No more Lone Ranger Judaism, Reform movement leader says

minneapolis | Reform Jews cannot go it alone.

That was the message at the Reform movement's 67th biennial here last week.

Despite numerically dominating the North American Jewish landscape, Reform Jews must reach out to other Reform Jews in Israel and Eastern Europe, and fight anti-Semitism by forging closer ties to Christians, said the movement's president, Rabbi Eric Yoffie.

"There is no such thing as Lone Ranger Judaism," Yoffie said at the convention of the newly named Union for Reform Judaism, delivering the keynote address to a Shabbat morning service of 4,500 delegates.

The address marked less of a philosophical sea change for Reform Judaism than Yoffie solidifying an agenda he has promoted since ascending to the top of the largest American stream of Judaism in 1996.

Since that time, Yoffie has spearheaded calls both to infuse the movement with more tradition and to invigorate ritual through participation. First, Yoffie said, the movement would invigorate its support for Reform congregations in Israel in addition to Reform Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Yoffie urged members specifically to raise money to help build two new Reform synagogues in Modi'in and in Mevasseret Zion, both led by women rabbis, while also helping train Reform Jews in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to launch new communities.

He also urged the movement to support Israeli students at the Jerusalem branch of the movement's seminary, the New York-based Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, with two-year scholarships and two years of post-ordination salary.

Yoffie also urged Reform Jews to look inward. He called on members to study Torah for 10 minutes daily, saying those who complete 100 hours of study using a "Ten Minutes of Torah" Web site will be honored at the group's 2005 biennial in Houston.