A Short History of the Pacific District

Women of Reform Judaism began its illustrious history as the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, NFTS, in 1913.  In the 1950’s, NFTS established a district system.  Each district mirrors the structure of WRJ and is led by lay leaders, leaders of our local sisterhoods.  As NFTS grew, the District system was formed as a link between the local sisterhoods and the international home office in New York City. In 1993, NFTS became Women of Reform Judaism or WRJ.

Our District was originally called Western Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, WFTS, District 24, as all of the districts were numbered.  In 2006, WRJ began merging some districts and renaming them by their geographical location.  Our district became the Pacific District at that time.  Now the Pacific District includes 13 states and two provinces in Canada: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, El Paso, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.   We are home to 59 sisterhoods with over 5800 members.