Free Republic

We put "Reform Judaism" in quotes because we do not recognize left-wing politics as part of the Jewish religion by Bill Levinson Eric Yoffie of the Union for "Reform Judaism," formerly the Union of "American" "Hebrew" Congregations first brought himself to our attention in 2000 where he used Reform Judaism support the agenda of the disgraced Million Mom March: a dishonest organization we had the personal pleasure of destroying by exposing its misuse of 501(c)(3) tax exempt money to support Democratic candidates. (We supplied the indicated information to J.R. Labbe.) Eric Yoffie, who seems to confuse the Jewish religion with...

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, seems to think Israel has too many allies in America.  In particular, he believes that Israel can do without the support of evangelical Christians, and especially Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel. At a convention of reform rabbis in Cincinnati this week, Yoffie lowered the boom on Hagee and urged Jews to no longer attend Hagee's series of "Nights for Israel",  which have helped raise tens of millions of dollars for the Jewish state,  and strengthened the connection between Jews and Evangelicals around the country. Yoffie must think...

NEW YORK (AP) - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism said Wednesday that synagogues in the movement shouldn't work with the Rev. John Hagee, a Christian Zionist, calling him an "extremist" on Israeli policy who disparages other faiths. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said Hagee and his group, Christians United For Israel, reject any Israeli land concessions to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Reform Judaism supports creating a Palestinian state; Hagee sees a biblical mandate for the territory so End Times prophecy can be fulfilled.

Whenever Israel’s situation is difficult, the radical settlers can be counted on to make things worse. Hamas controls the Palestinian Authority. Rocket fire continues from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and threatens Israel’s very existence. Israel’s government is weak and under siege. And what do the settlers propose? They assert that Israel must respond to the intransigence of Israel’s enemies by building more West Bank settlements, beginning with a return to Homesh, and ultimately re-conquering Gaza. It is true that Israel needs vigilance and a rebuilding of its military strength. Concessions without reciprocal steps from...

Let us look at the least-discussed crisis in American Jewish life: the yawning gap between what Jewish organizations do and what Jews actually believe. Most Americans oppose the war in Iraq. American Jews overwhelmingly oppose the war in Iraq. But apart from the Union for Reform Judaism – the organization that I serve – not a single major American Jewish organization has spoken out against the war. Indeed, it is difficult to find much evidence of serious public debate in Jewish organizational circles, let alone a statement criticizing the war. Examples abound, of course, of individual Jewish organizations that, from...

March 1, 2007, Washington, DC.... The Republican Jewish Coalition today launched a national grassroots action campaign to stand up to efforts on the part of the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) to undermine US efforts in Iraq. The call to action informed RJC members that the Reform movement's leadership is pushing the Union of Reform Judaism to adopt a "dangerous and wrongheaded resolution opposing US efforts in Iraq." The RJC called on its members to learn more about the proposed resolution and to express their own opposition to the resolution directly to the URJ president, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, and...

In November, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, caused a stir when he used the occasion of the Reform movement’s biennial assembly to sermonize against the “Religious Right.” Preferring caricature over considered debate, Yoffie darkly depicted his religious adversaries’ position thus: “unless you attend my church, accept my God and study my sacred text, you cannot be a moral person.” Earlier this month, he joined hands with the Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman to demonize Christian conservatives, whom Foxman claims are out “to Christianize America.” That was then. This week, however, Rabbi Yoffie offered a distinctly...

Rabbi Avi Shafran's article comparing the Union for Reform Judaism's convention in Houston with Agudath Israel of America's convention in Stamford, Connecticut, (The Jerusalem Post, December 5) became, to the surprise of no one who follows Shafran's writings, yet one more opportunity to bash Reform Jews and Reform Judaism. Because the Reform movement has no desire to participate in the spectacle of Jew pummeling Jew, we rarely respond to articles by Shafran that are written for the American Jewish press. However, since some of the Post's readership may not be familiar with North American Jewish realities, I offer, with reluctance,...