Conversion 101

Published on May 8, 2013

Conversion to Judaism is not easy. It requires a change in beliefs, actions and lifestyle. It involves extensive study, practice, a leap of faith, a shift in perception and some sacrifice.

Reform movement raps Israeli settlement plans, Palestinian U.N. upgrade

Published on December 5, 2012

The Union for Reform Judaism criticized Israel for its decision to build new settlement housing and the Palestinians for unilaterally seeking upgraded status at the United Nations.

Reform leader Rick Jacobs slams Israeli gov’t discrimination against non-Orthodox

Published on November 14, 2012

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said American Jews should no longer acquiesce to Israeli state-sanctioned discrimination against women and non-Orthodox Jews.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs installed as URJ president

Published on June 11, 2012

Rabbi Rick Jacobs in his formal installation as president of the Union for Reform Judaism called on the movement to "chart a new course."

Union for Reform Judaism fires 30 employees

Published on March 29, 2012

The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) laid off about 30 employees as part of a general restructuring of the organization.

President Jacobs

By Rob Eshman
Published on February 22, 2012

For many years now, a central narrative of American Jewish life has been the resurgence of Orthodoxy. Surveys show booming populations. Orthodox adults are nudging Jewish voting patterns to the right. In Israel, black-hat baby-making is as productive as a Chinese iPad factory. As American (and European and Middle Eastern) culture experiences a fundamentalist reawakening, so, it stands to reason, would Jewish culture.

Interfaith coalition urges candidates to eschew religious division

Published on February 21, 2012

Several Jewish groups joined an interfaith coalition calling on presidential candidates to refrain from using religion as a political wedge issue.

An extremist coup at the Union for Reform Judaism

Published on April 29, 2011

The nomination of Rabbi Richard Jacobs to head the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) is the latest coup for J Street. Less than three years after its founding, a member of J Street's Rabbinic Cabinet is being appointed to head the largest branch of American Judaism. With the nominee to head the Reform movement proudly declaring, " I support the goals and visions of J Street," it will be impossible for mainstream American Jewry to continue to marginalize J Street and its profoundly anti-Israel positions. The appointment of Rabbi Jacobs threatens to drive the remaining Zionist Jews out of the Reform movement and to create an unbridgeable schism with the rest of American Jewry.

Survey says Reform rabbis don’t know what members want

By Sue Fishkoff
Published on December 6, 2007

Leaders of Reform synagogues don't quite get their members, according to a new study by the movement.

The study shows a marked disconnect between what the leaders think their members are looking for and what the members say they actually want.

Where are the other Jewish anti-war voices?

By Leonard Fein
Published on March 22, 2007

Reform Body Rejects Science Distortion

By James D. Besser
Published on December 1, 2005

The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the largest body of religious Jews in the nation, has forcefully come out against the "politicization" of science at a time when the issue is boiling over in state legislatures, churches and classrooms