Women of Reform Judaism is the women’s affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism, the central body of Reform Judaism in North America. Established in 1913, WRJ now represents more than 75,000 women in over 500 women’s groups in North America and around the world.
With a mission to ensure the future of Reform Judaism, WRJ works to educate and train future sisterhood and congregational leadership about membership, fundraising, leadership skills, advocacy for social justice, and innovative and spiritual programming. Through our YES Fund (Youth, Education, and Special Projects), WRJ provides financial support to rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, to the youth programs of the Reform Movement, and to programs benefiting women and children in Israel and the Former Soviet Union.
WRJ was founded in 1913, during a historic period of advancing struggle for recognition and equality for women, as The National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (NFTS). The organization was renamed in 1993 to more accurately reflect Reform Jewish women in sisterhoods throughout the world. Empowered by the Reform Movement 's precept of placing Jewish women on a plane of religious equality with men, WRJ became active in areas that continue to define its work today.
Over the course of the 20th century, WRJ was at the forefront of social action and change in both Jewish and secular venues:
- embracing relief efforts during World War I
- aiding in causes on behalf of the needy during the Depression
- bringing German rabbinic students to study in the U.S. in 1935 after Hitler closed the doors of Jewish academies of higher education
- urging governments to open borders to refugees before and during World War II, and advocating for adequate services on behalf of displaced persons and allowing Jews to resettle in Palestine after the war
- actively involved in the formation of the United Nations and its Charter
Although marred by war and rioting, the ‘50s and ‘60s were also a time of prosperity and growing membership for the organization, as well as an increased organizational commitment to science and human rights. Support for the United Nations Decade for Women brought forth many important resolutions of social activism.
NFTS became particularly involved in supporting the UN Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women and the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
The '70s and '80s were years of growing achievements for women in Reform Judaism, most notably the ordination, in 1972, of the first woman rabbi, Sally Priesand.
Devoted to a broad spectrum of Jewish and humanitarian causes, WRJ furthers the teachings and practices of Judaism. Its diversified activities include projects supporting:
- the blind and visually impaired
- education in international relations
- religious and family education
- strengthening Jewish identity in Eastern Europe
- the State of Israel, and
- intergroup relations and a wide range of social justice and women's issues
WRJ serves affiliated sisterhoods through the preparation of materials and programs to help them function at their most effective level. This includes materials for:
- local programming
- organizational and leadership development
- continuing Jewish adult education
- education and action on critical issues and community service
- preschool Jewish learning
- working with high school and college age youth
- assisting the aging and the disabled
- outreach to Jews in the Former Soviet Union and in other re-emerging Jewish communities
Since the birth of the state of Israel, NFTS/WRJ has supported social action issues and education in the Jewish homeland as well as the advancement of Reform Jewish institutions, with a particular concern for the religious freedoms of Progressive Jews and women.
Today WRJ represents Reform Jewish women to:
- The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
- American Jewish World Service
- Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
- Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
- Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
- National Council on Aging, and
- other coalitions and commissions dealing with social concerns in the interreligious and general communities
WRJ is an accredited representative to both the Department of Public Information and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
WRJ is represented on:
- the Board of Trustees of the Union for Reform Judaism
- the Board of Governors of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
- the Executive Board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism
- the Commission on Social Action for Reform Judaism, and
- other committees and commissions of the Reform movement
