Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), formerly known as the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, is the women's affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism. As the primary women's organization in the Reform Jewish Movement, WRJ represents tens of thousands of women in hundreds of Reform congregations all over North America and worldwide. WRJ cultivates sisterhood by empowering Reform Jewish women to find strength, joy, and connection in their communities. WRJ inspires spiritual growth by enriching contemporary life with Jewish rituals, traditions, culture, and opportunities for lifelong learning. Leading with the principle of Tikkun Olam ("healing the world") WRJ mobilizes collective action on a variety of social justice causes to create a more just and compassionate world for people of all backgrounds and identities. Through its YES Fund (Youth, Education, and Special Projects), WRJ raises funds to support its youth programs, educate congregational leaders, empowering women worldwide and uplifting diverse Jewish communities.[1]
The Torah: A Women's Commentary recently won the Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year award. This counterpart to The Torah: A Modern Commentary gives a new perspective on women in the Torah. A Women's Commentary is a scholarly work, written by Jewish women, that gives voices to the women in the Torah and gives a woman's perspective on these classical stories. The book began as a WRJ project in 1992 and was published in 2008 with URJ Press.[3]
In March 2020, Sara B. Charney of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto became the first Canadian president of WRJ. Her First Vice President is Karen Sim (Isaac Mayer Wise Temple, Cincinnati, OH). She is also assisted by vice presidents Shoshana Dweck (Social Justice), Lillian Silver (Philanthropy), Jane Taves (Engagement), and Judy Wexler (Member Services). The Treasurer is Susan Singer. and the Secretary is Karen Goldberg.
The Executive Director is Rabbi Marla J. Feldman (Central Synagogue, New York, NY), and there is an executive committee to assist the Officers and Board of Directors. Rabbi Feldman will retire in June 2023, and the incoming Executive Director, Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch will lead WRJ starting in July 2023.
There are seven districts that span the United States and Canada, each of which has a district president.
NFTY: The North American Federation for Temple Youth is the organized youth movement of Reform Judaism in North America. Funded and supported by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), NFTY exists to supplement and support Reform youth groups at the synagogue level. About 750 local youth groups affiliate themselves with the organization, comprising over 8,500 youth members.
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established by Rabbi Wise are the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The current president of the URJ is Rabbi Rick Jacobs.
Wolf Gunther Plaut, was an American Reform rabbi and writer who was based in Canada. Plaut was the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto for several decades and since 1978 was its senior scholar.
The Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion is a Jewish seminary with three locations in the United States and one location in Jerusalem. It is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, Ohio, New York City, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. The Jerusalem campus is the only seminary in Israel for training Reform Jewish clergy.
Sally Jane Priesand is America's first female rabbi ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on June 3, 1972, at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati. After her ordination she served first as assistant and then as associate rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, and later led Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, New Jersey from 1981 until her retirement in 2006. She is featured in numerous books including Rabbis: The Many Faces of Judaism and Fifty Jewish Women who Changed the World.
Jewish leadership has evolved over time. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, there has been no single body that has a leadership position over the entire Jewish diaspora. Various branches of Judaism, as well as Jewish religious or secular communities and political movements around the world elect or appoint their governing bodies, often subdivided by country or region.
Paula Ackerman was thought to be the first woman to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leading the Beth Israel congregation in Meridian, Mississippi from 1951 to 1953 and the Beth-El congregation in Pensacola, Florida briefly in the 1960s. She led the National Committee on Religious Schools for the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods.
Eric H. Yoffie is a Reform rabbi, and President Emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the congregational arm of the Reform movement in North America, which represents an estimated 1.5 million Reform Jews in more than 900 synagogues across the United States and Canada. He was the unchallenged head of American Judaism's largest denomination from 1996 to 2012. Following his retirement in 2012, he has been a lecturer and writer; his writings appear regularly in The Huffington Post, The Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz.
Jewish education is the transmission of the tenets, principles, and religious laws of Judaism. Jews value education, and the value of education is strongly embedded in Jewish culture. Judaism places a heavy emphasis on Torah study, from the early days of studying the Tanakh.
Dallas is the second-largest city in Texas and has one of the largest Jewish communities in the state.
Women rabbis are individual Jewish women who have studied Jewish Law and received rabbinical ordination. Women rabbis are prominent in Progressive Jewish denominations, however, the subject of women rabbis in Orthodox Judaism is more complex. Although a significant number of Orthodox women have been ordained as rabbis, many major Orthodox Jewish communities and institutions do not accept the change. In an alternative approach, other Orthodox Jewish institutions train women as Torah scholars for various Jewish religious leadership roles. These roles typically involve training women as religious authorities in Jewish Law but without formal rabbinic ordination, instead, alternate titles are used. Yet, despite this alteration in title, these women are often perceived as equivalent to ordained rabbis. Since the 1970s, over 1,200 Jewish women have been ordained as rabbis.
The first openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clergy in Judaism were ordained as rabbis and/or cantors in the second half of the 20th century.
Angela Buchdahl is an American rabbi. She was the first East Asian-American to be ordained as a rabbi, and the first East Asian-American to be ordained as a hazzan (cantor). In 2011 she was named by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of America's "Most Influential Rabbis", and in 2012 by The Daily Beast as one of America's "Top 50 Rabbis". Buchdahl was recognized as one of the top five in The Forward's 2014 "Forward Fifty", a list of American Jews who had the most impact on the national scene in the previous year.
Elyse Goldstein is a Canadian Reform rabbi. She is the first woman to be elected as president of the interdenominational Toronto Board of Rabbis and president of the Reform Rabbis of Greater Toronto.
Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim known locally as "The Jewish Temple" is an historic Jewish synagogue located in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the United States. Founded in 1859 by Jews from the Alsace region of France, it is one of the oldest congregations in Louisiana and one of the original founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now known as the Union for Reform Judaism.
Women's Rabbinic Network is an American national organization for female Reform rabbis. It was founded in 1980; Rabbi Deborah Prinz was its first overall coordinator, and Rabbi Myra Soifer was the first editor of its newsletter.
Jane Evans (1907–2004) was the executive director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods from 1933 to 1976. She was its first full-time Executive Director, as from 1913 until 1933 the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods was led by volunteer presidents. Evans also became president of the National Peace Conference in 1950. On April 29, 1957, she spoke to 1,000 delegates at a biennial general assembly meeting of the Union for Reform Judaism in favor of ordaining women, a speech which The New York Times called a "strong plea," though the UAHC took no action. While Evans was still executive director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods in 1963, it approved a resolution at its biennial assembly calling on the UAHC, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion to move forward on the ordination of women.
This is a timeline of women rabbis:
North Country Reform Temple-Ner Tamid is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 86 Crescent Beach Road, in Glen Cove, Nassau County, New York, in the United States.
Abraham Jehiel Feldman was a Ukrainian-born American rabbi.
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