Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "We are so blessed to have Reform Synagogues. We are so blessed to have the Reform Movement. And as a 12 year old, I was really blessed to walk in, for the first time to a Reform synagogue, coming from Orthodoxy, and to discover a whole new world. The Movement exists to enable us all, communities and rabbis, to really flourish".
Ben Rich: "People ask me what the Movement for Reform Judaism is about. I tell them this: it's about doing the things that communities cannot do alone. And about helping communities do the things they can do, better, by sharing resources and learning from one another. It's about a national youth movement, supporting students at university, developing new leaders, helping people convert to Judaism and articulating the values that we all share in common".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner:"We work behind the scenes in our communities, enabling process. We mediate in conflict. We help recruit. And we vision for the future".
Ben Rich: "It is about making certain that there is a stream of qualified, effective people taking leadership roles within our community”.
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: “It's a backwards and forwards of message between communities and the Movement so that we're continually working together. I love it".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "But we don't just work in all our communities. What's really wonderful is when we're able to bring them together under one roof".
Robyn Ashworth-Steen: "Chagigah is a biennial conference, every two years. It's a coming together of all the Reform communities across the country".
Cantor Zöe Jacobs: "Leading services together allowed us to hear what we can sound like, the strength of our voices together as a Movement".
Robyn Ashworth-Steen: "The community spirit there, the atmosphere was phenomenal. Chagigah helped us all learn much more about our Judaism”.
Rachel Fidler: ”I know that I'm not the only person that feels really comfortable being a Reform Jew - and loves being a Reform Jew - but can't always answer the question so what is Reform Judaism? It's Judaism light, isn't it? And it's not".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "And that's exactly the kind of question that our brand-new L'Chaim course will answer".
Rabbi Josh Levy: "Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner and I were thrilled to launch the L'Chaim programme after months of working on it and refining our education programme".
Rachel Fidler: "I've just had three hours of tasting this new L'Chaim, this new Reform adult education programme and it's amazing!"
Diane Langleben: "I knew nothing about it before and I hope every synagogue within our great Reform community takes it up and really pushes forward".
Cantor Zöe Jacobs: "One of the great things about the Reform Movement bringing us all together is it gives us the opportunity to really share musically what's going on in our different communities".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "In our Movement we listen to and sing a wonderful variety of music. In RSY-Netzer it oils the soul. RSY-Netzer is jam-packed with activities for our young people from summer camps to Israel Tour. It is a great space where they can really belong and discover more about their identity whilst at the same time making golden lasting friendships".
Deborah Blausten: "The leadership skills that I gained as a bogeret [graduate of a youth movement] and as a leader in RSY were the ones that gave me the entree into many other things that I've done".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "They are the continuity. So it's not that it's one aspect that we might do, without them we wouldn't exist. People love RSY-Netzer so much that we decided to lower the age so more kids can enjoy it and more kids can learn from it. And as a movement we need, of course, to nurture those seeds that are so beautifully sewn in RSY-Netzer and up until very recently, that hasn't always been the case".
Deborah Blausten: "I don't want people to go to university and have the experience that I had, to feel isolated, to feel like there was something wrong with being Progressive".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "This year, Jeneration has become a fully integrated part of our Movement. Student life seminars arranged by Jeneration are key to maintaining the bonds young people build in RSY-Netzer".
Deborah Blausten: "The student life seminar: at the moment it's in two parts so the first part takes place in the lower sixth and introduces students and their parents to what it means to be a Jewish student and during the years they're applying we're able through our network of graduates of RSY-Netzer and also Jeneration students to connect sixth formers to students at university studying their subjects".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "Jeneration is also there to help young adults on the next stage of their life".
Rabbi Jackie Tabick: "No one wants the Jewish people to be living secluded from other groups in society. It is right that our young people go out into the world and meet other people. Inevitably of course that means that they may meet someone that they then decide they wish to marry. And the Reform Movement is always around to help in those situations".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "By providing free workshops Jeneration helps interfaith couples preparing to marry".
Kerry Lambeth: "It's great that the Reform Movement has welcomed my husband who is not Jewish so that he can participate in the community".
Rabbi Jackie Tabick: "They come into the synagogues; they witness the joy and the celebration of the Sabbath and the festivals. Sometimes they get hooked by the learning that happens in Reform congregations and they decide that they want to throw in their lot. So my role at the Beit Din is really to put the seal on their conversion and welcome them into the community. And so the Reform Movement is helping maintain that Jewish world, making it grow and prosper".
Jenny Pizer: "Over the last few years we at the Movement have worked extremely hard to ensure that we have a progressive voice amongst the mainstream establishment".
Rabbi Jonathan Romain (on TV): "...is change the culture from being a sort of me society looking after number one to love your neighbour as yourself".
Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger (on TV):"… the real sadness about this present Act if you like is that I don't think it's going to make a huge difference and it just slows everybody down".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "Today, I'm lucky enough to be spending time with some of our future leaders. We're hosting lunch for the new students who are just starting their studies at Leo Baeck. And we're saying to them 'baruchim habayim - welcome to the Movement we will be with you all the way through your journey, and accompany you, and when you become rabbis, come and be with us'. So you've seen RSY-Netzer and Chagigah, Jeneration, the work of the Beit Din. Very visible and wonderful things that the Movement has enabled this year".
Ben Rich: "It's only with the generosity of our communities and individuals that we've been able to enable nearly 200 people to become new Reform Jews over the past year. To enable 900 young people to develop their Reform Jewish identity on our camps and on our tours and to enable more and more people to hear a Reform voice, a Jewish voice, a compassionate voice, in the country beyond".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner (at Westminster Abbey): "...let us celebrate our common humanity..."
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner: "So in the Movement we are doing more than we ever thought we could to move things forward. And we need you to partner us and do more than you ever thought you could to move things forward. Thank you. Todah".
