Tagged Rabbi Jonah Pesner

A Jewish ‘Dreamer’ breathes a sigh of relief after US Supreme Court preserves DACA

Elias Rosenfeld with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine in front of the U.S.Supreme Court, Nov. 12, 2019, the day oral arguments werepresented in the case on DACA arrivals. (Courtesy of Rosenfeld)
June 22, 2020 / Penny Schwartz, JTA

BOSTON (JTA) – Elias Rosenfeld’s phone rang on Thursday morning hours after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump from moving to deport him and hundreds of thousands of other young immigrants like him. It was Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, with… Read more »

To name or not to name: Jewish organizations grapple with the Trump question

Former members of the U.S. military carrying boxes with more than 100,000 signatures requesting that Sen. John McCain and other Republican leaders withdraw their endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump following a press conference in Washington, D.C., Aug. 4, 2016. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
August 6, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — “This condemnation is against you personally,” the Jewish War Veterans said earlier this week, concluding its message to Donald Trump. “You, Mr. Trump, deserve our contempt.” If the sign-off to the statement condemning the Republican nominee for his attacks on the Muslim parents of a soldier killed in action… Read more »

For Orthodox, tax-defined ‘upper’ incomes are often stretched
February 3, 2015 / Dmitiry Shapiro, Washington Jewish Week

WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – For Orthodox Jews, President Barack Obama’s proposed tax reforms present a numbers-crunching paradox: Income he designates as well-off may mean just getting by for large families. Obama’s 2015 budget, which was introduced Monday, aims to offset economic breaks to upper-income families to… Read more »

Can Reform center’s new director maneuver in polarized D.C.?
January 14, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — With an agenda that has come to match almost perfectly with the priorities of the Democratic Party, the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center has not had an easy time of it in an increasingly polarized Washington. But Rabbi Jonah Pesner, the center’s incoming leader, may have… Read more »