mid-March, the city remembers people who were killed during the Second World War. Of the nearly 30 thousand Jews who once lived in Grodno, only 200 people survived after the war. Two Grodno ghettos were destroyed on March 12, 1943.

On March 3 – 10, 2019, the  Klal Yisrael Fellowship Cohort 5 came together in Paris, France for the second seminar of their fellowship year. The Klal Yisrael Fellowship program is a program of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) in collaboration with the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), and the Israel Movement for Progressive and Reform Judaism (IMPJ). Klal Yisrael is enabled by a generous grant from Betty and Arthur Roswell.  Participants, ages 21-30, meet for three seminars over the course of ten months – in Israel, North America and Europe – to collaborate and develop their capacity to impact an area of Jewish life that is important to them.

The senseless murders of 49 Muslims during Friday prayers at two Mosques in Christ Church, New Zealand horrifies us. The World Union for Progressive Judaism, representing over 1.2 million Jews around the world, condemns this act of terror and religious intolerance, and sends our support and condolences to the entire New Zealand community.

The Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) in Australia, New Zealand and Asia is a strong supporter of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.  The World Union was supportive of us 85 years ago and we believe that, as a prosperous community, we have an obligation to support the World Union in its various programs.  On a per capita basis, we are the most generous financial supporters of the World Union.

In early March, a group of 29 Bnei Mitzvah from Progressive communities across France (and French-speaking Switzerland) were welcomed to Beit Shmuel as part of a mission organized by the World Zionist Organization, under the supervision of Gusti Yehoshua Braverman. 

Cherie and Fred Half, lay leaders of the World Union’s North American Advisory Board, and members of Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, California, reported on a very successful fundraising event at the end of February. Congregation Beth Am has for about 20 years been underwriting our twin congregation in Poltava, Ukraine. Our committee has […]

The World Union stands with our rabbis, members and leadership at the UJR – WUPJ – Amlat across Latin America in denouncing the horrific attack against Rabbi Davidovich in Beunos Aires. Our global community deplores this act of violence and wishes the chief rabbi a refuah shleimah, full and quick recovery.

Beth Hillel Rome received the visit in Rome of a delegation from GIL Geneva as a first step in affirming a new twinning relationship between the two progressive congregations.

The World Union mourns the passing of Al Vorspan, former senior vice president of the of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), now Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and director emeritus of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, on Saturday, February 16th, at the age of 95.

In late January – early February, the Third Pedagogical Conference of Reform Educators brought together 30 educators from Reform congregations in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to Gomel, Belarus for three days of learning and sharing best practices in early childhood education and Jewish education.