News

Please Join in the National Refugee Shabbat

We urge every Reconstructionist community to stand with Dor Hadash and HIAS this coming March by participating in National Refugee Shabbat. In this way, we act on our values and gain strength from each other to create the world in which we want to live.

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Welcoming a Guest Into a Sanctuary Congregation

“One who destroys one life destroys the entire world. One who saves one life saves an entire world.” This  dictum has new meaning to me since my congregation, Temple Beth Hatfiloh (TBH), welcomed our guest into physical sanctuary, making the commitment to provide housing and shelter for an asylum seeker who is at risk of deportation.

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Congregation Dor Hadash was a target for its immigrant advocacy — and the shooting did not stop that work

Reconstructionist Congregation Dor Hadash has responded to the antisemitic, anti-immigrant attack last year by doubling down on its commitment to help refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers. “We who are still alive have an obligation to honor the memory of those who are no longer with us by doing acts of loving kindness, doing socially conscious things to make the world a better place. That’s how Dor Hadash operates,” said Dan Leger, the Dor Hadash member injured in the shooting. “We pray with our feet, we pray with our votes,” he continued. “We might open a prayer book once in a while — some of us might do it more often than others — but we are an acutely socially responsible group of people who feels that the way we honor being Jewish and being connected with the Divine is by actively trying to make the world a safer, better, more wholesome place to live in.”

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Brief Asking Federal Court to Reverse Ruling Allowing Strip Searches of Female Inmates As Training Exercise

We ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to re-hear and reverse a ruling that found that staff at an Illinois prison did not violate the Constitution when they forced female inmates to engage in a deeply humiliating and dehumanizing strip search as part of a training exercise. The ruling “opens the door to other violation of prisoners’ First Amendement religious freedom rights and protections.”

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Statement Supporting Equality Act

Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assocation were among 15 national Jewish organizations writing Congress in support of  the Equality Act (H.R. 5). Driven by our Jewish values, we are committed to supporting laws that protect the civil rights and individual liberties of all people. The Equality Act is a significant step forward for the LGBTQ community, and we urge Congress to swiftly pass this important bill.

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Letter to Tennessee Legislation on Child Welfare

Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association were signatories to a letter objecting to the Tennessee legislature’s proposed legislation that would allow federally funded foster care and adoption agencies to practice taxpayer-funded religious discrimination against potential adoptive and foster parents.

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Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

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The Reconstructionist Network