Reform Zionism: In Search of Clarity
More than two years ago, a member of ARZA's Think Tank, the Institute for Reform Zionism, innocently asked, "Why don't we have a simple, concise definition of Reform Zionism?" The question initiated a process which has now resulted in this five-session curriculum. Each session provides readings and guided questions for the study of a particular piece of the Reform Zionism puzzle. The topics are:

I. Dreams and Reality
II. People, Land, and State
III. Miracles
IV. Mitzvah
V. Aliyah

Reform Zionism:In Search of Clarity joins ARZA's previous curriculum, One Heart, Two Homes: Israel and the Sacred Identity of American Jews, as an important educational resource helping Reform congregations and their members understand their own relationships to the Land and State of Israel.

ARZA mailed very URJ congregation a free printed copy of this curriculum when it came out.  In an age of both environmental and budgetary concerns, ARZA also wants to make the curriculum available to download (and print if you choose). We would be glad to send you a digital copy. Please e-mail skarol@arza.org to receive yours today.

Faces of Reform Aliyah

This Educational Kit contains materials designed to engage your congregation with Israel through authentic and familiar stories and to expose them to a unique dimension of Reform involve-ment in Israel. Iniside you'll find the faces and voices of North American Reform Jews who have linked their faith and future with Israel. Some have expressed that connection by making Aliyah and relocating their lives to Israel, some divide their time between Israel and North America, and others are still wrestling with the options.

The materials in the Educational Kit include:

Our Israel: A Reform Response

This guidebook was originally prepared in response to the 2006 war in Lebanon and was re-released during the 2008-2009 crisis in Gaza. These materials are helpful as you guide your congregants, your students, your friends, and your own minds and souls through troubled times.

You will find these topics addressed in Our Israel: A Reform Response (click on the links below)

For Everyone:

• A Leader’s Guide with ideas for programming, speakers, etc.
• Jewish Principles for Respectful Discussion
• Things You Can Do to Support Israel
• Kaddish for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers and a Prayer for Times of War

For Rabbis and Cantors:

• A Worship Supplement, with musical selections, prayers, poems and thematic talking points

For Clergy, Educators and Lay Leaders:

Adult Learning Sessions about

• Hope/Hopelessness
• Moral Equivalencies
• Good vs. Evil and the Sanctity of Human Life
• Israel: People, Land and State
• Double Standard or Higher Standard
• Proportionality and Context

For Religious School Educators

• Our Tradition, the Arts, and the Written Word Information on Teaching Israel, Talking to Our Children about the Conflict in Israel, with Responses Through
• An Assembly Program for Students: HaTikvah Shelanu – Our Hope

Click here to download the entire Our Israel: A Reform Response resource guidebook

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!