The festivals bring us into contact with the great human themes of food, shelter, and security; birth, growth, and death; freedom and responsibility; the earthly and the transcendent.
As citizens of multiple civilizations, many Reconstructionists observe holidays that are both “sacred” and “secular.” In addition to the timeless Jewish festivals of Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot, Reconstructionist communities may also observe Thanksgiving, July 4th, Juneteenth, Pride Month, and Jewish Disability, Accessibility, and Inclusion Month as part of the holiday year cycle. Below, we have gathered resources for marking these occasions in the Jewish spirit of tikkun olam, taking them as opportunities to engage seriously with the human themes of freedom and responsibility.
Some of the following resources also appear on our Resources for Action page sorted by topic.
Fall Holidays
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
- “Hineinu: Being Here with Truth,” an adaptation of a talk delivered by Rabbi Benjamin Barnett to Havurah Shalom in Oregon, asks us to consider vidui, the practice of confession so central to High Holiday liturgy, as a gateway onto a “more courageous road.”
- For Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, Yom Kippur is an opportunity to take responsibility for communal wrongs like racism. She weaves biblical, Reconstructionist, and modern stories of justice in her article, “Addressing Race as a Jewish Community.”
- In “Transforming Our Unjust World and Personal Teshuvah: Considering Reparations for Slavery,” Mark Pinsky grapples with the idea of structural and systemic teshuvah for structural and systemic wrongs.
Hispanic Heritage Month (USA; Sep. 15 – Oct. 15)
- While Latin-Jewish life and community flourish all year round, those in the United States have cause to celebrate them all the more when Jewish holidays intersect with Hispanic Heritage Month. Strengthen your connection with different Latin-Jewish traditions through holiday guides and other programs from Jewtina y Co.
Sukkot and Indigenous People’s Day often fall close together in the calendar. MAZON, a national, Jewish organization fighting to end hunger, empowers us to bridge these two holidays—and our diverse origins and civilizations—with a Resource Guide for Celebrating Sukkot and Indigenous People’s Day.
- Find writings and rituals to ground your observance of Indigenous People’s Day, Native American Heritage Month, and Thanksgiving on Ritualwell.
Women’s History Month in October
Canadians observe Women’s History Month in October. For relevant tikkun olam resources, please look at the U.S. observance of Women’s History Month in the spring section of this calendar.
U.S. Election Day
- Reconstructing Judaism is proud to partner with A More Perfect Union, which recruits for and supports Jewish institutions in the Jewish Partnership for Democracy, helping them make and realize meaningful, action-based commitments to American democracy locally and nationally.
- Watch our March 7, 2024 Tzedek Circle call with Sofi Andorsky to find out how A More Perfect Union can help your congregation or havurah support free, fair, safe, and accessible U.S. elections.
- The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association has published a resource titled “Democracy, Judaism, and the Vote: What You Need to Know,” which distills the most essential information about democracy and voting access for a Reconstructionist audience. Print versions of the booklet may be ordered for a small fee, while digital access is free of charge.
- The Workers Circle empowers small groups called Democracy Circles to strengthen American democracy with Jewish resources for direct action and reflection.
- Interested in starting a Democracy Circle in your community? View a recording of our March 26, 2024 Tzedek Circle call with The Workers Circle’s Noa Baron.
Winter Holidays
International Human Rights Day
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights organizes rabbis, cantors, and Jewish clergy to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories. They recognize Human Rights Shabbat on the Shabbat closest to December 10th, International Human Rights Day. Bring Human Rights Shabbat to your community with T’ruah’s helpful resources.
Hanukkah
- In the video Light One Candle for Justice, Rabbi Lily Solochek walks through a ritual for making social justice commitments during our Festival of Lights.
- Ritualwell offers a number of justice-themed Hanukkah rituals, including these additional candle-lighting blessings that lift up a different need in the world each night.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with Jewish-style study using “The Talmud of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” produced by SAJ member and tireless social justice advocate Ruth W. Messinger. Borrowing the format of a page of Talmud, this document surrounds excerpts from one of Dr. King’s sermons with Jewish text and commentary from across the ages. It asks us to think how Dr. King might best be honored, not only by service to others, but also by activism for social change.
- View the fully-formatted PDF version of “The Talmud of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
- Just want the texts? Download this Word Document.
Tu Bishvat
- “Tu Bishvat: Building Sustainable Communities” is a 75-minute curriculum created by Rabbi Lily Solochek, Director of the Wenger‑Markowitz Family Education Initiative. Teach your children about community building, sustainability, and the challenges of environmental racism, and inspire them with stories of young activists fighting the climate crisis. This program is available in three versions for students of different age groups.
- Jewish Earth Alliance schedules one of its two virtual lobby days each year around Tu Bishvat. Join fellow Jews around the United States, meet your legislators, and call on Congress to act on climate on our yearly “birthday of the trees.”
Black History Month
- Kick off Black History Month in February by watching, reading, or listening to Rabbi Sandra Lawson’s “Blessing for Black History Month” on Ritualwell.
- Black History Month is the perfect time to learn from The Center for Jewish Ethics’ groundbreaking curriculum on the intersection of Judaism and race: Race, Religion, & American Judaism. Using the prism of Jewish life to examine the complexities of identity, culture, and society, this work of public scholarship promotes knowledge and inquiry as central to the pursuit of equity and repair.
Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month
- Since 2009, Jewish communities have recognized February as Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). JDAIM’s purpose is to unite Jewish communities to raise awareness and champion the rights of all Jews, including Jews with disabilities, to be respected, valued, and included in all aspects of Jewish community life.
