Reform Movement
By Deanna Stilwell, 8/14/2018
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I have heard this expression countless times in my life, and it is incredibly fitting for URJ Camp Newman for summer 2018. Last October, after many years in operation along Porter Creek Road in Sonoma County, a majority of Camp Newman’s buildings were engulfed in the Tubbs Fire. Quickly after the depth of devastation was made clear, the board and staff persevered to make sure that Summer of 2018 at Camp Newman would happen. Campers eagerly awaited the news of an alternate location. Finally, the announcement came via an email with a video clip... Read More
By Karen Goldberg, 5/15/2018
A pivotal moment in my social justice journey happened last May on my first trip to Israel with the Women of Reform Judaism. Celebrating Rosh Chodesh with Women of the Wall, I experienced first-hand the shocking level of intolerance aimed against Reform Jewish women like me for simply wanting to sing and chant Torah. When I returned to California, I felt compelled to speak out against this injustice as well as other injustices at home. Fast forward a year. I'm headed to Washington, DC, for my first meeting as a WRJ representative on the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. With... Read More
By Alyson Malinger, 4/11/2018
Columbine High School, April 20, 1999 - 15 dead, 21 injured Virginia Tech University, April 16, 2007 - 33 dead, 23 injured Oikos University, April 2, 2012 - 7 dead, 3 injured Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 14, 2012 - 28 dead, 2 injured Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, February 14, 2018 - 17 dead, 14 injured Will the list continue? On March 24, just over a month after a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student used his legal semi-automatic rifle on his teachers and fellow classmates, Reform Jewish women joined together in every major city in North America to... Read More
By Sylvia Levy, 2/15/2018
At this year's Jewish Disability Advocacy Day (JDAD), more than 200 disability rights advocates and Jewish leaders came to Capitol Hill to push legislators to support crucial health care and education services for people with disabilities. The day's speakers highlighted the experiences and activism of the disability justice community across the country, particularly in light of recent attacks on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. I found JDAD to be an incredibly humbling and empowering day. Ari Ne'eman, advisor to the American Civil Liberties Union's work on Disability Policy... Read More
By Rabbi Sarah Reines, 11/13/2017
Perhaps you are like me – stumbling through my days in a perpetual state of exhaustion. It could be for many reasons: long hours of work, the weight from our personal lives due to matters we are facing individually, and, perhaps even weightier, issues our loved ones are facing, which we can’t help but carry with us. We are exhausted from the human and natural disasters in our immediate communities, in our nation, and lands across oceans; the tentacles of these tragedies reach as close as the smart phones in our pockets, and the news alerts literally flashing before our eyes, even as we close... Read More
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