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By Sarah Krinsky Think of four women you know. They can be anyone – friends, sisters, classmates, colleagues. Got it? Great. Now think – if the women you chose were four average American women, statistics predict that one of them has been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner. Add one more woman to the mix and the odds are that one of these five has been raped. Did you think of women ages 20-24? If so, the chances are even higher that they have been the victims of sexual abuse and violence. No one likes to think that such atrocious things could happen to themselves or their loved ones, but the reality is that domestic violence does occur. It occurs in every country, in every state, in homes of every socio-economic level, and in families of all religions. According to the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, “domestic abuse occurs in Jewish families at about the same rate as in the general community – about 15% and the abuse takes place among all branches of Judaism and at all socio-economic levels.” Jewish women on average remain in abusive relationships for 7-13 years – a markedly longer amount of time than non-Jewish women, who tend to remain for 3-5 years.

This March, I went on the WRJ Centennial Trip to Israel and Berlin with more than two dozen WRJ women from around North America. Some of these women I had met at District conventions, others at Assembly 2011, and  some at my first WRJ Board meeting.

The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) is proud to announce that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the URJ 72nd Biennial and Women of Reform Judaism 49th Assembly and Centennial Celebration, in San Diego, California, December 11-15.

By Janet Stovin WRJ has a long history of concern about international issues. The impact we feel from the global nature of our society affects our desire to support institutions that foster positive interaction and advocacy for human rights and humanitarian assistance throughout the world. Through our association with the United Nations, WRJ is able to apply our Jewish values to global issues in our efforts toward achieving world peace. Since the very beginning, the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (NFTS, now WRJ) has been connected to the UN. Jane Evans took a leave of absence from her position as Executive Director of NFTS to serve as one of the experts attending parallel meetings to the official delegation in San Francisco that wrote the UN charter in 1945. She was among those who advocated for the establishment of a class of Civil Society Organizations now known as Non-Government Organizations. These organizations monitor the activities of the United Nations bodies and agencies and report back to their respective organizations. Where applicable, they advocate with the missions and members of the UN bodies and agencies in order to promote issues of importance to the work of these organizations.

This piece was originally posted at RACblog, and was written by my colleague, Sophie Golomb, an Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center. As Food Day – October 24 – approaches, we invite you to join us in celebrating healthy, sustainable food with individuals and community across the country. Check out the Food Day website to discover events happening in your area! The Religious Action Center is proud tocelebrate Food Day with our webinar, “Eco-Kashrut: How Judaism Informs our Ethical Food Choices,“ featuring President and “TeaEO” of Honest Tea, Seth Goldman and editor of “The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic,” Rabbi Mary Zamore. The webinar is scheduled for 10a.m. EST on October 24—register today!

by Laurel Burch Fisher Standing at the entrance of our tent Four sides open to welcome the stranger and embrace the returning friend ready to visit those who are sick and to comfort those who are lost Sisters can heal the world and become holy In the opening scene of Parashat Vayeira, it is the hottest part of the day and an aging Abraham sits at the entrance of his tent recovering from his recent circumcision. Looking up, he sees three strangers approach and immediately he drops everything and rushes to greet them, bowing low to the ground. Begging them to stay, Abraham offers to feed and care for them, promising a modest meal but providing a lavish feast.

This piece was originally posted at RACblog, and was written by my colleague, Charlie Arnowitz, an Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center.   In June, the Senate passed a landmark immigration reform bill, the Border Security, Economic

By Kevin Proffitt In May 1915, three years after the opening of the Clifton campus of Hebrew Union College (HUC), the students of HUC issued a public appeal for an on-campus dormitory. “It is a pity,” they wrote, “that there seems to be no immediate prospects for a College dormitory, for there can be no doubt that there is a real need for one. At present the boys are scattered all over the city…The boarding houses are steadily and unmistakably deteriorating. It is getting harder and harder to get a good boarding house...The situation is unsatisfactory, and the only possible solution of the problem is to have the boarding  of the students done on a large scale.”

In December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared that October 11 would henceforth be known as the International Day of the Girl. For its second year in existence, the theme of this year’s commemoration is education as a form of girls’ empowerment.

Over the past year, the face of girls’ education advocacy has been sixteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban for her activism in support of education for girls. Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the attack on Malala, who fully recovered from her injuries and has become an important voice on this issue around the world. Her story reminds us of the real and present dangers that young women face when they demand a right that is theirs by birth: an education.