A High Holiday Message from Rabbi Rick Jacobs and MK Dr. Avraham Neguise
Last week, the URJ had the privilege of hosting Dr. Avraham Neguise, Knesset member and chair of the Knesset Committee on Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Statement Of URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs On The Death Of Shimon Peres
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), released the following statement after learning of the death of former Israeli President Shimon Peres:
In his final speech before the Knesset, as former Israeli President Shimon Peres ended his term in office, he said “I have come to bid you farewell as a citizen, as a man whose dream is still alive.” And indeed, not only did his dreams—and his extraordinary steadfastness, brilliance, and ingenuity—make him an integral part of the nation of Israel from its founding until today, his hope was infectious and his optimism was an inspiration.
Shimon Peres understood that the greatness of Israel lies in its embrace of our better selves, and he spent his life challenging himself and others to reach for the impossible. Often, he achieved it.
URJ President Responds To Supreme Court Kotel Statement
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), issued the following statement today in response to Israel's Supreme Court statement addressing the Israeli government's failure to implement its earlier decision to create an egalitarian prayer space for non-Orthodox worship at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu Government Subverts Supreme Court to Court Favor with Haredi Parties
Late last night, the Israeli Knesset passed a law instigated by ultra-Orthodox leadership to overturn a recent Supreme Court decision banning discrimination against non-Orthodox converts from state-funded mikvaot (ritual baths), which are integral to the conversion process. The Supreme Court case was brought by the Israel Religious Action Center, on behalf of both the Reform and Conservative movements. This new legislation is expressly meant as an attack on the role of the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements in religious practice in Israel.