Danny Richter and his fiancée, Lauren Perkins, have never been to a Jewish wedding, yet this fall, the interfaith couple is planning to be married in a Jewish wedding ceremony.
The Sidmans are among the lucky ones: Their Colorado Springs home is still standing, nearly untouched by the flames that left many of their neighbors\’ houses in ashes.
Orthodox and Reform Jewish campers will hold a joint Fourth of July celebration.
The European Union for Progressive Judaism and Hungary’s two Reform congregations took their case against Hungary’s new law on religion to the European Court of Human Rights in The Hague.
Nearly two dozen faith groups joined an initiative led by the Reform Jewish movement calling on President Obama to reconsider his decision not to issue an anti-discrimination executive order.
Representatives of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements renewed their appeals to President Obama to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard.
The most serious internal problem facing Israel is the political clout exerted by the Charedim (ultra-Orthodox), which threatens the future unity, economic development and military readiness of the state. This is the firm conviction of Rabbi Uri Regev, who recently spent a week in Los Angeles to garner support for Hiddush, a year-old organization whose motto calls for “religious freedom and equality in Israel.” Regev, a native-born Israeli, Reform leader and president/CEO of Hiddush (Hebrew for innovation or renewal), co-founded the movement with Los Angeles business executive Stanley Gold, who serves as chairman. In an interview with The Jewish Journal, Regev, 59, argued with characteristic intensity and passion that “the Israeli public will no longer tolerate selling Israel’s future to the Charedi parties … and a Charedi-dominated Chief Rabbinate which controls its life from birth to death and almost everything in between.”
The Union for Reform Judaism has launched two new summer programs for children with special needs. Camp Chazak in Massachusetts, opening this summer, is for middle-school children with communication and social delays. It has recreational and therapeutic programming. Like the Reform movement’s existing programs for autistic teens — the Mitzvah Corps program at Camp Kutz in Warwick, N.Y., and the Camp Nefesh program at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, Calif. — the new camp aims to provide a Jewish experience to youngsters often left out of mainstream opportunities.
Is there a better day than the one when we abstain from all physical sustenance to reflect on the sanctity of the human body and honor the Torah\’s injunction that \”You shall guard your being\”?\n
If you think this column is too religious, wait until you see Jewish Life. If I snorkel into observant Judaism, then it goes deep-sea diving. If this column is \”the hood,\” then Jewish Life is the hood on steroids.
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