Reform Judaism is a phrase that refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, Reform Judaism maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and compatible with participation in the surrounding culture. Many branches of Reform Judaism hold that Jewish law should be interpreted as a set of general guidelines rather than as a list of restrictions whose literal observance is required of all Jews. Similar movements that are also occasionally called "Reform" include the Israeli Progressive Movement and its worldwide counterpart.

Reform Judaism is one of the two North American denominations affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism. It is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.1 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.

Official bodies of the Reform Movement in North America include the Union for Reform Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Howard Lawrence Berman (born April 15, 1941) is the U.S. Representative for California's 28th congressional district, serving since 1983. The district, numbered as the 26th District from 1983 to 2003, includes about half of the San Fernando Valley. Berman is a Democrat.

Berman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Eleanor (née Schapiro) and Joseph Berman. His maternal grandparents immigrated from Russia. Berman grew up in modest circumstances. He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles) (1959), and earned his B.A. (1962, International Relations) and LL.B. (1965) at University of California, Los Angeles. Blanche Bettington, his high school civics teacher, inspired him to enter politics and government. He was a VISTA volunteer (1966–1967) in Baltimore and San Francisco, and was an associate at a Los Angeles law firm (1967–72) specializing in labor relations.

Berman was active in the Bruin Democrats at UCLA. He began his friendship with Henry Waxman there in 1960, when both were still undergraduates. Waxman was head of the YD liberal caucus, and through it ran the YDs. Both of them supported Adlai E. Stevenson's pursuit of the presidential nomination up to the eve of the 1960 convention. Berman was President of the California Young Democrats 1967-1969. He and Waxman co-founded the Los Angeles County Young Democrats, which grew to become one of the largest young professional clubs in Southern California.