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Fast Forward Netanyahu Commits To Ending Western Wall Impasse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told American Reform leaders at a private meeting that he is committed to the deal to create an egalitarian prayer space south of the traditional Western Wall Jewish holy site, Haaretz reported. Netanyahu promised the delegation headed by Union for Reform Judaism president Rick Jacobs that he would do everything possible…
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Breaking News Reform Movement Leaders Meet With Mahmoud Abbas In Ramallah
(JTA) — Leaders of the U.S. Reform movement met with Palestinian Authority President President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The delegation of around 30 leaders from the Union for Reform Judaism, led by its president, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, met with Abbas and other Palestinian officials Thursday afternoon. Discussions during the meeting, which represented the first time…
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Fast Forward Reform Movement Slams Israel’s Anti-BDS Ban As Anti-Democratic
(JTA) — The Union for Reform Judaism criticized Israel’s new law banning entry to boycott supporters as anti-democratic. The URJ, which has the largest membership of any Jewish denomination, said it opposes both the law and boycotts of Israel. “We are frustrated that by passing this law, the Israeli government has in essence posted a giant sign…
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Opinion The Political Rabbi’s Survival Guide
On my desk, there is a small black and white photograph depicting the late Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld of Cleveland, his face bloody from a beating that he suffered at the hands of segregationists in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, during the Freedom Summer of 1964. It is now more than a half century later, and from what I…
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Fast Forward Reform Movement ‘Deeply Disappointed’ By Sessions Confirmation
In a statement issued Wednesday night, the leadership of American Judaism’s Reform Movement said it was “deeply disappointed” by the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General. Sessions, a U.S. Senator from Alabama, faced strong opposition from Democrats, who has opposed various civil rights measures throughout his career in the Senate. “We are deeply…
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Opinion Report From the Road: Can America’s Squabbling Jews Still Listen to Each Other?
A bitter wind is coursing through the corridors and alleyways of American Jewry. Across the country, wherever they gather, Jews seem anxious and afraid. They’re afraid for America. They’re afraid for Israel. And, to an alarming degree, they’re afraid of each other. That’s the impression I’m left with after visiting Jewish communities in about two…
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Letters Letter to the Editor: Jared Kushner Reveals The Fissures In American Judaism
In his recent column in the Forward (“How Could Modern Orthodox Judaism Produce Jared Kushner?” ) Beinart examines Jared’s recent, little-more-than-a-week long record as a member of the Trump administration. He looks at what the administration has thus far produced, and how Jared has stood by and watched it happen. In Beinart’s telling, Jared is…
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Community Are We Praying Against Trump?
Some American Jews may now find themselves in a largely unprecedented predicament: that of praying against their own government. It is well known among synagogue goers that there is a prayer for the U.S. government in most prayer books, recited on Shabbat after the Torah service (usually followed by a prayer for the welfare of…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Culture In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions
In Case You Missed It
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News LA fires won’t stop bar mitzvahs this Shabbat, as joy and pain meet
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News HIAS cuts 22 staff even as it braces for Trump immigration crackdown
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Fast Forward A synagogue that survived the Palisades fire has become a ‘refuge’ for many who lost their homes
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News When fire spread to West Hollywood, a rabbi’s mom chose to grab candlesticks
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