Reconstructionist Jews believe in the deep bond of Jewish peoplehood, a global sense of connection, care, and responsibility that links us to each other and to Israel. At the same time, Judaism commands us to pursue justice and uphold the dignity of all people. Many in our community struggle with how to hold both love for the Jewish people and a moral stance against oppression. Reconstructing Judaism holds space for that tension. We affirm our ties to Israel and Jewish peoplehood, while also lifting our voices in solidarity with those working for human rights, freedom, and dignity for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Through learning, moral clarity, and principled action, we co-create a Jewish future rooted in both connection and conscience.
Q: Where do we stand on Israel and Zionism in general? Is the Reconstructionist movement pro-Israel?
Our vision is an Israel where Israelis and Palestinians can live together in safety, dignity, and peace. From the origins of Reconstructionism to this day, the Reconstructionist movement has an abiding commitment to flourishing Jewish life in Israel, for Israelis of all backgrounds to live in safety and in freedom, advancing Jewish art, spirituality, and culture and also enlivening democratic values and advancing human rights, science and technology in ways that benefit Israelis, Palestinians, and the whole region. The movement identifies as progressive Zionist.
We have adopted several resolutions supporting a peace process that leads to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We continue to affirm the values and vision undergirding that political solution, even as its implementation feels remote, if not impossible. Reconstructing Judaism has built relationships with Israeli organizations that promote human rights, peacebuilding, and co-existence, and many of our members and rabbis are committed to those causes. We have also passed resolutions and issued statements calling on the Israeli government to recognize the legitimacy of all the non-Orthodox movements of Judaism and to protect the equal rights of women, LGBTQ+ people, and members of the Palestinian and Bedouin communities who are citizens of Israel. We’re a Zionist movement that is deeply concerned about justice and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Q: Does the Reconstructionist movement believe in Israel’s right to exist?
Yes, unequivocally. We see this as a question without substance. Israel does exist and the Reconstructionist movement seeks to foster genuine and abiding relationships with and understanding of the land and its many residents.
Q: How is Israel included in rabbinical education?
The Jewish people’s relationship to the land of Israel and the history of Zionism and State of Israel are integral aspects of RRC’s core curriculum on Jewish civilization. In their course of study, our students cultivate a firm intellectual and spiritual grasp of Judaism as an evolving civilization that traces its roots to biblical Israel and today includes a flourishing, if imperfect, modern Jewish state in the land of Israel. We believe our rabbis—indeed, all Jewish leaders—must understand Israel in both its historical and contemporary context and be able to grapple with its political and cultural challenges with maturity, nuance, and an approach of ahavat yisrael, an abiding love for the Jewish people that can withstand disagreement and critique.
In addition to deep and sustained study about the place of Israel in Jewish history, thought, and culture across our academic program, RRC sends students to Israel to participate in an immersive and experiential program of study created in partnership with BINA, an Israeli movement at the intersection of Jewish education and social activism. This experience enables them to encounter the realities and challenges of contemporary Israeli society firsthand. Faculty members traveled to Israel to work on strengthening this collaboration in Summer 2024. (The program is designed to run every other year and unfortunately was delayed in Summer 2025 due to safety concerns.) RRC trains students to facilitate conversations across difference, including differences regarding views on Israel.
Q: What expectations does RRC have for rabbinical students?
RRC has very high standards around fitness for the rabbinate, which are explored during admissions interviews and are assessed throughout rabbinical school. These include and are not limited to:
- Dedication to the Jewish people and rootedness in Jewish tradition;
- Spiritual maturity and depth;
- A commitment to ongoing self-care and personal growth;
- Psychological stability and self-awareness, including the capacity to self-assess; and recognize personal limits, and to establish and maintain appropriate; boundaries
- Strong interpersonal skills;
- The capacity to function well under conditions of high stress and uncertainty;
- Good judgment, flexibility and creativity;
- Integrity, humility, gentleness, courage, kindness, reliability and other traits of fine moral character.
