Academic literature on the topic 'World Union for Progressive Judaism'

AbstractThis article describes the work of the Youth Section of the WUPJ (the World Union for Progressive Judaism) in Europe soon after the Second World War and the establishment of the State of Israel, with especial attention to the influence of Rabbi Lionel Blue. It covers tensions between generations over how to ‘teach’ Judaism; the astonishing numbers of rabbinical students recruited; ways we ‘encountered’ the Bible; the first post-war youth conference in Germany; early meetings with young Jews from Eastern Europe; first encounters with Muslims; and particularly the Six-Day War. The changes this brought about through Netzer and the shift in focus towards a more Israel-centred ideology are described. Finally, the conclusion is drawn that only ongoing messianic or prophetic ideals keep Judaism alive.

AbstractThe ninetieth anniversary of the World Union enables us to highlight our achievements. In 1973 we moved the international headquarters from New York to Jerusalem and built a magnificent cultural/educational centre there. We pioneered the development of a dynamic Reform/Progressive movement in Israel consisting of congregations, kibbutzim, an Israel religious action centre and educational, cultural and youth programmes. We became active leaders in the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization. We established synagogues and educational programmes in the Former Soviet Union, Europe, Latin America and the Far East, thus fulfilling our mandate to perpetuate Jewish life wherever Jews live. We formulated an ideology of Reform Zionism as an antidote to the contracting Jewish identity induced by contemporary diaspora conditions. Whereas we encourage aliyah for Jews who want to live in Israel, we are adamantly opposed to those who advocate aliyah as a positive response to anti-Semitism. Instead, we demand that European democracies guarantee equal rights and full security to Jews as well as to all other groups in society.

Abstract This interview was conducted in 1965 by Jonathan Magonet at the time when Lionel Blue was newly appointed European Director of the Youth Section and of the World Union for Progressive Judaism itself. It addresses his concern about rebuilding European Diaspora Jewish communities after the war, through helping them find meaning and purpose in their existence beyond survival as an end in itself. Progressive Judaism is well placed to take on such a task because of its openness to the outside world. Progressive Judaism is not a breakaway from Rabbinic Judaism but sifts it and transposes it into a new key. He outlines a variety of programmes he envisages to undertake this work.

AbstractLiberal Judaism remained absent in the Netherlands during the nineteenth century but finally became successful in the early 1930s under the influence of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London and the establishment of the World Union for Progressive Judaism in 1926. It had a specific Dutch character which was more radical than the German refugees who joined in were used to. The Shoah barely left survivors of the prewar congregations, but Liberal Judaism made a remarkable comeback in the Netherlands and had a key role position for Liberal Judaism on the continent of Europe. In a much smaller Jewish community than the French one, the Dutch Progressive congregations for a considerable period formed the largest Progressive community on the continent, next to France. Even today, while comprising ten congregations, it still has a growing membership.

AbstractAlready in 1946 Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck advocated that alongside the rebuilding of congregations in post-war Europe, what he termed ‘little Judaism’, there was a need for a ‘greater Judaism’ – Jewish engagement with the wider issues of society: ‘We are Jews also for the sake of humanity’. In 1949 he also expressed the need for a dialogue with Islam. A variety of events and activities represent early attempts to meet these dual concerns. In 1997 at the first post-war, full-scale conference of the European Board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism in Germany, in Munich, Diana Pinto noted that despite long-standing fears that the European diaspora was doomed to disappear, changes in a European self-understanding had helped create an ‘ever more vibrant Jewish space’. Almost twenty years on from then, particularly with the rise of anti-Semitism and terrorist attacks, the mood amongst European Jews has become less optimistic.

AbstractThe German Jewish community established after World War Two was shaped by refugees from Eastern Europe, so the congregations they established were Orthodox. However, in 1995 independent Liberal Jewish initiatives started in half a dozen German cities. The story of Beth Shalom in Munich illustrates the stages of such a development beginning with the need for a Sunday school for Jewish families and experiments with monthly Shabbat services. The establishment of a congregation was helped by the support of the European Region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and ongoing input from visiting rabbis. The twenty years since the founding of the congregation have also seen the creation of the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany, the successful political struggle for a share of the state funding for Jewish communities and the establishment of the first Jewish theological faculty in Germany.

Isaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900), founder of the major institutions of Reform Judaism in America, was a man of his time — a pioneer in a pioneer’s world. When he came to America from his childhood Bohemia in 1846, he found fewer than 50,000 Jews and only two ordained rabbis. With his sense of mission and tireless energy, he set himself to tailoring the vehicle of Reform Judaism to meet the needs of the growing Jewish community. Wise strove for unity among American Jews, and for a college to train rabbis to serve them. The establishment of Hebrew Union College (1875) was the crowning achievement of his life. His quest for unity also led him to draw up an American Jewish prayer-book, Minhag America, to found the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and to edit two weeklies; their editorials, breathing fire and energy, were no less important in his quest for leadership. Here as elsewhere, it was his persistence that won him the war where his impetuosity lost him many battles. This book captures the vigour of Wise’s personality and the politics and concerns of contemporary Jewish life and leadership in America. The biography is a lively portrait of a rabbi whose singular efforts in many fields made him a pivotal figure in the naturalization of the Jew and Judaism in the New World.

This chapter examines how the Halifax explosion changed local churches and unions, as well as the ways that membership in a church or union altered the individuals' and families' experiences of the disaster. In applying for and receiving disaster relief, disaster survivors were sorted by organizational membership—in churches, in clubs, and in other formal institutions. When Haligonians applied for aid from the Halifax and Dartmouth Relief Committees and their successor, the Halifax Relief Commission, they were asked, among other things, what organizations they belonged to, including their church, their union, and their fraternal societies. This chapter compares the Halifax Relief Commission's instrumental use of churches, which emphasized clerical authority, with the ways that lay congregants chose to use churches to come to terms with their grief. It also considers how unions responded to the considerable growth of the technocratic, interventionist, progressive state during World War I.

The fourth chapter describes the rise of Jewish seminaries in America and their reconstruction of the tradition in the light of modern scholarship. Two traditions of schooling—one Reformed the other Conservative—are explored. The founder of Hebrew Union College (HUC), Isaac Wise, developed a curriculum for a “progressive and enlightened” Judaism that could engage with American education and culture. Moses Mielziner prepared a widely used introduction to the Talmud that argued for the reasoned development of halakah (law) from a more historical reading of the Torah. HUC included reforms of the Siddur or prayer book, egalitarian synagogue life for men and women, and a view of an “American Zion” as the best hope for Jewry. Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) was founded by the Orthodox rabbi Sabato Morais to advance a unified, developmental understanding of Judaism according to the Breslau school in Germany. Under Solomon Schechter, JTS became one of the world centers of Wissenschaft des Judentums (or modern study of) as it mobilized rigorous text-critical scholarship, historical studies, and the Hebrew language to advance the Jewish tradition.

FOR all their differences, particularly the failure of Polish Jewry to assimilate and the overwhelmingly successful assimilation of Hungarian Jewry, both Polish and Hungarian Jews found themselves in similar circumstances during the interwar period. Intense antisemitism, beginning in the 1880s, came to a full boil in the aftermath of the First World War. Acculturated or not, both groups had been reduced to pariah status by the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite the yawning chasm between the self-identities of Jews in Poland and those of Jews in Hungary, attempts at moderate religious reform, particularly in liturgy and synagogue practice, were successful in both countries, albeit on a much different scale....

Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the American left, the issues on which they focused (union organizing, racial and gender equality, peace), and Lieberman's own participation in the movement. As a child in the 1930s, he admired Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and sang folk and protest songs at summer camp, Progressive party conventions, and on tours for the Civil Rights Congress. In the 1950s, he performed and recorded albums with the first interracial folk group, and later, as political folk music began to reach a wider audience, became a songwriter.

This book seeks to fill the academic gap in the existing literature on comparative constitutional law by examining how and why five current socialist countries (China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam) have changed their constitutions after the fall of the Soviet Union. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach which integrates comparative constitutional law with social sciences (particularly political science and sociology), this book explores and explains: the progressive function; institutional and socio-economic causes; legal forms, processes, and powers; and five variations (universal, integration, reservation, exceptional, and personal) of socialist constitutional change. It uses qualitative methodology, including the support of fieldwork. It contributes to a better understanding of dynamic socioeconomic, legal, and constitutional change in socialist countries and comparative constitutional law and theory, generally.

