Israel & Global Affairs
By Sara Charney, 2/26/2020
What were you doing this morning at 7:00 am? You were possibly getting up, getting ready for work, or leaving for work. You may have been heading somewhere for Shacharit services, in which case you were in luck, as today we welcomed Rosh Chodesh Adar. Thirty-one WRJ women were very fortunate this morning to be arriving at the Kotel in Jerusalem by 7:00 am to participate in the monthly Rosh Chodesh service led by Women of the Wall. A few members of our group have participated in previous years in this special service. People always ask me if the atmosphere was tense (somewhat); did we get... Read More
By Susan C. Bass, 2/23/2020
Wednesday and Thursday were the last two days of the meeting of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations. The theme of this meeting is “Strength Through Unity.” Most of these talks and panels focused on internal and external threats to Israel, Iran & the Middle East, rising antisemitism, relations with Jews in the Diaspora, and the upcoming 3rd elections for a government. In general, the panels and speakers had a good gender balance, and I was pleased to see so many influential women invited to present. Of course, we continued to hear from recognizable Israeli... Read More
By Susan C. Bass, 2/19/2020
As Marla described in her blog yesterday, the first day of the annual Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations was full of hearing from scholars, politicians, government officials, and other Israeli advocates. The second day was a day focused on the strategic defense of Israel. We began our second day today with an early morning 2 ½ hour bus ride from our hotel in Jerusalem to the major defensive outpost at Andartat ha-Bikaa, which oversees the defense of the Jordan Valley. The drive gave us a magnificent view of the contrasts of this part of Northern Israel. Heading... Read More
By Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, 2/18/2020
Attending the Conference of Presidents annual Israel mission is both a marathon and a sprint. You have to pace yourself for the overwhelming number of experts, government leaders, entrepreneurs, and military leaders that we meet with while packing everything into just a few days. Within the first 24 hours we met with the Israeli Prime Minister, President of Israel, and numerous MKs (Members of Knesset), visited Mobileye, a high tech company developing autonomous cars, and heard from panels of experts on Israeli technology, cybersecurity, higher education, regional security, missile... Read More
By Leslie Brier, 9/12/2019
Women of Reform Judaism, under the umbrella of World Union of Progressive Judaism, addressed the international community in collaboration with Ani Zonneveld, President of Muslims for Progressive Values, and Martha Gallahue, the United Nations Representative of United Religions Initiative at the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference held on August 26-28, 2019. Each year, the United Nations holds a conference for representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the purpose of furthering the mission of the United Nations. This year’s theme was based on the sustainable... Read More
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