March 7, 2024 — Philanthropy and private giving are a vital part of American democracy and deeply ingrained in Jewish communal life. Historian Lila Corwin Berman, Ph.D., has, through her scholarship, shed light on the history of Jewish philanthropy while raising questions about how it is practiced. Who benefits from philanthropy? Who gets to decide how dollars are spent? Do good intentions lead to good results? Does philanthropy advance democracy?

March 4, 2024 — From his childhood congregation to Camp Havaya and rabbinical school, Rabbi Asher Sofman found his spiritual home in the Reconstructionist movement. Now the 2023 Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) graduate has joined the Reconstructing Judaism team to help even more people find the same kind of life-affirming, spiritually nourishing community.

November 29, 2022 — Rabbi Deborah Waxman describes how her own experience as a trail blazer was made possible by the Reconstructionist movement’s combination of fearless innovation and pragmatic spirit.  

May 24, 2022 — Waxman asks if it is “possible to believe that all people are created equal and to believe that Judaism is superior to other religions.”

January 8, 2024 — Considering adopting a child? Pursuing parenthood through artificial insemination or surrogacy? Interested in using a Jewish framework to think through the myriad ethical questions each path presents? Then be sure to register for the upcoming online learning series, “Growing Today's Jewish Families: New Spiritual and Ethical Perspectives.” The five live sessions, which will be shared on Zoom, begin on Sunday, Jan. 14, at 4:30 p.m. EST, concluding Sunday, March 10, at 4:30 p.m. EST. (See schedule and register here.) The series also includes an array of pre-recorded sessions.

May 19, 2022 — How do we address life's tough questions from the Reconstructionst framework of a non-supernatural God? 

July 24, 2023 — Rabbi Lily Solochek is a key part of a bold new endeavor and has been tasked with taking Reconstructionist education to the next level. They have been named director of Reconstructing Judaism’s new Wenger-Markowitz Family Education Initiative. Funded with a $1 million gift from Reconstructionist leaders Jonathan Markowitz and Ruth Wenger, the initiative will bolster K-12 educational offerings across the Reconstructionist movement.

April 29, 2022 — Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, Ph.D., has been named the next vice president for academic affairs at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) outside Philadelphia. Mbuvi (she/her), a scholar of Hebrew Bible, brings to this role a wealth of academic, administrative and nonprofit leadership experience.

December 8, 2023 — Members of Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Ill. — one of the movement’s oldest congregations, and one where the conversation about Israel had long proved polarizing — have shown that such respectful engagement is possible, maybe even necessary. Over the past two months, the congregation has leaned into Reconstructionist values by emphasizing the community’s voice over the rabbi’s and embracing complexity and nuance. Following a process that lasted for about three weeks, entailing thousands of emails, two board meetings and feedback from more than 200 members, the congregation adopted a statement steeped in Jewish values, that declared "All parties must stop the killing to create the conditions for lasting peace.”