Following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s March 16 speech to Congress, more than 375 Jewish and other faith-based groups and organizations urged President Joe Biden to take immediate steps to welcome refugees from Ukraine. Jewish Federations of North America spearheaded the letter, sent March 18.
In this piece, which originally appeared in The Times of Israel, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., outlines the goals and hopes of B’Yachad: Reconstructing Judaism Together, the movement convention.
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association joined more than 130 other faith and civil rights organizations on a letter urging the Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would create a new tool for safeguarding access to high-quality abortion care and securing constitutional rights by protecting patients and providers from dangerous political interference. While the bill did not garner enough votes needed to pass this time around, we are proud to have stood with this coalition for reproductive justice and will continue to do so in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
Reconstructionists gather for a movement convention, B’Yachad: Reconstructing Judaism Together.
By the standards of geology, 100 years is a nanosecond. Yet stretching farther than most human lives, a century tests the limits of human perspective. In 1922, thanks to the ratification of the 19th amendment, American women had just gained universal suffrage (though it would be decades before many women of color could exercise that right in practice). Also that year, the first radio was installed in the Harding White House, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated, and construction began on New York’s Yankee Stadium.
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association join countless nations and faith communities around the world in condemning the unprovoked and brutal Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
Reconstructionist congregations are part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), which is also home to ten Ukrainian synagogues. We hold them, the entire Ukrainian Jewish community, and all the people of Ukraine in our hearts.
Rabbis Donna Cephas, Sandra Lawson and Michael Hess Webber each took very different paths to becoming Reconstructionist rabbis. Despite disparate journeys, the three religious leaders have continuously demonstrated dedication, creativity and an ability to inspire others. Their stories share an additional element: their paths to the rabbinate were once blocked because their partners are not Jewish.
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association have issued the following statement in response to the recent Amnesty International report:
Apartheid is one of the most shocking words in the English language, conjuring images of the brutal and racist South African regime that decades of struggle brought to an end in 1994. Last week, Amnesty International became the latest human rights organization to accuse Israel of the crime of apartheid. Amnesty’s report follows reports by Human Rights Watch and by the Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, both of which level the same charge. Over the past several days, we have taken the time needed to study Amnesty’s 280-page report and develop our response.
Reconstructing Judaism offers prayers, and positive action steps, following an 11-hour hostage standoff at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.
