Poet and director of Ritualwell Hila Ratzabi discusses creativity and the role it plays in her life and its valuable place in Jewish civilization.
“It is our work in the world with the people in our lives,” teaches Rabbi Steven Nathen, “that enable us to find God. Only then can we truly be rewarded with the experience of the holiness and peace that is represented by Shabbat.”
Shahanna MicKinney-Baldon, a Reconstructing Judaism board member, portrays Madame Goldye Steiner, a Black cantor who performed traditional Jewish music a century ago.
Rabbi Rayna Grossman, RRC’s director of field education, shares a Reconstructionist perspective on Simhat Torah.
As he was quietly studying Mishnah in the Occupy Sukkah outside of Philadelphia’s City Hall, Rabbi Alex Weissman wondered: How do we hold both tzedek and kedushah in balance? How do we elevate both without losing either in ways that are rooted in the holidays themselves?
According to Ellen Dannin, “after they entered their promised land, the Israelites remained fractious, quarrelsome, difficult, faithless. Their entry into the land became only an entry to a place to continue to be as they were. But Moses, only Moses, died with a promised land.”
Rabbi Alan LaPayover chants the ancient Yom Kippur prayer, Kol Nidre.
Mizrahi Jews, originally from eastern Asian countries such as Iraq and Iran, have a colorful and unique way of celebrating Jewish holidays with food. Adva Chattler shares a special Mizrahi fish recipe that her family enjoys every year on Rosh Hashanah.
Rabbis Deborah Waxman and Sandra Lawson, discuss their respective processes of preparing for the High Holidays. They share how, as human beings, they undertake an accounting of the soul, leading to repentance for their own actions and forgiveness towards others.
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