Article 131 EC by establishing a customs union in accordance with Articles 28 to 32, the Union shall contribute, in the common interest, to the harmonious development of world trade, the progressive abolition of restrictions on international trade and on foreign direct investment, and the lowering of customs and other barriers.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) constitutes one of the main institutional pillars upon which the European Union (EU) was built. Strikingly, the institution has attracted little research. EIB Statutes can be condensed down to five overarching objectives that its lending should prioritize: originally, development, integration and investment, and, since the mid-1990s, environmental protection and tackling unemployment. This chapter provides a comprehensive qualitative analysis of EIB lending to Europe from its origins to the present and examines the Bank’s loans in light of its lending objectives. We find a watershed moment occurring at the end of the Cold War. Until the 1990s, the EIB promoted integration and development above the alleviation of capital constraints. Since then, however, there was a progressive ‘mechanization’ of EIB loans at the expense of securing the institution’s mission, to the extent that loans were increasingly associated with capital subscribed by its members. This could mean that the EIB mission as found in its Statutes and its lending practice is becoming increasingly misaligned.

This chapter introduces the varying evangelical responses to undocumented immigrants in the 1980s. Evangelicals’ views of the Reagan administration impacted their responses to the issue of undocumented immigration. Progressive evangelicals expressed their opposition to President Reagan’s Central America policies by supporting the movement to provide church sanctuary to people who fled the civil wars in Central America. In contrast, conservative evangelicals emphasized the need to act within the confines of the law. They became part of the legalization program provided by the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the Evangelical Task Force on Legalization, run by World Relief. At the same time, they closely followed the fate of Pentecostal Christians in the Soviet Union and sponsored Soviet refugees. Apart from legal concerns, what differentiated mainstream evangelicals’ and progressive evangelicals’ responses to undocumented immigrants in the 1980s was their willingness to take a public position against the Reagan administration’s foreign policy.

This chapter discusses the beginning of a new period in the history of Polish statehood and the Carpathian Mountain region. Under Soviet rule, the Hutsul region would forever be lost to Poles and Polish statehood. The Bieszczady is firmly ensconced within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The chapter explores the changes in population density and diversity following World War II and the Holocaust. A part of the Carpathians reverted to wilderness as well. The Polish People's Republic would seek the physical space of the Bieszczady in keeping with their vision of a progressive, industrial, collectively owned socialist state.

As World War I began in Europe in 1914, Crystal Eastman helped lead two major peace organizations. She facilitated the founding of the Woman’s Peace Party, today the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), initiating the recruitment of a reluctant Jane Addams to head the national organization while she formed and led the more audacious New York branch. And she served as executive secretary of the American Union Against Militarism, the only American antiwar organization ever to demonstrate that citizen diplomacy could avert war. She joined an impressive group of Progressive reformers—Addams; Lillian Wald, founder of the Henry Street Settlement and the Visiting Nurse Service; Oswald Garrison Villard, National Association for the Advancement of Color People financier and publisher of the Nation; and Rabbi Stephen Wise, leader of the American Jewish Congress. With others, they created the “new peace movement,” which allied world peacekeeping with global democracy, human rights, and economic justice.

This chapter describes the expansion of Jewish associational life over the course of the 1920s. It talks about the growth of a whole variety of youth movements that created unprecedented opportunities for young Jews to educate themselves about Jewish history and culture. It also examines the meaning of Jewish identity in the modern world. The chapter mentions the first national youth movement and the religiously oriented Chema Israël that aimed to provide an institutional structure of educational and recreational activities in order to transmit Judaism to future generations. It includes the Union Universelle de la Jeunesse Juive (UUJJ), which reached the height of its popularity and influence in the mid-1920s in the hope of appealing to as wide a range of Jewish youth as possible and to build bridges between different communities.

