The Union for Reform Judaism, the central body of the Reform Movement in North America, was founded in Cincinnati in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. It has grown from an initial membership of 34 congregations in 28 cities to more than 900 congregations in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It is the largest Jewish movement in North America and represents an estimated 1.5 million Jews. At the Union's 2003 Biennial convention the General Assembly approved the change of name.
As the congregational arm of the Reform Movement, the Union's primary mission is to create and sustain vibrant Jewish congregations wherever Reform Jews live. The Union provides leadership and vision to Reform Jews on spiritual, ethical, and political issues as well as materials and consultation for programs in the congregation. The Union also provides opportunities for individual growth and identity that congregations and individuals cannot provide by themselves, including camps and Israel programs, study kallot, and North American and regional biennials.
HUC-JIR is a religious and scholarly learning community dedicated to:
- Developing Jewish professional and lay leaders to transmit and apply to contemporary life the sustaining values, responsibilities and texts of our tradition;
- Applying the open and pluralistic spirit of the Reform movement to the study of the great issues of Jewish life and thought.
- Advancing the critical study of Jewish culture and related disciplines in accordance with the highest standards of modern academic scholarship.
ARZA is the Zionist arm of the Reform Movement and an affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism, serving 1.5 million Reform/Progressive Jews. ARZA is the vehicle for the mass participation of American Reform Jews, focusing on Israel, with an emphasis on advocacy and travel; and Zionist education in America.
The World Union for Progressive Judaism, established in London in 1926 is the largest body of religious Jews in the world. Its basic aims are, first, to create common ground between its constituents and, second, to promote Progressive Judaism in places where individuals and groups are seeking authentic, yet modern ways of expressing themselves as Jews.
The World Union for Progressive Judaism serves congregations and communities in nearly 40 countries, encompassing more than 1,200 Reform, Progressive, Liberal and Reconstructionist congregations and more than 1.5 million members throughout the world. Its international headquarters is in Jerusalem, with regional offices in London and Moscow and New York.
The CCAR was founded in 1889. Its members are the body of rabbis who consider themselves and are considered to be the organized rabbinate of Reform Judaism.
Its members consist of Reform Rabbis ordained at the HUC-JIR Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, as well as Reform Rabbis ordained at liberal seminaries in Europe, and some rabbis who joined the Reform movement sometime subsequent to ordination. Most of the latter were ordained either at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary or the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.