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan took the name “Reconstructionism” from John Dewey’s principles for progressive education, which includes the understanding that “education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience, that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.” After Dewey and Kaplan, our faculty presumes that students will develop and refine their political views over the course of rabbinical school. Our Admissions Committee asks multiple probing questions about prospective students’ relationship to and views about Israel and communicates our requirements about Israel education clearly. The faculty educates intensively about Israel. We firmly believe that this is the soundest educational approach.
Q: What other ways do we address Israel in educational programming?
Camp Havaya is an important way that Reconstructionists can learn about and engage with Israel. For more than a decade, we have sent teens to Israel for four weeks of exploration and connection. The trip includes time in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, as well as Gush Etzion, to give teens opportunities to explore various narratives and make up their own minds. After consulting with campers and their parents, Camp Havaya, like most independent programs, did not send teens to Israel in the summers of 2024 and 2025. Camp has created experiential opportunities for the cohort scheduled to go, is increasing their Israel programming, has hired more Israeli counselors than usual and has offered scholarships for Israeli campers displaced by the war.
Q: Where do our rabbinical students stand on Israel and Zionism? Are there non/anti Zionists in the student body?
RRC exists under the umbrella of Reconstructing Judaism, which is a progressive Zionist organization. Some of our students have views on Israel—and on other topics—which diverge from movement positions. While we do not mandate that students align themselves with all our religious and political positions, we expect and train our students to be caring, ethical and effective leaders for Reconstructionist communities and the broader Jewish world. All our students are required to engage in our Israel education program, both in Israel and in coursework on campus, so that their views on Israel and Zionism are shaped by deep knowledge, experience and relationships. RRC’s mission as an institution of higher education and as a rabbinical school entails robust engagement with a breadth of political positions and controversial ideas. We train rabbis who can work effectively with people with a range of perspectives. We view it as essential for rabbis to cultivate community in which people engage in the kind of constructive dialogue that so many Jews crave but struggle to find.
Q: Why are there Reconstructionist Jews and members of Reconstructionist synagogues and institutions who hold anti-Zionist beliefs?
Our movement’s core commitments to democratic principles and to diversity make space for rabbis and lay people who have a wide range of divergent views —even on very important matters. It can be intensely painful when our shared values lead us to different conclusions on matters that are very close to our hearts. The use of labels as shorthand for complex ideas can make it harder to have conversations across differences and accurately understand each other.
The Reconstructionist movement has always supported, and continues to support, the progressive Zionist values envisioned by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and Israel’s Declaration of Independence — a Zionism of ethical nationhood, Jewish cultural diversity, respect for all Jewish movements and a moral drive to establish a just and peaceful relationship with the Palestinians. An entire generation of Diaspora Jews — whose only experience of Israel has been in the last 20 years — may share those values but also may not perceive the current State of Israel as living up to those ideals. In addition to generational differences that are affecting the wider Jewish discussion of Israel and Zionism, the North American Jewish community is growing ever more diverse–culturally, racially, in terms of sexual and gender identity and more. This diversity means Jews today have a more varied range of formative experiences than those of the descendants of Ashkenazi immigrants.
A Reconstructionist approach calls on us to understand our differences and engage with one another in ethically grounded, values-based learning and discussion. Reconstructionism’s strength lies in our commitment to engage with each other on even the most emotionally charged issues. According to a Reconstructionist analysis, this welcoming orientation has been a key to the Jewish people’s survival and moral growth. Reconstructionism’s embrace of diversity encourages us to adopt stances of openness and curiosity toward new perspectives rather than suspicion and resistance.
Q: What are Reconstructing Judaism’s programmatic offerings around Israel?
For a broader overview of Reconstructing Judaism’s commitments, approach and programming, click here. For a link to resources from the movement-wide convening on Israel attended by more than 600 people, click here. For a comprehensive report on Israel-related activities across Reconstructing Judaism from 2020 – 2022, click here. We look forward to augmenting these resources in the coming year.
