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Reform rabbis

Opponents of Hebrew Union College's decision to stop ordaining rabbis at its Cincinnati campus rally in front of one of the school's buildings, April 7, 2022. (Courtesy of Lew Ebstein via JTA)
May 29, 2026, 3:48 pm
Rabbinical school turf war brews in Ohio over Hebrew Union College’s assets
College for Contemporary Judaism, which aims to become new home for liberal rabbinical students in Midwest, files motion in state lawsuit in hopes of taking over Cincinnati campus
By Andrew Lapin
A photo of Andrea Weiss, former provost of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. (Ellen Dubin via JTA)
March 5, 2026, 2:29 pm
Andrea Weiss, trailblazing Reform rabbi who merged scholarship and activism, dies at 60
Former Hebrew Union College provost, the first-ever woman to ordain rabbis in the Reform movement, is praised by colleagues for bringing her ‘whole heart’ to everything she did
By Grace Gilson
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union of Reform Judaism, stands second from right on the dais as a morning prayer begins at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona, July 31, 2025. (Courtesy Rick Jacobs)
August 8, 2025, 2:00 am
After Lutherans pass ‘one-sided’ Israel resolution, US rabbi’s plea for unity prevails
Union for Reform Judaism president Rick Jacobs has decades of interfaith work under his belt, so when a church convention voiced a narrow view of the Gaza conflict, he was prepared
By Grace Gilson
Rabbi Walter Jacob, center, ordains three rabbis during a ceremony at the Pestalozzi strasse Synagogue in Berlin, Novemer 4, 2010. (Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images/via JTA)
October 30, 2024, 3:10 am
Walter Jacob, Pittsburgh rabbi who helped revive Reform Judaism in Germany, dies at 94
Descending from a 400-year-old line of rabbis, the scholar whose family fled the Holocaust returned to foster a Liberal Jewish renewal that grew to over 30 communities countrywide
By Beth Kisseleff
Andrew Rehfeld delivers his inaugural address as president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 27, 2019. (Courtesy of HUC)
June 21, 2024, 10:06 am
Hebrew Union College rabbinical school to admit students in interfaith relationships
Policy change brings seminary in line with norms across Reform movement, where intermarriage is common; students with children must pledge to raise them as Jews
By PHILISSA CRAMER
Illustrative: A service at the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam near Berlin. (photo credit: Margrit Schmidt)
March 9, 2023, 2:26 pm
10 months into leadership crisis, more strife over German rabbinical schools’ future
After scandal-ridden Rabbi Walter Homolka left the schools he founded and led, the community that bought him out is sparring with Germany’s biggest Jewish group over funding
By Toby Axelrod
Rabbi A. James Rudin, a longtime interfaith activist, will be knighted for his work in Catholic-Jewish relations. (Screenshot via YouTube)
November 3, 2022, 5:43 pm
Reform rabbi to be knighted by pope for his work on Jewish-Catholic relations
A. James Rudin, longtime director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, will be the 9th Jew to receive the honor from the Papal Order of St. Gregory
By Jackie Hajdenberg
Nether Rabbi Amy Wallk nor Rabbi Mark Cohn had been looking for a relationship when they first met at the Shalom Hartman Institute in 2017. (Tamar Katz/ via JTA)
June 23, 2022, 3:09 am
Two rabbis, from two different denominations, get a second chance at love
After twice meeting at rabbinical seminars on opposite sides of the ocean, Amy Wallk and Mark Cohn realized that leading 2 congregations 700 miles apart couldn’t stop their romance
By Alix Wall
The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 21, 2019. (Warren LeMay via Creative Commons/ via JTA)
April 12, 2022, 5:46 pm
Hebrew Union College to end rabbinical program in Cincinnati
Seminary approves plan to enroll all students at HUC’s campuses in New York and Los Angeles; move comes after years of declining revenue and enrollment
By Andrew Lapin
Clockwise from the top: Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (Erik McGregor/ LightRocket via Getty Images), Rabbi Jill Jacobs (courtesy, Jill Jacobs), Rabbi Angela Buchdahl (Michael Brochstein/ SOPA Images/ LightRocket via Getty Images). Background: Demonstrators gather at the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem with flags of Israel during the controversial Flag March, organized by Israeli right-wing nationalists on June 15, 2021. (Ilia Yefimovich/ picture alliance via Getty Images. All photos via JTA)
April 11, 2022, 3:09 am
Rabbis go public with plea to cut off US Jewish funding of Israeli extremists
After rebuff, 19 clergy publicize letter to donor-advised Jewish Communal Fund asking it to stop support to Lehava group associated with far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir
By Asaf Shalev
Illustrative: Newly ordained rabbis from Hebrew Union College's class of 2013 in Cincinnati celebrate with their ordination certificates outside the historic Plum Street Temple. (Janine Spang/JTA)
March 24, 2022, 8:40 am
Hebrew Union College may stop ordaining Reform rabbis in Cincinnati after 147 years
As the movement’s students flock to its branches on the coasts, the HUC board is set to vote next month in NYC on a proposal to replace the current program with a low-residency one
By Andrew Lapin
Rabbi Tamarah Benima (Malin G. Kundi/Wikimedia Commons via JTA)
November 12, 2021, 11:54 pm
Dutch rabbi resigns from council after tying COVID measures to Nazism
Comparisons have been proliferating in recent months throughout Europe and beyond, including with the wearing of yellow stars at protests against virus restrictions
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Anna Kislanski (Courtesy)
October 28, 2021, 6:54 am
The new head of Israel’s Reform movement is cautiously optimistic
Anna Kislanski, who took the helm of the organization after Rabbi Gilad Kariv was elected to the Knesset, believes the new government could revive the Western Wall compromise deal
By Amy Spiro
Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, and a recently rediscovered trunk containing his sermons from over 100 years ago. (Courtesy Rodef Shalom Congregation/ Matthew Falcone)
July 19, 2021, 2:53 am
Buried trunk at Pittsburgh synagogue reveals past and future of Reform Judaism
Cataloged and preserved sermons from over a century ago, found underground, add detail to the influence of Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, whose progressive ideas were ahead of his time
By David Rullo
Rabbi Gilad Kariv takes part in prayers on Israel's independence day at Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv in 2018. (Courtesy Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism)
March 25, 2021, 2:23 am
‘Reform values have made it into Knesset’: Labor’s Rabbi Kariv on becoming an MK
Incoming lawmaker plans to advocate for pluralism and work to counter or ultra-Orthodox control over religious affairs in Israel
By Ben Sales
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