On Shavuot, the holiday when we celebrate receiving the Torah marks the completion of counting

As Reform Jews, we stand strongly together with our brothers and sisters in Israel. Over the past 48 hours, Hamas has launched a massive barrage of rocket fire on southern and central Israel. At last report, six Israeli civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands more - from Tel Aviv to Beersheba –are confined to bomb shelters. Innocent civilians in Gaza have fallen victim to this latest round of violence as well. Furthermore, the rapid escalation of violence within Israel's own borders between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel is a new, and deeply troubling, development. We pray that calm will be restored soon.

In the days and weeks ahead, much will be written about the Pew Research Center’s "Jewish Americans in 2020." Having just received the full study today, we are still absorbing its findings. The Pew data is likely to provide a wealth of information that can be a useful resource for understanding many aspects of our community

Three years before the COVID-19 pandemic response sheltered millions of people at home and drove us to do all things virtual, the URJ was crafting online communities of learners as they journeyed together through our 21 sessions of Introduction to Judaism Online.