- You can find resources for making Jewish communities more inclusive of people of all abilities on our Disability and Accessibility page.
Reparations Shabbat
- The Tikkun Olam Commission invites your community to host a special Reparations Shabbat when we read Parashat Bo each winter. This movement-wide initiative is a great opportunity to engage in the rich discussion on racial harm and accountability that we began as a movement with the passage of the Reconstructionist Movement’s Reparations Resolution in January 2023. Come and learn what we mean by reparations here.
Annual Refugee Shabbat
- HIAS’s hallmark event each year is its Annual Refugee Shabbat, which is celebrated worldwide over an entire late-winter weekend. HIAS provides the congregations, organizations, and individuals who register for the event resources to help them express their solidarity with the global Jewish movement for refugee protection and welcome.
Repro Shabbat
- On the Shabbat in which we read Parashat Mishpatim, Jews for Abortion Access—a program of the National Council of Jewish Women—honors the Jewish value of reproductive freedom with Repro Shabbat. Communities and individuals who register for Repro Shabbat gain access to curated resources, such as conversation and study guides, a Shabbat Spotify playlist, recipes, and planning tips for the weekend.
Spring Holidays
Women’s History Month in March
- In the United States and elsewhere, March is Women’s History Month. Make history of your own through service, advocacy, and education opportunities through National Council of Jewish Women, the oldest Jewish feminist civil rights organization working for equity and justice for women, children, and families in the United States and Israel.
Purim
- Transform Purim into an opportunity to take action towards healthier understandings and representations of women’s beauty with “Transforming Purim,” originally published by Ma’yan in 2001.
- Is your Purim celebration a safe and inclusive space for those in recovery? Open a conversation in your community by reading Rabbi Gary Ellison’s personal reflection, “Celebrating Purim in Recovery: Shared History and Personal Experience,” on Evolve.
Earth Day
- Does your congregation or havurah get excited about Earth Day? Want to get involved in Jewish climate action or environmental justice? Consider honoring our planet with a peek at the following programs:
- The Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, powered by Adamah, is a network of Jewish community organizations who commit to creating and implementing a Climate Action Plan each year. These plans help your communities set goals for both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mobilizing around climate action. Adamah provides participating organizations with structure, guidance, resources, and financial support by way of grants and loans.
- Dayenu is building a movement to confront the climate crisis, rooted in Jewish values, experience, and spirit.
- Watch our April 10, 2024 Tzedek Circles program to learn about starting a Dayenu Circle in your community. Dayenu Circles are small, local groups of people working together on climate justice with resources from Dayenu.
Passover
- Bring contemporary, thought-provoking commentary by Jews of Color to your Passover table with “Adding JOC Voices to Your Haggadah,” compiled and published by Reconstructing Judaism’s Tikkun Olam Commission.
- Ritualwell’s collected theme seders include haggadot and seder add-ins that weave both contemporary and age-old justice issues into the familiar ritual fabric of your Passover celebration.
- On Evolve, rabbis, Reconstructionist thinkers, activists, and fellow Jews explore how we can apply Passover’s resonant messages of equity and liberation towards causes ranging from reparations for chattel slavery to climate justice.
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
- The LUNAR Collective cultivates connection, belonging, and visibility for Asian American Jews through community programming and authentic digital storytelling. What better way to honor Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in the U.S. this May than through LUNAR’s programs and offerings?
Summer Holidays
Shavuot
- This poetic offering by Tiferet Welch, “A Prayer for Shavuot,” asks that the revelation we receive when we commemorate Shavuot be one that links Torah with the sacred work of tikkun olam.
Pride Month or Pride Season
- Pride Month or Pride Season, during which we honor the vast array of LGBTQ+ individuals, communities, and cultural contributions, starts in June for many of us. Here are resources for marking Pride in the summer and beyond:
- Keshet is devoted to making LGBTQ Jews and their families feel welcome in Jewish life and to creating spaces that embrace and empower LGBTQ Jewish youth.
- Reconstructing Judaism is proud to be a member of Thrive: The Jewish Coalition to Defend Trans and LGBQ+ Youth, a project of Keshet. Thrive meets monthly with advocacy and learning opportunities for Jewish organizations.
- Ritualwell hosts a variety of Pride-themed alternative liturgy, new prayers, and innovative rituals for the season.
Juneteenth
- Celebrate Juneteenth, the USA’s national recognition of the end of enslavement, with these prayers and blessings from Ritualwell.
- Revisit the call from “Not Free To Desist” and any institutional racial justice commitments you made in response. Reconstructing Judaism passed our racial justice commitments on Juneteenth 2022.
Tisha B’Av
- Rabbi Annie Lewis moves readers “From Lament to Action” for refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers in this beautiful closing prayer for Tisha B’Av, hosted on Ritualwell.
- “Eicha for the Earth,” written by Rabbi Tamara Cohen and Rabbi Arthur Waskow, envisions our endangered planet as a Temple for an earth-centered, prayerful mourning and hope-seeking ceremony.
Labor Day
- While the Workers Circle (Der Arbiter Ring in Yiddish) has expanded since the beginning of the 20th century from a Jewish laborers’ union to a social justice nonprofit with broader aims, Labor Day is the perfect time to explore their offerings. The Workers Circle powers progressive Jewish identity through Jewish cultural engagement, Yiddish language learning, multigenerational education, and activism.
