Pre-Shabbat Wine and Cheese with IMPJ Chair Yair Lootsteen
Presented by Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism
September 16, 5:00 pm
Join our Holy Blossom Temple Community and the Chair of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) Yair Lootsteen for a Pre-Shabbat celebration. Over wine and cheese, Yair will share some of the success and challenges facing progressive Judaism in Israel today. With elections being held soon, and a new government to go with it, Yair is uniquely positioned to share his crucial perspective on our shared future. He will also reflect on, and discuss, his many-year friendship with Holy Blossom Temple Past President Joan Garson and her incredible contributions to the cause of progressive Judaism.
The wine and cheese reception in honour of Yair Lootstein is generously sponsored by David Baskin & Joan Garson
Yair Lootsteen was re-elected in June of this year to a second three-year term as Chairperson of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism – the Israeli Reform Movement (IMPJ). He has been on the IMPJ Board since 2013, and currently also serves on the IMPJ Board’s Congregational Development Committee and as a member of the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Committee Steering Committee.
Born in London, England, Yair grew up in Toronto, Canada. He made aliyah in 1979 and has since resided in Jerusalem.
A lawyer, Yair served in the IDF’s Military Advocate General Corps for 23 years, completing his term of duty in 2007 with the rank of Colonel. During his military career he held several challenging positions, the last being that of the Legal Advisor to the IDF in Judea and Samaria. Previous positions in the IDF included that of the Staff Judge Advocate for the General Staff Command and the Legal Advisor to the IDF in the Gaza Strip.
Since completing his regular IDF service, Yair has invested much of his time on issues relating to Jewish pluralism in Israel. From 2010 to 2013 he served as president of Kehilat Kol HaNeshama, Jerusalem’s largest Reform synagogue. Yair also serves ex officio on the Executive Board of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and is a member of the Israel team of ARZENU – the International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists. In the latter capacity, from 2012 to 2015 he served as Co-Chair of the World Zionist Organization’s Standing Committee on Budget and Finance and since late 2015 has been a Board member of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael-Jewish National Fund. In May 2018 he was appointed Vice Chairperson of KKL-JNF, a position he was re-selected for by ARZENU following the 2020 World Zionist Congress elections.
