Passover 2017 Seder Supplement

This piece highlights many people who are affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement including Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, a 1991 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and rabbi emeritus of SAJ: Judaism that Stands for All; Betsy Teutsch, an artist, member of a Reconstructionist affiliate, Minyan Dorshei Derekh, and wife of former RRC President, Rabbi David Teutsch; as well as former RRC faculty members Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (z”l .) 

As Passover approaches, I’ve been thinking about the reasons why I’m a religious Jew, sparked significantly by a recent Reconstructionist pilgrimage to civil rights sites in the south. I’m wrestling with how to incorporate this powerful, painful and staggering experience into our celebration of freedom, in a way that respects the experiences of Black people—and Black Jews.

You could say that Jackie Land has been on the ground floor of change within the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism. For one, it’s in her blood — quite literally.