Rabbi Alex Weissman remembers walking into the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote for the first time. It was November 2010, and he was a 27-year-old Tufts University graduate who had held a few jobs with community and service-minded organizations.
The pilgrimage to the South for Jews of African descent who serve as leaders of the Reconstructionist movement was fully funded by Reconstructing Judaism. Participants were able to engage in healing work and visit sites imbued with trauma within a Jewish and Black context.
My needles moved rhythmically, creating orderly rows of delicate knots as we rolled into the center of Hebron that Thursday afternoon. When I got off the bus and looked around, I could hardly recognize the place I’d visited as an adolescent.
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association have signed on to Jewish Rohingya Justice Network’s Statement on Genocide Prevention Day.
The streamlined, user-friendly site is a combination of the former Ritualwell online store and Reconstructionist Press store, explains Adva Chattler, managing director of engagement and innovation at Reconstructing Judaism.
The State of Israel and the world’s Jewish Diaspora communities have a relationship built on a common history and shared values.
The reality of a ruling coalition in Israel that will include dozens of Knesset members who freely express racist, homophobic and anti-democratic beliefs is frightening and is an anathema to Progressive Judaism.
Rachel Swartz Robinson, Reconstructing Judaism’s new vice president for development and philanthropic advisor, knows firsthand the impact that a Reconstructionist approach can have on a family. As it happens, Reconstructionist rabbis were present at two of the most important moments of her life: her wedding and her son’s naming ceremony.
Reconstructing Judaism plays a leading role in addressing systemic racism in Jewish communities and serving as a moral voice in a larger public reckoning. One of the powerful ways the organization does this is by nurturing Jews of Color in leadership positions, as rabbis and community leaders.
Kanye is saying some of the worst antisemitic things that are even hard for people who have right-leaning politics to swallow.
None of this is really surprising if you go back through Kanye’s problematic comments, or his relationship with Donald Trump and Candace Owens. It looks to me like he’s having a breakdown. I don’t think it’s just mental illness —
Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement
Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis
Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues
Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives
