Purim is often described as a holiday of opposites, when up is down and down is up. Almost exactly five years ago, our world was turned upside down by COVID-19. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Within days, life throughout North America shut down. At
What does it mean if our communities are not equitable — if the people who make and come into contact with our movements and congregations find unequal access to the sources of connection and meaning they seek?
From his childhood congregation to Camp Havaya and rabbinical school, Rabbi Asher Sofman found his spiritual home in the Reconstructionist movement. Now the 2023 Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) graduate has joined the Reconstructing Judaism team to help even more people find the same kind of life-affirming, spiritually nourishing community.
Considering adopting a child? Pursuing parenthood through artificial insemination or surrogacy? Interested in using a Jewish framework to think through the myriad ethical questions each path presents?
Then be sure to register for the upcoming online learning series, “Growing Today’s Jewish Families: New Spiritual and Ethical Perspectives.” The five live sessions, which will be shared on Zoom, begin on Sunday, Jan. 14, at 4:30 p.m. EST, concluding Sunday, March 10, at 4:30 p.m. EST. (See schedule and register here.) The series also includes an array of pre-recorded sessions.
There’s much food for thought in this vital web conversation about how non-Orthodox Jews relate to Israel, featuring Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., president and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism. The program was organized by SAPIR, the influential journal of ideas for the Jewish future which recently launched an in-house institute to bring ideas to fruition. Waxman was in conversation with Channan Weissman director of the New SAPIR Institute, a former State Department official and White House liaison to the Jewish community.
Rabbi Sandra Lawson, Reconstructing Judaism’s inaugural director of racial diversity, equity and inclusion, has been selected to the Schusterman Fellowship. That’s a prestigious, 18-month program run by Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. According to its website, the Schusterman Fellowship “is a holistic leadership development program for exceptional Jewish leaders
Reconstructionists gather for a movement convention, B’Yachad: Reconstructing Judaism Together.
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.
In this workshop, Rabbi Lawson addresses the question, “What do our Jewish texts and values say about welcoming others into our communities?”
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
