The search found 389 results in 0.046 seconds.
Search results
-
Elsie Stern Shavuot 2012 Audio Teaching
Note: the following is a verbatim transcript for accessibility to the hearing-impaired. It has not been edited for general publication.
Posted on: 2016/08/22 - 3:02am
-
Kaplan on Creation DT Bereyshit
The account in Genesis is perplexing to the modern person. We inevitably get bogged down with the first chapter of the Bible because it seems to conflict with our knowledge that comes from the scientific study of the natural world. Mordecai Kaplan being the modern man par-excellence accepted the scientific view of the universe but realized, of course, that the Torah has a different perspective in telling us about the origin of things. In this selection he focuses on the connection between the creation of the world and God's attention to Israel.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/kaplan-creation-explanation-jewish-mission
Posted on: 2016/08/22 - 10:05pm
-
Shabbat and Holiness DT Bereyshit
This week's parashah is the first in the Torah, Bereyshit. We are all familiar with the story of the creation that we read in these chapters of the Torah. However, the narrative still raised many questions for our rabbis and scholars. One of the many issues debated by the rabbis is the timing of humanity's creation in relationship to Shabbat. Rashi (12th century France) believed that God created Adam right before Shabbat so that he could immediately enter the holy and peaceful realm of Shabbat.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/shabbat-and-holiness
Posted on: 2016/08/22 - 10:22pm
-
Recon Torah Feb 2016
The RRC Board met earlier this month, and to open the session, Camp JRF director Rabbi Isaac Saposnik gave a d’var torah. He noted that this week’s Torah portion includes the first of four instructions to “tell your children” about the Exodus. Rabbi Isaac asked us to think about the key Jewish stories that we tell our children again and again. This got me thinking about the stories many of us were telling, or at least talking about, over winter break. For many of us, there was the EPIC battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness of the Star Wars saga.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/numinous-power-and-storytelling
Posted on: 2016/02/03 - 12:00am
-
Recon Torah January 2016
In the New York Times Sunday Styles section a few weeks ago (of all places, and yes, I read it), there was an article about the various trainings that colleges and universities are now providing to educate students about sexual consent. Many of these trainings include scenarios and analogies that are designed to get students thinking about what “real” consent is. The scenarios raise questions like: Does consent have to be verbal? Do the participants need to consent at each step of the way? What counts as coercion?
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/intricacies-consent
Posted on: 2016/01/28 - 12:00am
-
Recon Torah Oct 2015
We’ve just finished the High Holidays. For many of us, this was a time to reflect once again upon the themes of remembrance, renewal and the awesome transcendence of the universe. It was also the time when we encountered, once again, the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, along with the greatest hits, once again, of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/quiet-themes-come-life
Posted on: 2015/10/07 - 12:00am
-
Recon Torah April 2015
In this season of curiosity, I have been asking non-Jewish friends and acquaintances who are members of Jewish communities and families about their Jewish practice. The answers have been amazing and often surprising. One non-Jewish friend told me that, lately, she has been finding the act of reciting the shema to be particularly powerful.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/my-questions-pesach-season
Posted on: 2015/04/09 - 12:00am
-
Recon Torah March 2015
“…Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!” (Genesis 4:10)
What is the cry of John Lewis’s blood, spilled on the Edmond Pettus Bridge 50 years ago? Or, the blood of the many other people killed or beaten in the struggle for civil rights in America?
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/his-blood-cries-out-faith-and-love
Posted on: 2015/03/09 - 12:00am
-
Yizkor Prayer for Righteous Gentiles
In the early part of 1939, my father, mother and infant brother were living in Paris, as refugees from the pogroms in Romania. They were illegal immigrants, living modestly with the hope of giving themselves and their son a better future than the one they had. But World War II was approaching, and the citizens of France were in danger of falling prey to the Vichy regime that was collaborating with Germany and Hitler. As Jews and illegal residents, my parents were in an extremely precarious situation. They were poor and had no connections or reasonable way of changing their situation.
https://archive.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/yizkor-prayer-righteous-gentiles
Posted on: 2016/09/29 - 12:45pm
-
Jacob Staub KI Talk on Reconstructionism
In this talk given at Congregation Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, California, Rabbi Jacob Staub explores what makes Reconstructionist communities unique. Selected quotes follow. The entire call transcript is available at the bottom of this page.
Posted on: 2016/10/28 - 1:11am