Gordon, Schulman appointed to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council

Published on April 10, 2013

Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon and Maureen Schulman are the newest members of the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

The 21st century B’nai Mitzvah

By Ryan Torok
Published on March 13, 2013

When Isa Aron considers b’nai mitzvah today, she gets the impression that parents — and sometimes synagogues — care more about their son or daughter performing flawlessly when on the bimah than they do about their forming lasting connections to Judaism.

Michael Chabon’s search for authentic expression

By Tom Teicholz
Published on March 13, 2013

A writer walks into a room full of rabbis. This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s not. In the words of Woody Allen’s “Broadway Danny Rose,” “It’s the emes.”

Moving and shaking

By Ryan Torok
Published on March 6, 2013

The Reform leadership organization Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) honored 33 CCAR rabbis who have performed 50 years of service in the rabbinate.

Getting to Know You...

By Susan Freudenheim
Published on February 27, 2013

In 2000, an urban congregation of 1,000 families found itself at a crossroads. The synagogue had a balanced budget and a beloved rabbi who was retiring after three decades, but its building was badly in need of repairs and the congregation was aging. To survive, the leadership felt they had to upgrade, so they took four steps: They hired a big-name rabbi, renovated the building, and put together an ambitious schedule of lectures and other programs to attract new faces. They also borrowed $1 million to pay for it all.

‘The Feminine Mystique’: ‘All that I am I will not deny’

By Rabbi Laura Geller
Published on February 21, 2013

In reflecting on the 50th anniversary of Betty Friedan’s groundbreaking The Feminine Mystique, Stephanie Coontz wrote in the New York Times that “readers who return to this feminist classic today are often puzzled by the absence of concrete political proposals to change the status of women. But The Feminine Mystique has the impact it did because it focused on transforming women’s personal consciousness.”

More Reform rabbis performing interfaith weddings

Published on July 3, 2012

Danny Richter and his fiancée, Lauren Perkins, have never been to a Jewish wedding, yet this fall, the interfaith couple is planning to be married in a Jewish wedding ceremony.

First Woman Heads Reform Conference

By Abby Cohn
Published on April 3, 2003

Rabbi Janet Marder has a surprising confession for someone who is making history as the first woman president of the Reform movement's 1,800-member Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR).

She's seriously shy.

"I had years of stage fright before I had to stand up in a crowd," said Marder, senior rabbi at Reform Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, near San Jose. "I still get pretty nervous."

New Israel Fund Honors Rabbi Susan Laemmle

By Michael Aushenker
Published on May 27, 1999

Last week, Rabbi Richard Levy, executive director of the Los Angeles Hillel Council, introduced to the Central Conference of American Rabbis in Pittsburgh a new Reform movement manifesto. And according to Rabbi Susan Laemmle, that's not his only contribution to Reform. For without Rabbi Levy -- her mentor and former superior -- there may never have been a Rabbi Laemmle.