“One who destroys one life destroys the entire world. One who saves one life saves an entire world.” This dictum has new meaning to me since my congregation, Temple Beth Hatfiloh (TBH), welcomed our guest into physical sanctuary, making the commitment to provide housing and shelter for an asylum seeker who is at risk of deportation.
We urge every Reconstructionist community to stand with Dor Hadash and HIAS this coming March by participating in National Refugee Shabbat. In this way, we act on our values and gain strength from each other to create the world in which we want to live.
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association applaud Tuesday’s guilty verdict in the murder of George Floyd as an important step toward basic accountability for racial violence in America. We join our allies around the world in taking a moment to breathe - a basic human right denied to George Floyd and countless others. For far too long, impunity has been the norm for actors of state-sanctioned violence against Black and Brown people, a pillar of the American racial caste system that has its roots in slavery and the lynchings of the Jim Crow era.
Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben reflects on the Reconstructionist spirit of innovation and how it shaped his 29-year rabbinate at a flagship Reconstructionist congregation.
The Reconstructionist Network
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
