Rabbi Deborah Waxman published this essay "'Covenantal Community' and Classical Reconstructionism" in December 2024. What follows is this essay, with commentaries exploring Waxman's points by four other Reconstructionist rabbis: Megan Doherty, Isabel de Koninck, Katie Mizrahi and Elyse Wechterman.
Saving a life is a preeminent principle of Jewish ethics, but there are circumstances in which other Jewish values may lead us to make ending a life the priority.
The Houthis preach a particular, religiously informed hatred of Jews, a specific kind of antisemitism that has its foundation in an extremist strand of modern Islamic teaching.
Zionism is a modern movement that has employed age-old beliefs to support the urgent need for a refuge from antisemitism. Zionists today are obligated to move Israel to embody Jewish values of justice and peace.
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