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Fast Forward Reform movement cuts staff by 20%, citing existential threat
The Reform movement — the largest Jewish denomination in the country — announced layoffs today in its main umbrella organization, the Union for Reform Judaism, citing an existential threat brought on by the coronavirus economic crash. “Unfortunately, we are now at the point that the long-term viability of the URJ is at risk if we…
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Life ‘Extra screen time is totally fine’: and more tips for doing summer without camp
On Thursday afternoon, a long-dreaded email arrived in inboxes throughout the Reform Jewish community. Amid concerns about operating safely during the coronavirus pandemic, it announced, the Union of Reform Judaism had decided to cancel all sessions in its large network of summer camps. 10,000 campers ages four to 18 are affected by the shutdown, and…
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News He made the call to cancel summer camp for 10,000 kids. Here’s what he has to say.
Ruben Arquilevich is a Jewish summer camp guy. He says his life was shaped by Jewish summer camp. Over the past three decades, he’s been a camper, a counselor, a professional staffer and the director of a Jewish summer camp. He met his wife at Jewish summer camp. He sent his kids to Jewish summer…
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Israel News Reform Movement Spurns Iconic Israeli Charity To Protest West Bank Land Buys
The largest Jewish denomination in the United States is turning down a donation from an iconic Israeli charity, alleging that the charity tricked the movement by buying and then hiding land purchases in the West Bank. Keren Kayemet LeYisrael-Jewish National Fund is probably best known in the United States for its famous blue tzedakah box…
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Fast Forward Liberal Rabbis Join Trump’s High Holiday Call After 2-Year Absence
Rabbis from the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements will participate in the White House’s annual High Holidays conference call on Friday, a change in procedure after two years without participating. Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin, the president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the union of Conservative rabbis, told the Forward on Thursday that their board had taken…
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Fast Forward Small Hawaiian Island Gets First Reform Rabbi
A Hawaiian island’s small Reform Jewish community gained a permanent rabbi for the first time, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. The Jewish Community of Kauai community was founded 30 years ago, and it’s taken that long to employ a permanent rabbi. Rob Kvidt, a community member for 16 years who was ordained in June, will be…
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Fast Forward Daughter Of Prominent Reform Rabbis Killed When Truck Hit Her Bicycle
NEW YORK (JTA) — The daughter of two prominent Reform rabbis was killed while biking when she was hit by a cement truck in Brooklyn. Devra Freelander, 28, was struck on Monday at an intersection in the East Williamsburg neighborhood. The driver has not been charged so far, according to the New York Daily News. Police…
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Fast Forward Al Sharpton Gives Controversial Talk To Reform Jews, Admits To ‘Cheap’ Rhetoric
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Al Sharpton appealed to Reform Jews for a united front in facing down anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of bias and acknowledged his role in stoking division, recounting how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow reprimanded him for his “cheap” rhetoric. The civil rights activist and CNN host reportedly has expressed regrets privately…
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