Movement for Reform Judaism Launches “Root and Branch” Review
Written by Movement for Reform Judaism Monday, 08 August 2011
The Movement for Reform Judaism has today launched a nine month review of all its activities, to engage every one of its communities and prepare the Movement for the challenges ahead.Its ‘green paper’ ( published today on its website and in paperless form in line with the Movement’s commitment to sustainability) provides a vehicle for discussion of Reform Judaism’s values, mission and strategic priorities, as the organisation initiates a root and branch, bottom-up review of all its work and programmes.
It declares the Movement’s vision to be of “a proud, self-confident Jewish community, with a centre of gravity that is egalitarian, outward-looking and open to change.”
It describes Reform Judaism as:
- Being committed to learning, as a basis for understanding our beliefs, values and tradition and for engaging with them in the context of our lives today.
- Valuing the contribution that all members of our community are able to make, regardless of gender, race, disability or sexual orientation.
- Welcoming all those that wish to join or join in with our Jewish community.
- Acting to take responsibility for our neighbours and our planet.
- Being open to change to re-engage those that might otherwise be lost to Judaism.
It is intended that conversations and debates will take place within each of the Movement’s 42 member synagogues and organisations, with every one of its estimated 28,000 members able to take part individually or collectively either directly or via the Movement’s website and its social media presence on Facebook and Twitter.
The result of these deliberations will be to inform a further ‘white paper’ to be published early in the New Year, which will set out in draft the conclusions of the Strategic Review. Members will then have a further three months to respond, before the publication of a final report in spring 2012.
Ben Rich, Chief Executive of the Movement for Reform Judaism, says:
“Now is a moment of huge potential for us. Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner has been appointed as Movement Rabbi and we stand on the verge of significant societal and demographic changes. We wish to take advantage of this time of change to reflect on our work and priorities as a movement.
“The Movement for Reform Judaism consists of its member synagogues, their members, its rabbis, its youth movement, its supporters and sympathisers from across and beyond the Jewish world. To be more than just the sum of these parts, these very different constituencies need to have their say in the review, so that the direction and strategy isn’t ‘handed down from on high’, but arises from the grassroots, so that we can all share in the outcome: strong new growth from strong roots.”
Download your pdf copy of the Strategic Review here
Download a Word version of the Strategic Review
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
