Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: April 2023
March 31-April 1
Rabbi Jonathan Kligler writes how, on Passover, spiritual and political themes come into sublime and powerful alignment.
In this podcast, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld says it’s time to reimagine the Seder and Shabbat services.
From Philo of Alexandria to a Reconstructionist Haggadah, Rabbi Maurice Harris takes on a metaphoric tour of story interpretation.
Sharing some of her family’s story, theoretical physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein explores what it means to be simultaneously Black and Jewish in America.
April 11
Through video lectures and curricula for adults and children, this project of RRC’s Center for Jewish Ethics highlights how the study of Jewish history, experience and ethics illuminates the problem of racism.
Rabbi Jen Gubitz’s poem prepares us for Passover Yizkor, evoking memory, joy and loss intoned to the rhythm of the Jewish calendar.
This ritual for Passover Yizkor uses the elements as metaphors for memory, grief and stability.
A Chicago-area couple’s Reconstructionist journey leads to a transformative gift to the movement and a hope to inspire others.
April 21-22
Rabbi Maurice Harris, whose Moroccan Jewish family found refuge in Israel, traces his evolving thinking and feelings about Zionism, the Palestinian experience, antisemitism and the ongoing conflict.
Reconstructing Judaism has assembled a trove of resources to better understand Israel’s Memorial and Independence Days from a Reconstructionist perspective.
In this prayer, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein reminds us that it is “very easy to destroy, but infinitely harder to build. May we remember that there is no future for any of us without all of us.”
Rabbi Amy Eilberg writes about how Israel helped cement her Jewish identity yet, for now, she can’t bring herself to sing its national anthem, “Hatikvah.”
Recorded late last year, this interview with Reconstructionist lay leader Marc Overbeck includes an articulation of hope for Israel as a Jewish democratic state and defender of human rights.
April 28-29
Learn about how two scholars explore the intersection of Judaism and race as part of this Center for Jewish Ethics project.
Reb Ezra Weinberg and Ariel Collins write that too often Jewish communities fail to support people experiencing divorce. They ask: What might it look like for the Jewish community to do divorce well?
Tiferet Welch offers a metaphysical prayer in connection with the counting of the Omer.
Rabbi Daniel Brenner examines hand gestures — from the Torah and the Talmud to the development of Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions to today.