While the appeal of ‘civilisational dialogue’ is on the rise, its sources, functions, and con- sequences arouse controversy within and between faith communities. Some religious lead- ers have attempted to clarify the religious foundations for such dialogue. Among them are Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, Edward Idris, Cardinal Cassidy of the Catholic Church, and Fethullah Gülen. The paper compares the approach of these three religious leaders from the Abrahamic tra- dition as presented in their scholarly works – Sacks’ The Dignity of Difference, Cardinal Cassidy’s Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, and Gülen’s Advocate of Dialogue. The discussion attempts to answer the following questions: Can monotheistic traditions accom- modate the dignity of followers of other monotheistic and polytheistic religions as well as non-theistic religions and philosophies? Is a belief in the unity of God compatible with an acceptance of the religious dignity of others? The paper also explores their arguments for why civilisational and interfaith dialogue is necessary, the parameters of such dialogue and its anticipated consequences: how and how far can dialogue bridge the claims of unity of God and diversity of faiths? Islam’s emphasis on diversity and the Quran’s accommodation of ear- lier religious traditions put Islam and Fethullah Gülen in the best position to offer a religious justification for valuing and cherishing the dignity of followers of other religions. The plea for a dialogue of civilizations is on the rise among some policymakers and politi- cians. Many of them believe a dialogue between Islam and the West has become more urgent in the new millennium. For example following the 2005 Cartoon Wars, the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conferences, and the European Union used a joint statement to condemn violent protests and call for respect toward religious traditions. They pled for an exchange of ideas rather than blows: We urge everyone to resist provocation, overreaction and violence, and turn to dialogue. Without dialogue, we cannot hope to appeal to reason, to heal resentment, or to overcome mistrust. Globalization disperses people and ideas throughout the world; it brings families individuals with different beliefs into close contact. Today, more than any period in history, religious di- versity characterizes daily life in many communities. Proponents of interfaith dialogue claim that, in an increasingly global world, interfaith dialogue can facilitate mutual understanding, respect for other religions, and, thus, the peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths. One key factor for the success of the interfaith dialogue is religious leaders’ ability to provide an inclusive interfaith theology in order to reconcile their commitment to their own faith with the reality of religious diversity in their communities. I argue that prominent leaders of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are already offering separate but overlapping theologies to legitimize interfaith dialogue. A balanced analysis of multi-faith interactions is overdue in political science. The discipline characterises religious interactions solely from the perspective of schism and exclusion. The literature asserts that interactions among believers of different faiths will breed conflict, in- cluding terrorism, civil wars, interstate wars, and global wars. According to this conven- tional depiction, interfaith cooperation is especially challenging to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam due to their monotheism; each claims it is “the one true path”. The so-called “monothe- istic exclusion” refers to an all-or-nothing theological view: you are a believer or you are an infidel. Judaism identifies the chosen people, while outsiders are gentiles; Christians believe that no salvation is possible outside of Jesus; Islam seems to call for a perennial jihad against non-Muslims. Each faith would claim ‘religious other’ is a stranger to God. Political “us versus them” thinking evolves from this “believer versus infidel” worldview. This mindset, in turn, initiates the blaming, dehumanizing, and demonization of the believers of other reli- gious traditions. Eventually, it leads to inter-religious violence and conflict. Disputing this grim characterization of religious interactions, scholars of religion offer a tripartite typology of religious attitude towards the ‘religious other.’ They are: exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. Exclusivism suggests a binary opposition of religious claims: one is truth, the other is falsehood. In this dichotomy, salvation requires affirmation of truths of one’s particular religion. Inclusivism integrates other religious traditions with one’s own. In this integration, one’s own religion represents the complete and pure, while other religions represent the incomplete, the corrupted, or both. Pluralism accepts that no religious tradi- tion has a privileged access to religious truth, and all religions are potentially equally valid paths. This paper examines the theology of interfaith dialogue (or interfaith theology) in the Abrahamic religions by means of analyzing the works of three prominent religious lead- ers, a Rabbi, a Pope, and a Muslim scholar. First, Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth, offers a framework for the dialogue of civilizations in his book Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. Rather than mere tolerance and multiculturalism, he advocates what he calls the dignity of difference—an active engagement to value and cherish cultural and religious differences. Second, Pope John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope argues that holiness and truth might exist in other religions because the Holy Spirit works beyond the for- mal boundaries of Church. Third, the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s Advocate of Dialogue describes a Muslim approach to interfaith dialogue based on the Muslim belief in prophecy and revelation. I analyze the interfaith theologies of these religious leaders in five sections: First, I explore variations on the definition of ‘interfaith dialogue’ in their works. Second, I examine the structural and strategic reasons for the emergence and development of the interfaith theologies. Third, I respond to four common doubts about the possibility and utility of interfaith di- alogue and theologies. Fourth, I use John Rawls’ overlapping consensus approach to develop a framework with which to analyze religious leaders’ support for interfaith dialogue. Fifth, I discuss the religious rationales of each religious leader as it relates to interfaith dialogue.

