Reform movement

A student raises her hand in class. (Courtesy Alexander Muss High School in Israel via JTA)

Reform movement to end standalone semester-in-Israel program as enrollment declines

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Heller High program, where high school students spend a semester in Israel, to merge with Alexander Muss High School in Israel

June 23, 2023, 6:45 am

Reform movement to end standalone semester-in-Israel program as enrollment declines

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Heller High program, where high school students spend a semester in Israel, to merge with Alexander Muss High School in Israel

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Portraits of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of Hebrew Union College, left, and Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first American woman ordained as a rabbi, right. (Courtesy/Hebrew Union College and the National Portrait Gallery via JTA. Design by Mollie Suss)

June 22, 2023, 4:53 am

National Portrait Gallery to display image of 1st ordained US woman rabbi

Rabbi Sally Priesand will be featured in prestigious Smithsonian Institution, along with prominent 19th century Reform rabbi, Isaac Mayer Wise

By Jackie Hajdenberg

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch gives a sermon at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York, March 17, 2023. (Screenshot)

March 18, 2023, 12:46 pm

Leading NY rabbi: Israeli government speeding ‘headlong toward abyss’ with overhaul

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue says in his ‘most painful’ sermon: ‘Israeli government is tearing society apart, bringing world Jewry along for dangerous ride’

By ToI Staff

Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, seen in a video from Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, where he was senior rabbi from 1985 to 1996. (Screen shot from Vimeo via JTA)

February 15, 2023, 3:55 am

Ex-Reform movement chief expelled from rabbinical group after allegations reexamined

Sheldon Zimmerman, who previously led movement’s flagship institutions, ousted from Central Conference of American Rabbis over sexual misconduct allegations first made 20 years ago

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben Gvir at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

December 23, 2022, 6:27 am

Hundreds of US rabbis vow to block far-right Israel lawmakers from their communities

Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist leaders sign letter pledging to not allow some of Netanyahu’s coalition partners from speaking in their synagogues

By Ron Kampeas

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides attends a Hanukkah candle lighting at the egalitarian plaza of the Western Wall in Jerusalem on December 20, 2022.(Reform Movement in Israel)

December 20, 2022, 11:25 pm

US envoy Nides attends Reform candle lighting at Western Wall’s egalitarian plaza

Gantz heckled at ceremony in men’s section of plaza, drawing condemnation from Haredi party leader; Women of the Wall hold their own lighting, lamenting exclusion from main event

By Judah Ari Gross and Jacob Magid

Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, December 8, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images via JTA)

December 7, 2022, 5:01 am

Will synagogues shun ‘effective altruism’ movement after Sam Bankman-Fried scandal?

Maximum-impact giving to save lives in the developing world has caught on among Reform Jews in particular, but the scandal involving one high-profile supporter is tainting optics

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

Noam MK Avi Maoz arrives for a meeting with President Isaac Herzog at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on November 10, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

November 28, 2022, 4:18 am

‘Insanity, unreal’: Netanyahu slammed over deal with anti-pluralistic, homophobic MK

Politicians from outgoing coalition say Likud chief’s agreement to put Avi Maoz in charge of Israel’s Jewish identity is a ‘slap in the face,’ could ‘plunge Israel into the abyss’

By Michael Bachner

Reform and Conservative Jewish leaders at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2016. (Courtesy Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism)

November 11, 2022, 10:48 pm

$2.3 million plan to improve ties with non-Orthodox Jews uncertain after election

Watchdog reveals existence of plan to bring American youth to Israel and hold communal events in the US, without any apparent reference to issues driving disconnect

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

L-R: MKs Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich at a rally of their Religious Zionism party in the southern city of Sderot on October 26, 2022. (Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP)

November 2, 2022, 4:51 pm

However the election shakes out, US Jewry will have to deal with Israel’s far-right

American Jewish groups will likely face calls from inside their organizations to denounce nationalist politicians and face an uphill battle in defending Israel

By Judah Ari Gross

MK Itamar Ben Gvir seen during a plenum session in the Knesset on June 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

October 14, 2022, 6:00 am

3 years after sounding off against Ben Gvir, US Jewish groups go mum on far-right MK

AIPAC, AJC, Conference of Presidents and JCPA say they won’t wade into Israeli politics, though they weren’t so shy when the prospect of the Kahanist joining Knesset first surfaced

By Ron Kampeas

The Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City, May 22, 2022. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

October 11, 2022, 6:58 pm

Leading New York Reform rabbi launches push against anti-Zionism in the movement

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue hopes Amplify Israel program will reverse slide against Zionism, views the trend as an existential threat to Reform movement

By Luke Tress

Actor Adam Sandler (left) with Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin of Toronto's Beth Tzedec Synagogue, where Sandler and cast spent much of the summer filming his upcoming tween film, 'You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!' (Courtesy: Robyn Fryer Bodzin)

August 18, 2022, 7:08 pm

Adam Sandler spends 6 weeks at Toronto shul shooting bat mitzvah film

Sandler, Idina Menzel and SNL actor Sarah Sherman get friendly with the rabbis, Beth Tzedec’s Steven Wernick and Robyn Fryer Bodzin

By Jessica Steinberg

Chief Rabbi of Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu speaks at the 'Besheva' group, on February 7, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

May 31, 2022, 9:14 am

US nixes visa of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who’s been accused of racism – report

Safed chief rabbi, a leading national-religious figure, blames ‘anti-Zionists’ in the Reform movement for decision to cancel his travel document

By ToI Staff

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 21, 2019. (Warren LeMay via Creative Commons/ via JTA)

April 12, 2022, 5:46 pm

Hebrew Union College to end rabbinical program in Cincinnati

Seminary approves plan to enroll all students at HUC’s campuses in New York and Los Angeles; move comes after years of declining revenue and enrollment

By Andrew Lapin