Israel & Global Affairs
By Rabbi Naamah Kelman , 8/21/2018
This past November, our beloved President Rabbi Aaron Panken (of blessed memory) ordained the 100th Israeli Reform/Progressive rabbi. It would be his last ordination. No one was more excited than he was to celebrate this milestone. The Israeli rabbinic program that started so small in the late 1970’s and grew over time is the program that launched and established what is now a thriving Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ). Many of our graduates have spread all over Israel and indeed the Jewish world, establishing and serving congregations, founding key institutions, and... Read More
By Rabbi Allison Berry, 7/25/2018
When I was in second grade, I won an essay contest. The Jewish Agency asked young people across the country to respond to one question – what does Israel mean to you? In retrospect, my family should have understood this as a sign that I was destined to be a rabbi. But back in 1986, all I remember was my elation at winning the $200 prize. Last year, while cleaning out the basement I stumbled across my essay. The handwriting was something that only an eight-year-old girl could replicate, with hearts drawn in place of dots over the “I’s,” I wrote, “what Israel means to me is hope. Hope that... Read More
By Jane Taves, 7/19/2018
I recently had the opportunity to visit Israel as part of the 2018 WRJ Wilkenfeld International Women’s Leadership Seminar. Following the seminar, a number of us attended the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism Biennial on a kibbutz outside of Tel Aviv. Each of these two amazing events has been described in detail by other WRJ women who attended, and I recommend their articles to you. The experience I want to share here is a day that I spent visiting the West Bank. While our WRJ group was in Israel, a group from ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America) was touring there... Read More
By Jill Kamin and Corinne Black, 7/12/2018
It all began as a promise to twin with a woman’s group through the Women of Reform Judaism’s Domim-aLike Twinning Program. We met Anna Kislanski, a member of Kehilat Hashachar in Even Yehuda, at the WRJ Assembly in 2013 and we decided to move forward twinning with their congregation. The connection that began from that small meeting has now grown to involve our entire congregation and theirs. As it happened, one of the Israeli liaisons for Kehilat Hashachar was born and raised in Toronto. Rita Gvili had made Aliyah 35 years before and was visiting her mother in the summer of 2013 when we met... Read More
By Madi Hoesten, 6/28/2018
Finally! My first trip to Israel! I can say with no uncertainty that my first experience in Eretz Yisrael was anything but typical. Dead Sea? Nope. Massada? Nope. Tunnels? Well, you get the idea… Yet, I feel that I came away from this adventure greatly enriched with a strong understanding and love for the land and the people. My travels immersed me in the lives of Israeli Progressive Jews along with their trials and successes. My first impressions upon arriving were, “the airport is beautiful, clean, and so quiet.” Then it hit me. I really was in Israel! We had landed on a... Read More
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