The aim of the paper is to present and compare the three major European Union (EU) strategies/instruments designed to promote the dynamic economic development of the EU. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the EU has clearly demonstrated its ambitions related to economic growth, competitiveness and sustainability. Despite the progressive ideas reflected in the Lisbon Strategy, its limitations have logically resulted in only partial success. The 2008 world economic crisis has led to important changes, reflected in the Europe 2020 Strategy, but – despite certain progress – no spectacular success was seen. 2020 will not be remembered as the closing year of the Europe 2020 Strategy, but as the (first) year of the world-wide shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes caused by this shock can be seen in EU actions, as well: the Next Generation EU instrument is an innovation that could not have been imagined without such a shock. The paper discusses the potential ways of changes of the EU’s approach to the objectives of economic growth, competitiveness and sustainability as a result of the COVID-19 shock.

BACKGROUND: Development of civil society occurs in various forms. One form of development is the activity of non-profit organizations, visible in the increase in number of foundations and associations around the world, as well as in Poland. The activities of these organizations in the corporate sector and the public sector are carried out through a sequence of implemented projects. Contemporary management trends penetrate the world of non-profit organizations. This is a result of progressive globalization and unification of management methods, leading to progressive temporalization, professionalization, hybridization, or automation of processes. In particular, the phenomenon of all-encompassing projectification and its identified variations, such as ‘euro-projectification’ (projects based on programs of the European Union institutions) can be observed when projects replace any activity taking place in the organization, in connection with the organization’s employees, or its environment. ASSUMPTIONS/APPROACH: The scientific debate on the phenomenon of projectification concerns the management of enterprises or projects in the public sector. A much smaller, almost negligible percentage of researchers concern themselves with aspects and consequences of projectification in the management of non-profit organizations (NPO). To contribute to the scientific discussion on projectification, the author will present the consequences of this phenomenon on the example of managers of Polish non-profit organizations. The aim of the study was to analyse managers’ experience of the process of projectification and to gain an understanding of how this phenomenon changed the way they manage their non-profit. METHODOLOGY: The data presented in this study concern 204 NPO managers. The results of the study were extracted from a representative survey conducted in Poland on a sample of 385 non-profit organizations. To fully illustrate this phenomenon, the study was supplemented with quantitative data from ten interviews conducted with NPO managers. The aim of the discussions was to collect more general data on the consequences of managing an increasing number of projects.

The progressive development of the economy of each country in the context of globalization is to a large extent determined by its foreign trade activities. Individual entrepreneurship of the Kyrgyz Republic was the locomotive for the development of trade cooperation with many countries of the far abroad, among which Turkey is one of the leaders. Sources of research: statistical data. The main methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, logical sequence. Key findings: The participation of the Kyrgyz Republic in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) contributed to the revival of trade relations of the Kyrgyzstan with the EAEU members and other countries. The structure of foreign trade has improved: leading export growth compared to import growth. The pace of development of foreign trade relations shows that the participation of Kyrgyzstan in the EAEU is not a deterrent to its integration into the world trade community. The production orientation of imports from Turkey and China showed the basis for restoring the production potential of the light industry of Kyrgyzstan. An analysis of official data on foreign trade of Kyrgyzstan and mirror statistics of key partner countries revealed the problem of the presence of inaccuracy in the statistics of foreign trade of Kyrgyzstan and possible budget losses. The principles of building a new relationship between a man and society under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic will be based on the rationalization of consumption and production. This will be the basis for the restoration and development of foreign trade of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and worsened the depth of inequality in West Africa. It has pushed millions into poverty. There is no end in sight due to the obscene global vaccine inequality, which means that less than 4% of West Africans had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as at September 2021, compared with 52% in the United States and 57% in the European Union. In 2021, when COVID-19 infections are rising in West Africa, the critical support health and socioeconomic programmes put in place by most governments in 2020 are being rolled back and replaced with austerity. Many governments are following advice from the IMF and World Bank, reminiscent of the severe cuts in spending imposed under the structural adjustment policies of the 1980s and 1990s. However, as this paper argues, the pandemic offers West African governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest heavily in inequality-busting policies by boosting public spending (especially on healthcare, education and social protection), making tax systems more progressive, and tackling joblessness and precarious work. This report uses the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRII) framework devised by Oxfam and Development Finance International to assess the policies of West African governments. Visit the CRI Index website to learn more: www.inequalityindex.org.