WE REMEMBER

IDF Soldiers Killed in Combat

Captain Ori Yosef Silvester  30 years old, from Tel Aviv, the doctor for the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion tragically fell in battle against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Click Here for more information.

IDF Staff Sergeant Adam Tzarfati, 20 years old, from Rosh Ha’ayin, served in the Maglan Unit of the Commando Brigade. Click Here for more information

Staff Sergeant Michael Tyukin, 21 years old, from Ashkelon, killed in an Hezbollah Drone Attack in Southern Lebanon. Click Here for more information.

To see the faces of the soldiers who have lost their lives while defending Israel since October 7th, Click Here

MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR A BLESSING

SAVE THE DATE

ZRC High Holiday Seminar in New York City on August 17, 10am-5pm

If you are arriving on Sunday evening, please join us for dinner at 7pm in NYC

Registration Opening Soon

BeHa’alotecha – Lashon HaRa: Bad-Mouthing a Nation

by Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, Chairman, ZRC

At the end of this week’s Torah portion, (BeHa’Alotecha), an incident with Aaron and Miriam speaking ill of Moses draws our attention and returns to a topic dealt with on more than one occasion in the Torah – the harmful effects of lashon hara – gossip.

We all are guilty of doing it – which is precisely why classic Jewish sources devote so many pages of texts and have developed so many guidelines addressing the problem.

By Our Rabbis

This week, we feature several articles, blog posts and writings from rabbinic colleagues around the country.



To submit your Op-Ed, blog post, column or sermon to be highlighted and shared with colleagues in an upcoming week, please Click Here to submit your column for publication (mail to: ssilberberg@zionistrabbis.org)

The Kaffiyeh on the Bimah's Table

by Rabbi Daniel Gordis

We begin our look at American Jewish anti-Zionism. Today, an introduction ...

As we’ve noted for quite some time now, we’re going to look at American Jewish anti-Zionism over the course of several episodes, not necessarily because it is going to be a long-term feature of American Jewish life — I explain towards the end of today’s video why I believe that will not be the case — but because of what it has to teach us about the DNA …

Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism 2026: Clarity, Courage and Moral Leadership

Click on the image below to watch Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch deliver his keynote address at the two-day conference that included more than 350 Reform clergy, educators, lay leaders and professionals and Jewish thought leaders

"We are the leaders. We must lead. We must be proactive. It is harder now. These are times that try our souls and test our convictions"

Below Rabbi Hirsch's presentation are writings by colleagues affirming his leadership and the imperative for Reform Judaism to proclaim its commitment to Zionism and the need for the movement to unequivocally repudiate anti-Zionism.

The Moment of Truth for HUC

by Rabbi Samantha Kahn

There are moments in the life of a movement when ambiguity is no longer humility. It is evasion.

This is one of those moments.



At the Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism Conference, Reform rabbis, cantors, educators, lay leaders, and lovers of our movement gathered because we believe North American Reform Judaism still has a future worth fighting for. We gathered because we believe the Reform Movement is not an institution to be managed into irrelevance, but a covenantal project to be renewed with courage, clarity, and love.



And this year, the conference body passed a resolution that said plainly what too many have been afraid to say publicly: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the seminary of the Reform Movement, must stop admitting and ordaining anti-Zionists.

Can Reform Judaism Reform Itself? 

by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin

A New York City conference considers the future of Reform Judaism.

A New Yorker cartoon has lived rent-free in my head for years. In it, some kids are playing in a progressive early childhood center. One kid looks to the teacher and asks: “Do we still have to do what we want to do?”

Today, that cartoon is Reform Judaism’s portrait in miniature.

I was in New York City for the Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism gathering last week at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. The event was spearheaded by the synagogue’s senior rabbi, Ammiel Hirsch. Rabbi Hirsch is one of Reform Judaism’s most prophetic voices. He has spent years naming what many in our movement would rather not hear: that Reform Judaism has drifted from its Zionist commitments, and that it has shifted too much weight from the particular to the universal.

The Manufacturing of a Blood Libel Against Israel and Zionism

The Embassy Responds With Facts To Refute False Accusations 

Words should have meaning and be backed by reality rather than the weapons of political sabotage against the State of Israel and the Jewish people.  As with classic antisemitism, anti-Zionism and Jew hatred disposes of facts, logic, and truth in deference to a modern blood libel against the Jewish people. Israel conducted a a morally just war against Hamas that was fought ethically and honored the rule of law.  Click below to explore the reality of this modern indictment against Israel.

Proudly Celebrating Israel

Who Was Publicly And Proudly Present? Who Was Deliberately Absent?

78 Years Later: Still Loud And Proud. Tens of thousands of people displayed their undying love and support for Israel marching down 5th Avenue with Israeli flags everywhere to be seen. Click on the image below to hear what the marchers had to say.

Click Here to listen to the podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute: When Is A Parade More Than A Parade with Yossi Cohen Halevi and Donniel Hartman

To join ZRC or to make a donation please Click Here