Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: June 2022
June 24-25
With Steve Pollack’s poem, we enter Shabbat centering ourselves in the present and refreshing ourselves so we may face a new tomorrow.
Inclusion is a core principle of Reconstructing Judaism, and the Reconstructionist movement has a 100-year history of expanding access to Jewish life and community. Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari discusses how our affiliated communities share that commitment and actively pursue ways to translate those commitments into practice.
Jill Ratzan helps us to separate the end of the school year from the beginning of summer and all of its activities with this havdalah ceremony.
In his d’var Torah, Rabbi Jonathan Kligler reminds us that “however lowly you may think of yourself, your projection that we share the same low opinion of you is unfounded, even ridiculous.”
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism, and Rabbi Nathan Kamesar, rabbi of Society Hill Synagogue in Philadelphia, discuss the ubiquity of technology and the opportunities and challenges it brings to Judaism.
June 17-18
Challenging parent-child relationships become extra difficult on these “special” days. This poem addresses the stress that might arise for daughters on Father’s Day.
On May 22, Adam Cerino Jones and five of his classmates became rabbis at RRC’s 50th graduation ceremony. Moments after being called rabbi in public for the first time, Cerino Jones stood on the bimah and performed an original melody for a line from Psalm 65, which his classmate, Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay, translated as “let silence be praise for God.”
From this week’s Torah reading, Rabbi David Stein teaches that ultimately, the answer to the challenge of our physical cravings may be spiritual sustenance.
In her Senior Torah presentation, newly graduated Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay challenges the notion that Jews who express solidarity with Palestinians “do not love our people enough. Ahavat Yisrael seems to have become a weapon to shame and marginalize, instead of a call to see the fullness and potential of the Jewish people.”
In honor of Juneteenth, learn to read the biblical scriptures through the eyes of a contemporary African-American woman with the Rev. Wil Gafney’s essay.
June 10-11
Cantor Vera Broekhuysen challenges the law and policy-makers to go beyond their “thoughts and prayers” in the face of dead children.
Poet-musician David Glaser finds God in the creating of a new song.
BimBam, a nonprofit Jewish media studio, has created more than 350 animated videos for children and adults. BimBam’s founder, Sarah Lefton, and executive director, Jordan Gill, explain how they have sought to revolutionize Jewish education through digital storytelling and meaningful screen time.
In her reading of parashat Naso with a “queer eye,” Rabbi Toba Spitzer finds the Torah coming to a successive and progressive understanding of what it means to be queer in relation to the larger society.
Opening the Reconstructing Judaism convention, Rabbis Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and Mordechai Liebling shared stories of their careers, in which they brought their theological values to life through their public activities.
June 3-4
On this Erev Shavu’ot, Karolyn Benger ponders the possibilities had the Torah had been interpreted by all of us instead of just a few?
In this week’s Torah reading, Rabbi Jonathan Kligler teaches that “the journey to the Promised Land is the journey towards a society in which we all remember that everyone counts.”
Summer is upon us, and so is camp season. Rabbi Isaac Saposnik, executive director of Havaya Summer Programs, discusses the latest trends in Jewish camping — from shorter sessions to the rise of specialty camps.
In the face of relentless tragedy and grief, Rabbi Nina Mandel struggles to find the “right” words, all the while knowing how inadequate words often are.
As we anticipated reading the book of Ruth on Shavu’ot, Rabbi David Gedzelman explores the text with an eye towards literary elements that address how Tanakh advances structures of covenantal openness, societal protection, and compassion towards the “other,” built on but transcending the requirements of the Law.
