Home

News

Groundbreaking Women’s Torah coming to San Francisco Bay Area

January 31, 2012 - 3:48pm — Victoria Cangelosi

This February, the Reconstructionist Community of the Bay Area welcomes the Women’s Torah, the first Torah in history to be created and embellished by an international community of women and the first to be sewn together in community.

The Torah is the handwritten parchment scroll of the first five books of the bible. All over the world, Jews read and study from the Torah during religious services and other times. The Hebrew letters must be hand-written by a trained scribe on special parchment using special ink and quills. Learning to become a Torah scribe requires painstaking training that takes many years. Until the Women’s Torah Project (WTP), only men scribed Torahs.  read more »

Jewish Disability Awareness Month- February 2012

December 17, 2011 - 3:56am — Rabbi Shawn Zevit

  Join a unified effort to raise disability awareness and  support efforts to foster inclusion in Jewish communities worldwide

The mission of Jewish Disability Awareness Month is to unite Jewish communities and organizations for the purpose of raising awareness and supporting meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in every aspect of Jewish life. JRF is also a member religious organization of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC: http://jfactivist.typepad.com/jfactivist/interfaith-disability-advocacy/).

During Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month You Can  read more »

Jews Against Hydrofracking

December 7, 2011 - 1:43pm — Rabbi Shawn Zevit

Hydrofracking is a new form of drilling for natural gas and oil that is on the brink of a huge expansion.  Jews Against Hydrofracking is encouraging every Jewish community to learn about this issue by screening Gasland, a documentary that asks the question, is fracking safe?  Plan a screening in your living room, synagogue, JCC, or youth group as part of the 100 Jewish Communities Wake Up to Hydrofracking Campaign. For more information go to www.JewsAgainstHydrofracking.org

See also: http://coejl.org/resources/webinar-on-hydrofracking/ and

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/30/3091420/jews-grapply-with-controversial-fracking-procedure

http://njjewishnews.com/article/statewide/fracking-a-wedge-issue-among-jews#.Tt4PElY2yuK

 

Working to stop fracking for oil shale in the Valley of Elah, Israel.  Read more about this issue in the attached article by David Krantz: Maccabees Redux: Oil Fracking Fight in Israel

PEARL: Providing Education And Resources for Leadership

November 24, 2011 - 3:51pm — Lori Rubin

PEARL, the distance-learning classes offered by JRF, provides meaningful information and strategies beneficial to congregational leaders, members, clergy, educators and staff. Expert speakers partner with JRF professional staff and lay leaders to support the strengthening of congregations and havurot, grow leadership, deepen Jewish spiritual life and continue critical tikkun olam/social justice work. Based on results from a survey of JRF congregational leadership, a variety of PEARL topics are selected each year.

With 50 programs now available (http://jrf.org/pearl/archive) as well as other congregational resources (http://jrf.org/cong-resources), and based on feedback from those of you who participated last year, consultation with movement leadership and staff across regions and our analysis of needs based on consultations, we are working on a plan to use the rich resources we have developed in affinity working groups by communal size appropriate to our movement (small 20-99hh, medium 100-199hh, large 200hh up). These sessions are in addition to calls offered by RENA for educators, CEDAR for executive directors, Harmoniyah (for music/liturgy leaders) and Tikkun Olam/Social Justice organizers and program staff/lay leaders. These calls will take place between February and June 2012 under topic headings with staff or expert volunteer backing using the resources we have developed to deepen the work of growing and sustaining healthy and vibrant sacred communities.

Each PEARL class meets for one to one and a half hour by telephone conference call. Classes are often supported by downloadable resources, webinars and select audio files. Some classes, are a follow up or expansion on previously presented topics.  read more »