Like many Reconstructionists, Wendy Elliott-Vandivier, an artist and disability activist, has long imagined what a more inclusive Jewish world could be — and has worked to bring it about, particularly in her own community, Or Hadash in Pennsylvania.
ADVOT is a community where writers can express their artistic and spiritual selves in a Jewish context; an address they can join other Jewish writers who are composing from a liturgical, spiritual and ritual mindset.
Rabbi Joshua Boettiger is the kind of religious leader — and the kind of writer — who sees connections in seemingly disparate things, such as the calling of the rabbinate and the art of writing poetry. Boettiger, RRC ’16, will share many such connections as part of “Mussar Poetry: Writing Toward
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer was recently named Ritualwell’s director of virtual content and program, a position she considers her dream job. In this role, she can weave together the multiple strands of her life: her passion for creativity and the arts, her focus on spirituality and writing, her experience in editing and mentoring writers, her commitment to children and families, and making Jewish community and experience accessible to all.
When Shahanna McKinney-Baldon came upon the life and work of early 20th-century entertainer Madame Goldye Steiner, the dramatic soprano who performed Jewish liturgical music along the East Coast and in the upper Midwest as “the only colored woman cantor in the world,” she said she felt an instant connection.
Reconstructioning Judaism commissioned two Black Jewish artists affiliated with the movement — Ayeola Omolara Kaplan and Marjorie Attingol Salvodon — to respond to last year’s Movement Wide Day of Learning on Reparations.
Before Ritualwell was a website containing more than 2,200 liturgy and rituals crowdsourced by Jews, it was an idea of where to put dozens of scraps of paper in the drawers of offices in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Kolot: Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies in Wyncote.
This year, we’re counting the omer, while featuring the painting Omer 2014 by D’vorah Horn. Follow along on our Instagram and Facebook. We hope you’ll count the omer, and join us on this meditative journey!
Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement
Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis
Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues
Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives
