“It is clear at Ritualwell how values from the Reconstructionist movement are expressed in the creativity of inviting people to create their own rituals,” she says. “It’s empowering to write one’s own prayers and to create spaces for people who never had a voice in Judaism. To me, that inclusive spirit is very much the place that I wanted to be in as a Jew and as a writer, and I think that’s what we are doing at Ritualwell.”
Rabbi Jacob Staub, Ph..D., is director of the online platform Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations and professor emeritus of Jewish philosophy and spirituality and director of the Jewish Spiritual Direction Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, the path to embracing Judaism really was a reconstruction.
Rabbi Alan LaPayover (RRC ‘02), recorded the prayers of the Reconstructionist liturgy for the High Holiday services. The sound files are available for listening and download from links on this page.
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.
This letter, along with the growing number of statements of protest from many quarters of the Jewish community, is a clarion call. These statements communicate that this government and what it espouses are not normal and should not be normalized. They seize the opportunity to reassert the kind of Zionism championed by Justice Louis Brandeis, who equated Zionism with American democracy, and who believed in a Zionism dedicated to giving social justice and democratic values expanded expression.
As the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College continues to hone rabbinic education to meet the needs of rapidly changing Jewish communities, it has tapped two members of its 2017 graduating class to help put its ambitious plans into practice.
On January 24, 2021, Reconstructionists gathered for a virtual day of learning entitled “God?: A Reconstructionist Conversation”. Videos of the learning sessions are available below.
Our third Reconstructing for Tomorrow conversation with Rabbi Deborah Waxman focused on unpacking the ideological and practical differences between the Reconstructionist and Reform movements.
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
