Press Releases and Statements

The Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, issued the following statement on May 25, 2023:

“The Rabbinical Assembly welcomes the groundbreaking release of the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism by the Biden administration. This comprehensive strategy, encompassing over 100 actionable measures, demonstrates a resolute commitment to raising awareness about antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, as well as protecting Jewish communities and fostering cross-community solidarity.

NEW YORK, NY (April 3, 2023) The Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, has long held that each person reflects and refracts G*d’s own Image (tzelem Elohim) and inheres with inestimable worth and preciousness (k’vod habriyot). These values hold regardless of gender identity, gender expression, and/or sexual orientation. The RA has affirmed these values in rendering Jewish legal decisions and resolutions. The RA’s record of inclusion now spans over decades. In keeping with this record and in response to the proliferation of anti-LGBTQ+ laws approved by state legislatures across the US, particularly in Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and So

NEW YORK, NY (February 21, 2023) In response to the hate crime charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department against Jaime Tran for targeting and shooting two recognizably Jewish men outside two Los Angeles synagogues, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 2, 2022) For over five decades, the Rabbinical Assembly has strongly and repeatedly affirmed the halakhic necessity of access to abortion based on our members’ understanding of relevant biblical and rabbinic sources and teshuvot – rabbinic responses – and fiercely opposed efforts that would limit access to abortion or stifle reproductive freedoms in the U.S. In response to legislative efforts that threatened reproductive freedom in 2021, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, passed a Resolution on Right to Legal and Accessible Abortion in the United States. Following today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn its previous landmark cases, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, effectively nullifying the Constitutional right to abortion for millions of Americans, the RA issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 25, 2022) Following the killing of 19 schoolchildren and two adults, in Uvalde, TX, and the wounding of others, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 17, 2022)  Following the attack in Buffalo, New York, in which ten people were killed by a white supremacist gunman at a supermarket in a Black neighborhood, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 3, 2022) According to a draft majority opinion, the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn its previous landmark decisions, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, effectively ending the constitutional right to abortion. For more than fifty years, the Rabbinical Assembly has fiercely opposed efforts to limit abortion access and strongly supported reproductive rights. For example, in response to legislative efforts that threatened reproductive freedom in 2021, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, passed a Resolution on Right to Legal and Accessible Abortion in the United States. Following the Supreme Court’s attack on abortion accessibility, the RA issued the following statement: