Women Of Reform Judaism
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Women Of Reform Judaism
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 over 65,000 women. WRJ advocates for social justice, raises funds for charities and rabbinic scholarships, and educates congregational leaders. Notable contributions In 1972, the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods was instrumental in the ordination of the first American female rabbi, Sally Priesand. In 1963 the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods had approved a resolution at its biennial assembly calling on the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism), the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion to move forward on the ordination of women. The YES Fund (Youth, Education, and Special Projects), maintained by WRJ, provides support to North American Fed ...
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Union For Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), 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. The URJ has an estimated constituency of some 880,000 registered adults in 831 congregations. It claims to represent 2.2 million, as over a third of adult U.S. Jews, including many who are not synagogue members, state affinity with Reform, making it the largest Jewish denomination. The UAHC was a founding member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, of which the URJ is the largest constituent by far. Belief and practice Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal or Progressive Judaism, embraces several basic tenets, including a belief in a theistic, personal Go ...
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Sally Priesand
Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi Semikha, 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''. Early life and education Sally Jane Priesand was born June 27, 1946, in Cleveland, Ohio into a Jewish family. Her parents, Irving Theodore, an engineer, and Rose Elizabeth (Welch) Priesand were not religiously observant but they were active in Jewish organizations. Her mother served as pres ...
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Central Conference Of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. Its current president is Lewis Kamrass. Rabbi Hara Person is the Chief Executive. Overview The CCAR primarily consists of rabbis educated at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, New York City, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. The CCAR also offers membership to those who have graduated in Europe from the Leo Baeck College in London (United Kingdom) and the Abraham Geiger College at the University of Potsdam (Germany), and others who joined the Reform movement after being ordained. Most of the last group graduated from either the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary or the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. The CCAR issues responsa, resolutions, and platforms, but in keeping with the princi ...
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Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute Of Religion
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved throughout history as the main liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. Hebrew is the only Canaanite language still spoken today, and serves as the only truly successful example of a dead language that has been revived. It is also one of only two Northwest Semitic languages still in use, with the other being Aramaic. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' Lashon Hakodesh'' (, ) since an ...
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North American Federation Of Temple Youth
NFTY: The Reform Jewish Youth Movement (formerly known as the North American Federation for Temple Youth, often referred to simply as NFTY, commonly pronounced ''"nifty"'') 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. NFTY is the North American branch of Netzer Olami, the worldwide Progressive Zionist Youth movement. This relationship was formalized at the biennial NFTY Convention in Los Angeles, California in February 2005. History Founded on January 15, 1939 by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now called the Union for Reform Judaism), the then-titled National Federation of Temple Youth was a program to encourage college students to engage in synagogue life. NFTY was originally focused in three ...
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Hebrew Union College
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved throughout history as the main liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. Hebrew is the only Canaanite language still spoken today, and serves as the only truly successful example of a dead language that has been revived. It is also one of only two Northwest Semitic languages still in use, with the other being Aramaic. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' Lashon Hakodesh'' (, ) since an ...
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Religious Action Center Of Reform Judaism
The Religious Action Center (RAC) is the political and legislative outreach arm of Reform Judaism in the United States. The Religious Action Center is operated under the auspices of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, a joint body of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union for Reform Judaism. It was founded in 1961. Consistent with the political and social concerns of Reform Judaism, the Religious Action Center played a key role in important political events of the American civil rights movement, the struggles of Soviet Jewry, as well as the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur. It hosted several meetings at which the groundwork for the various pieces of legislation, including the Civil Rights Acts and Voting Rights Acts, were laid. It also shielded civil rights marchers who were attacked by District of Columbia police. Aside from its community organizing and direct advocacy work, the Religious Action Center has also been a hub of social justice pr ...
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Andrea Weiss (rabbi)
Andrea Weiss is an American rabbi, author, and Assistant Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where she was ordained in 1993.
In 2006, she published the book ''Figurative Language in Biblical Prose Narrative: Metaphor in the Book of Samuel (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum)''. She was associate editor of ''The Torah: A Women’s Commentary'', which won the 2008 Jewish Book of the Year Award from the . She was once a student of , who was the chief editor of the book. Weiss ga ...
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Carrie Obendorfer Simon
Carrie Simon (March 5, 1872 – March 3, 1961) was a Jewish-American communal leader from Washington, D.C. Life Simon was born on March 5, 1872, in Uniontown, Alabama, the daughter of Leo William Obendorfer and Mary Wise. A few years after her birth, she moved with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her father began a successful jewelry business and her mother founded a local chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) in 1895. Simon graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She also served as section secretary of the NCJW chapter her mother founded, which made her aware of new possibilities that were opening for Jewish women in public life. Following her marriage to Rabbi Abram Simon, she went with her husband when he became a rabbi in Sacramento, California, in 1896, Omaha, Nebraska, in 1899, and Washington, D.C., in 1904. She continued to work with the NCJW while living in Sacramento, but as the NCJW struggled to reconcile its diverse members' differe ...
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Jane Evans (feminist)
Jane Evans (1907–2004) was the executive director of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (now the Women of Reform Judaism) from 1933 to 1976. She was its first full-time Executive Director, as from 1913 until 1933 (its first twenty years) the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods was led by volunteer presidents. Evans also became president of the National Peace Conference in 1950. Evans supported ordination for women. On April 29, 1957, she spoke to 1,000 delegates at a biennial general assembly meeting of the Union for Reform Judaism (then called the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)) 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 ...
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Stella Heinsheimer Freiberg
Stella Heinsheimer Freiberg (November 29, 1862 - January 20, 1962) was an American patron of the arts and society figure. Stella Heinsheimer was born the fifth of six children in Cincinnati. She was the daughter of a well-off family of German Jews, and through them early developed her ties to Reform Judaism. She received an education suited to teaching music prior to marrying businessman J. Walter Freiberg, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; the couple had one son, Julius. Stella, too, soon became active in the Reform movement, establishing the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, of which she served as vice-president from 1913 to 1923, and president from 1923 to 1929. In 1923 she secured money to build a dormitory and donate a gymnasium for Hebrew Union College. She sat on the board of the National Council of Jewish Women and that of Jewish Social Agencies in Cincinnati. In 1894 she was one of the ten women who established the Cincinnati Symphony Orchest ...
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