Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, RRC ‘90, was named to BBC’s list of the world’s 100 most influential women. The recently retired spiritual leader of New York’s LGBTQ-oriented synagogue, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), was one of seven American women on the list.
How did we get here? Our nation is so divided, and a majority appears to have chosen the politics of grievance and of anger, anchored in “othering” millions – including many of us, and many of our neighbors. A tremendous number of Americans fear the loss of our democratic norms; the abrogation of our own rights as well as the rights of others; a rejection of our determination to dismantle systemic racism and to combat antisemitism; and an abandonment of rational, fact-based decision-making, let alone basic civility. We are anxious about the fates of people and nations around the world.
When it comes to combating systemic racism, everyone has something to learn.
That’s one reason why faculty members at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College are engaging in a year-long process — one rooted in the Jewish practice of Mussar — to confront anti-Black racism in themselves and the college environment.
Originally from Kansas, Rabbi Burnstein has lived in Israel since 1996, except for the years he spent in Philadelphia studying at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He’s a member of Kibbutz Gezer — halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem — and since 2018 has been the spiritual leader of Kehilat Birkat Shalom. Affiliated with the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, Birkat Shalom is based on the kibbutz but serves families throughout central Israel.
