The conscious efforts on the part of the Reconstructionist movement to expand who feels included and who is home in the Jewish community is clearly bearing fruit.
Inclusion is a core principle of Reconstructing Judaism. We strive to create communities where all people can experience Jewish life and Jewish community, to be embraced, supported and celebrated. Too many groups and individuals have historically been marginalized in Jewish spaces: LGBTQIA individuals, Jews of Color, people with disabilities, interfaith families, non-Jewish family members, those facing mental-health challenges and more. Barriers to participation harm not only the excluded but weaken the entire Jewish community. We hold that communities must do more than welcome; they must be open to true transformation.
The Reconstructionist movement has a 100-year history of expanding access to Jewish life and community: from celebrating the first bat mitzvah in the 1920s, granting women full religious and governance equality mid-century, affirming patrilineal descent in the 1960s, pioneering gender-inclusive liturgy and being the first rabbinical seminary to admit openly gay and lesbian rabbinical students in the 1980s to our antiracism work today. And we recognize how much more work we have to do on many fronts. Our affiliated communities share our commitment to inclusion for all, and actively pursue ways to translate those commitments into practice.
