Reform Judaism

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protest businesses that operate on Saturdays , the Jewish day of rest, Jerusalem, June 29, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox anger over Western Wall deal isn’t about American Jews

The Israeli government’s decision to abandon a deal creating an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall led to an unprecedented rift with Diaspora Jewry. But American Jews, and the Reform Movement in particular, are merely collateral damage — caught in the crossfire of an internal ultra-Orthodox power struggle. By Eli Bitan With all the…

By +972 Magazine July 6, 2017

A group of American Conservative and Reform rabbis and the Women of the Wall movement members hold Torah scrolls during a protest march against the governments failure to deliver a new prayer space, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Old City, November 2, 2016. Hadas Parush/Flash90)

U.S. Jews can’t expect Israel to be liberal only where they want it to

Liberal American Jewry is up in arms after the Israeli government nixed a deal to allow men and women to pray together at Judaism’s holiest site. But if American Jews want their interests in Israel safeguarded, they must rid themselves of the fantasy of a nonexistent Jewish pluralism. The Netanyahu government created an uproar across the Jewish world on Sunday…

By Noam Sheizaf June 26, 2017

A television control room, illustrative photo by Flash90.

Right-wing TV station ordered to include Reform, Conservative Judaism

A public television channel with a right-wing Zionist slant asks for permission to start a nightly newscast. Israel’s Communications Ministry says sure, but only if they start including ‘every stream of Judaism.’ By Raanan Shemesh Forshner Israel’s Council for Cable TV and Satellite Broadcasting (CCSB), part of the Communications Ministry, accepted last week a request…

By +972 Magazine December 27, 2016

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather during a protest against their military conscription outside a military prison on December 9, 2013 in Atlit, Israel. Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews protested outside the prison following the arrest of a young man who refused to serve in the Israeli the army, September 12, 2013. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Let’s fight women’s oppression without demonizing ultra-Orthodox

The struggle against women’s oppression is one thing, but painting an entire group as barbarians in the name of ‘enlightened’ ideas is another thing. One can argue over whether asking a woman to move seats so that an ultra-Orthodox man does not have to sit beside her is a legitimate request. Clearly, the trend to remove…

By Orly Noy March 5, 2016

Women of the Wall praying at Kotel May 10, 2013 (Activestills)

WATCH: Will you use Western Wall’s new ‘mixed prayer plaza?’

After years of negotiations with reform and conservative movements of Judaism and ‘Women of the Wall,’ the Israeli government agreed to create an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where men and women can pray in the same space. We went to the Western Wall to ask people how they feel about…

By Social TV February 21, 2016