US/World News

Reform Jews accuse Jacob’s of ‘divisive’ leadership

(JNS.org) More than 40 Reform Jews accused the head of the movement’s umbrella organization of “divisive” leadership over his response to the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations’ rejection of J Street’s membership application. Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) President Rabbi Rick Jacobs, a former member of J Street’s Rabbinic Cabinet, stated following the Conference’s vote, “We may choose to advocate for a significant overhaul of the Conference of Presidents’ processes. We may choose to simply leave the Conference of Presidents.” An advertisement signed by 41 Reform Jews that appeared in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles said, “We told you that [Jacobs] would use his position to bolster the anti-Israel J Street… But we did not know quite how divisive Rabbi Jacobs would be. We did not expect that when he failed to persuade the Conference of Presidents to accept J Street as a major Jewish organization – which it is not – he would threaten to take URJ out of the Conference and ask others to leave, too, over differences about Israeli foreign policy.”

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