We deeply believe in holy conversation. It is essential and urgent. We know Reconstructionists are good at it. We want to maintain this strength and deepen it, and to model it for the wider community. We hope that you agree and will join us.
Two November events loom as I write this column: the mid-term elections on November 6, and the first Reconstructionist movement-wide convention in a decade, a week later. The first admittedly will have far more impact on the world than the latter, but they are linked in my mind for one important reason: movements matter.
Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, RRC ’74, knows what it means to make history. Her newest children’s book, Regina Persisted: An Untold Story, reclaims a story lost to history. The book also provides adults and children a portrait of a strong woman driven by her love of Judaism.
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president of Reconstructing Judaism, reports on her participation in the national leadership mission to the San Diego-Tijuana border organized by HIAS and the Anti-Defamation League.
The musical services at Congregation Bet Haverim are a phenomenon. This November, a contingent of more than 30 members of Bet Haverim’s chorus and band will be featured at the Reconstructing Judaism 2018 Convention in Philadelphia.
As we continue to develop new ways to build community across time and distance, we must also continue to find ways to “be there” for one another.
Board president Seth Rosen reflects on the power of being together in the same place.
The RRA recently became a partner of the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC). In the last two weeks the PPC has coordinated rallies and acts of civil disobedience in over 30 state capitals, including the participation of over 15 RRA members.
Belonging connects us to something larger than our own individual experience. I belong to the Jewish people because claiming this connection enters me into a millennia-old conversation and joins me into community both vertical—all those who came before me and all those who follow—and horizontal—the Jews of today, in all our diversity.
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
