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Zionism and Communal Covenant
In 2004, the JRF Israel Policies Task Force issued a report calling for a recommitment to Zionism. This excerpt from that report explores Kaplan's definition of “New Zionism.” It also discusses how a communal covenant could strengthen the relationships among the Reconstructionist community, Israel and the broader Jewish community.
Posted on: 2016/05/05 - 2:47pm
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Finding a New Narrative
One of my favorite book titles, by writer and political activist Jim Hightower, is There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos. This is a credo to which I generally adhere. I prefer a principled ideological stance based clearly on one's values and analysis of the given situation than a nebulous striving to find “the center.” As it turns out, my values and analysis usually put me squarely in the progressive camp on most political issues.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/finding-new-narrative
Posted on: 2016/05/04 - 2:31pm
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Values, Middle East Politics and the Future of Israel
Values and Principles
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/values-middle-east-politics-and-future-israel
Posted on: 2016/05/04 - 2:43pm
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Reconstructionist Chutzpah
Chabad shluchim, Beat poets, stoner Kabbalah artists, Walt Whitman, Rebbe Nachman, Mizrahi social activists: each of these occupy a place in my constellation of influences, waning and waxing in potency. I revere them and I synthesize many of their characteristics and techniques in my work.
Mordecai Kaplan is not on this list, nor are other “Reconstructionist” spiritual leaders. So am I a Reconstructionist rabbi? What does it mean to be Reconstructionist?
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/reconstructionist-chutzpah-spirit-provocation
Posted on: 2016/05/05 - 11:32am
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Mishnah Impossible
This is a hands-on, team activity for the week before Sukkot that allows students to build sukkot according to instructions given in the Mishnah.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/document/mishnah-impossible
Posted on: 2016/05/05 - 5:28pm
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Reconstructing Halakha
Many Reconstructionists and other liberal Jews seem afraid of the term halakha, reacting as if it invokes some dark presence coming out of the past to crush them with its oppressive weight. They would be surprised to learn that Mordecai Kaplan wrote that “Jewish life [is] meaningless without Jewish law.” He made this statement not as the young rabbi of an Orthodox congregation, but relatively late in his career, in one of his most thorough and systematic examinations of Jewish life in America, The Future of the American Jew (1948).
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/reconstructing-halakha
Posted on: 2016/05/06 - 11:01am
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Can a Reconstructionist Sin?
Some years ago, at an informal lunch shared by a number of us who worked for the same Jewish agency, a staffer indicated she had no need to attend Yom Kippur services. Predictably provoked, we asked why. Yom Kippur was all about sin, she replied, and since she never sinned, she had nothing for which to atone.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/can-reconstructionist-sin
Posted on: 2016/05/06 - 11:06am
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Israel in Our Lives: Life-Long Learning About the Land of Israel
This is a curriculum for Israel education, from early childhood through adulthood. The author encourages people of all ages to connect to the land of Israel through language, liturgy, song, trips and relationships.
Posted on: 2016/05/06 - 12:59pm
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Political Activism as a Form of Prayer
Reflecting on the rituals and higher purpose of protest.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/political-activism-form-prayer
Posted on: 2016/04/13 - 1:55pm
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Reconstructionist Judaism: A Crash Course
If you advertise yourself as a Reconstructionist rabbi, people will inevitably corner you with “the” question: “Can you tell me—in a few words—what Reconstructionist Judaism is all about?”
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/reconstructionist-judaism-crash-course
Posted on: 2016/05/30 - 2:21pm