23 September 2014
 
We have received lots of media coverage this week about the announcement of our launch, with the Movement for Reform Judaism, of an alliance for Progressive Judaism.

The Reform and Liberal movements have agreed a formal alliance, pledging greater co-operation in order to strengthen the overall Progressive presence within the community.

Although merger talks took place between the two movements 30 years ago, they have never been reopened.

Now, leaders believe closer ties will give them more scope to reach out to the growing pool of secular and unaffiliated Jews. Liberal Judaism chairman Lucian Hudson has long advocated closer collaboration. Read more here.

Liberal and Reform Judaism have launched “an alliance” to speak for one-in-three synagogue-affiliated Jews in the UK.

The deal encompasses a total of 82 progressive Jewish communities.

Leaders of both movements said they would aim to build on their growth by “reaching out to British Jews who describe themselves as secular, cultural or just Jewish”. Read more here.

Orthodox Judaism in Britain is “withering” as it is caught between modernisation and religious conservatism, a study has found.

Some Jewish progressives believe their numbers could overtake the Orthodox mainstream within a generation as thousands of traditional Jews switch to more liberal movements, while a surge in the numbers of ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, is radically altering the faith’s composition. Read more at here.