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 UPCOMING EVENTS |
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January 29-February 1, 2014
UJCL Biennial, Costa Rica
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April 24-27, 2014
EUPJ Biennial, Dresden, Germany
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June 2014
SAUPJ Biennial, South Africa
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August 20-24, 2014
WUPJ LA Regional Conference, Brazil
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Spring 2015
Connections 2015 WUPJ 37th Biennial Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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World Union for Progressive Judaism projects are supported by
The World Zionist
Organization
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The World Union for Progressive Judaism held its 36th biennial convention -Connections 2013-Being the Difference - at Mercaz Shimshon/Beit Shmuel, Jerusalem, the global headquarters of the World Union. The organizing committee was co-chaired by Daniel Chinn (Israel), Gordon Smith (UK), and Sharene Hambur (Australia), with direction from World Union Chief Operating Officer Shai Pinto assisted by staffer Noga Hatkevich.
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The World Union's International Assembly met prior to the convention and passed a number of resolutions. Among these, the WUPJ overwhelmingly approved marriage equality as a fundamental right, recognizing that not all of our communities are prepared to act on it at this time. Read more...

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Future Generation participated in WUPJ's biennial convention
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Connections 2013 did not just bring together experienced and senior lay and professional leaders from our worldwide movement, it also provided a platform for over 20 young adults who are driving forward the engagement of the next generation in their communities to come together in Jerusalem with the help of TaMaR (Tnuat Magshimim Reformit - the World Union's Progressive Zionist organization for young adults). Whilst young adults in Costa Rica, The UK, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Poland, Chile, Israel, The Ukraine and Spain, may appear to live very different lives; when it comes to building Jewish community, we share many of the same challenges and goals.
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Approximately 35 rabbis and student rabbis from around the world participated in the pre-convention rabbinic kallah. Beginning Tuesday afternoon, April 30 and concluding the next afternoon in time for the International Assembly session, the rabbis studied with leading scholars in the movement and in the community. Adv. Nicky Maor, Director of IRAC's legal aid center for olim gave a presentation to the rabbis to clarify how best to prepare Jews by choice for aliyah. Study sessions were taught by Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx and Dr. Steve Cohen - both faculty members of HUC-JIR. Dr. Ron Kronish, Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel convened a panel of 3 clergy - Jewish, Christian and Moslem - to teach and discuss the variations on the concept of Tikkun Olam in each religious tradition (the theme of the convention).
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Don't Lose the Connection - Join Beit Shmuel's Tikkun Leil Shavuot on Facebook
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Now that you've had the opportunity to spend some time at Beit Shmuel, and meet with the amazing and energetic staff, don't lose the connection! Beit Shmuel, in cooperation with the New Israel Fund, will be hosting their annual Tikkun Leil Shavuot in the Beit Shmuel Patio with Israeli comedian, writer and playwright Gil Kopatch. This year, the sessions will be broadcast live on Facebook and we invite you all to join us - wherever you are. Read more...
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Learning to Live in Wilderness // Parashat B'midbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)
by Rabbi Howard Cooper, Director of Spiritual Development, Finchley Reform Synagogue, London, UK
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On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from Egypt, God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying : Take a census of the whole Israelite community, listing the names, person by person..." (Numbers 1:1) And so it begins: the unsettled, restless wandering, the fraught expectations of not-yet-achieved security, months that drag into years, years that merge into decades, hopes occluded, bitterness grinding down the soul, as the weary journey towards the elusive, envisioned dream - a promised land! - remains always just beyond the horizon, held in God's time as our ageing bodies shrivel in the noonday sun and our children cry out in the night.
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