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Learn more about the work of the Rabbinical Assembly, the global association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, shaping and strengthening Jewish life worldwide through scholarship, leadership, and service since 1901.
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Resources for Hoshana Rabbah, Simhat Torah, & Sh'mini Atzeret
As this holiday season comes to a close, we'd like to highlight these resources:
Hoshana Rabbah: Hoshanot text and kavannot for Hoshana Rabbah from Or Hadash Beat It! the Ritual of of Havatat Aravot Why do we beat the willow? This CJ...
RA Concerned by French Politician’s Anti-Semitism, Anti-Muslim Bigotry
NEW YORK – The leader of France’s Front National political party, Marine Le Pen, who ran for president earlier this year, this weekend said the government should ban religious head coverings in public. She attempted to cover up her gaffe by...
The Arba'ah Minim
By Alan Lucas
Adapted from The Observant Life
The arba’ah minim, literally “the four species,” are better known as the lulav and etrog, after the two most prominent of the four: the palm branch and the citron. The...
Hodesh Tov - Tishrei
The Rise of the Babylonian Rabbinic Academy: A Reconsideration of the Evidence
by Jeffrey Rubenstein, Skirball Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, New York...
RA Condemns Violence in Cairo, Libya
NEW YORK – In response to violence in Cairo and Libya earlier this week, leaving three dead including American Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, Julie Schonfeld issued the following statement today on behalf of the board, staff and members of...
Food Stamp Challenge
In taking the Food Stamp Challenge, you will personally experience the challenges of hunger in the United States – challenges that the 1 in 7 Americans who use food stamps, including nearly 25% a quarter of all American children, face daily. This...
RA Voices Aversion Toward a Controversial Circumcision-Related Practice
NEW YORK – The New York City Board of Health is scheduled to vote this week on requiring parental consent for mohalim to engage in the controversial practice of m'tzitzah b’peh, or direct oral suction, during a b'rit milah. The Rabbinical...
RA Sends Condolences to Rabbi Attacked in Berlin
RA Expresses Concern for Anti-Semitic Violence
NEW YORK – Earlier this week, Daniel Alter, one of the first liberal rabbis to be ordained in Germany since the Holocaust, and the former rabbi of the Masorti congregation in Oldenburg,...
New York Times Article about the Joint Placement Commission
We are aware of a New York Times column by Sam Freedman regarding the Conservative Movement's Joint Placement commission comprising the Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, The Jewish Theological Seminary and the Ziegler...
Rabbinical Assembly Statement on European Efforts to Ban Circumcision
RA Concerned by Charges Against German Mohel, Efforts Throughout Europe to Ban Circumcision
NEW YORK – Efforts by groups opposed to circumcision, at both the local and national level in Germany, as well as in several other European...