Eric Yoffie - Views

Views

Some of the many issues that Rabbi Yoffie has been involved with as president of URJ are gun control, LGBT rights, the death penalty, religious pluralism and assistance on various Israel-related issues. Religiously he has been a proponent of increased traditionalism within Reform Judaism, urging a greater focus on Jewish text study and prayer. Yoffie has led the Reform Movement to move congregational life toward greater attention to Torah study and adult literacy. He has spearheaded a major expansion of the Union's summer camping program. In 2005 he introduced the Sacred Choices curriculum to teach sexual ethics to teens in camps and congregations.

He has announced two worship initiatives. The first, in 1999, was designed to help congregations become "houses in which we pray with joy." The second, eight years later, encouraged congregations to rethink their Shabbat morning worship and fostered Shabbat observance among individual Reform Jews.

Yoffie has been a pioneer in interfaith relations and has launched Movement-wide dialogue programs with both Christians and Muslims. In 2005, he was the first Jew to address the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Later that year, he harshly criticized the Religious Right for its exclusionary beliefs but in 2006 he accepted the invitation of the Rev. Jerry Falwell to address the students and faculty of Liberty University, where he spoke frankly of areas of agreement and disagreement. In 2007 Rabbi Yoffie was the first leader of a major Jewish organization to speak at the convention of the Islamic Society of North America. Recently, he has been a proponent of Muslim-American Rights and is a strong supporter of the Park 51 Community Center.

Yoffie has also been deeply involved in issues of social justice and community concern. A prominent spokesperson for sensible gun control, he was the only religious leader to appear at the Million Mom March in Washington, DC. He has also worked tirelessly on behalf of the Jewish state and the rights of Reform Jews in Israel, and meets frequently with Israel's elected officials to present the concerns of the Reform Movement and North American Jewry. Along with other Jewish Leaders, Yoffie has been outspoken against all legislative efforts that would limit religious freedom in Israel or impact Israel’s law of return.