Generated by All in One SEO Pro v4.9.5.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# Evolve

Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Why I Don’t Eat ‘Kitniyot’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-i-dont-eat-kitniyot/) - The point of Pesakh is not culinary creativity. The point is constraint.
- [The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-narrative-of-the-plagues-the-consequences-of-the-abuse-of-power/) - The plagues give us a model for how to think about liberation struggles.
- [Exodus, Passover and the Path to Redemption](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/exodus-passover-and-the-path-to-redemption/) - Freedom can be more frightening than slavery.
- [The Radical Act of Reclining: Passover and the Radical Claim That Human Beings Deserve Rest](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-radical-act-of-reclining-passover-and-the-radical-claim-that-human-beings-deserve-rest/) - Until we are still and present, there is no empty space to which our lost humanity can return.
- [The Mystical Exodus in Jungian Perspective: Transforming Trauma and the Wellsprings of Renewal](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-wellsprings-of-renewal/) - Who is Jewish? Perhaps the person who, while never sure of it, by and by discovers his Jewishness in the probability. Judaism is conjugated in the future. To read in yourself — not only for yourself — The book you are carefully deciphering. To read the erasures Under the writing. — Edmond Jabès, “The Book
- [<strong>What to the Black Jew Is Passover?</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-to-the-black-jew-is-passover/) - Rethink what exactly you may be doing when you invoke Black trauma, and the art created in response to it, as part of your Passover celebrations.
- [<strong>Celebrating the Seder with the Earth in Mind — <em>The Promise of the Land: A Passover Haggadah</em></strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/celebrating-the-seder-with-the-earth-in-mind-the-promise-of-the-land-a-passover-haggadah/) - Freedom means living according to nature’s cycles of giving and receiving, and giving back.
- [Purim & Pesakh: A Purim Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/purim-pesakh-a-purim-drash/) - Purim and Pesakh each fall on the full moon.Each is preceded by a fast day.Each is a celebration of ge’ulah, redemption.And each presents an opposite face of their shared theme.Purim is the last festival of the year, Pesakh the first.The Exodus is sacred myth, the Purim tale — satirical farce.We read the Megillah verbatim from parchment; we adlib and
- [Reconstructing the ‘Wise’ Child](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructing-the-wise-child/) - We must ask the hard questions because that is the wisest thing we can do.
- [Why Is This Passover Seder Different From All Other Passover Seders?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-is-this-passover-seder-different-from-all-other-passover-seders/) - Judaism needs to be disrupted to respond to our radically changed world.
- [What If We Read Passover as a Solidarity Story?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-if-we-read-passover-as-a-solidarity-story/) - Abolition is more than the ending of legalized enslavement. It is a dismantling of institutionalized systems of oppression that enslave, imprison and devalue lives deemed expendable.
- [Why Retell the Story of the Exodus From Egyptian Slavery?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-retell-the-story-of-the-exodus-from-egyptian-slavery/) - We creatively insert ourselves into the mythic story in a way that reflects us, and by doing so, express our deepest values.
- [Liberation is Up to Us: Understanding Our Ancestor’s Shortcomings Through the Lens of the Passover Story](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-festival-of-liberation-passover-in-the-torah-does-not-live-up-to-its-hype/) - The Torah doesn't steer people away from slavery; it merely regulates the “lawful” treatment of human property.
- [Presidential Inauguration Remarks](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/presidential-inauguration/) - At her inauguration as the first woman president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities, Rabbi Deborah Waxman chants from Exodus and teaches about redemption.
- [We Were Once Slaves](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-were-once-slavest692b/) - Because we were once slaves, Michael Zimmerman explains, we can feel the suffering of other oppressed groups without having experienced it directly. Seeking justice does not need to be rewarded, as it is a privilege and a right to campaign on behalf of others.
- [The Plagues of Exodus and Today: Facing Our Plagues in an Earth-Healing Activist Passover](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-plagues-of-exodus/) - During most of Jewish history, Passover has been seen as a tale of Jewish oppression and Jewish liberation. Since the Freedom Seder in 1969, many Jews have treated Passover as an opportunity to face social injustice and liberation more broadly in other contexts: racism, oppression of immigrants, or workers, or women or GLBTQIA communities, or
- [Liberating the Future: Passover and Beyond](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/liberating-the-future/) - Jewish rituals can be revitalized and transformed by activism as uplifting and effective vessels of social transformation.
- [‘Birkhot Hashakhar’: The Morning Blessings as Mindfulness Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/birkhot-hashakhar-the-morning-blessings-as-mindfulness-practice/) - Every berakhah that we recite is an opportunity to focus our attention mindfully on a blessing that we might otherwise ignore.
- [Shedding Light on the Shadow of My Aunt Rose. Posthumously.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-shadows/) - This family history teaches us about mid-20th-century American Jews and white privilege.
- [Minneapolis: Cultivating a Resistance, Both Tender and Fierce](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/minneapolis-cultivating-a-resistance-both-tender-and-fierce/) - Everyone was caring for everyone in a stunning collective experience of loving our neighbor as ourselves.
- [We Are Targets, Too: Two Days in Minneapolis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-are-targets-too-two-days-in-minneapolis/) - We witnessed the astonishing goodness of the force of ordinary human neighbors, rising up in defense of decency, pluralism and democracy.
- [The Gestapo, the Storm Troopers and ICE ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-gestapo-the-storm-troopers-and-ice/) - It is important to try to draw lessons from our collective past, but historical comparisons are tricky things.
- [Our Guatemalan Teenager](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/our-guatemalan-teenager/) - Becoming the guardian of an immigrant teenager is not only a political commitment; it comes with powerful emotional rewards and costs.
- [On Migrants and Refugees: A Sermon](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/migrants-refugees/) - As Jews, we are committed to treating every human being as created betzelem elohim, in God's image, including migrants and seekers of asylum.
- ['Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor': Historical Perspectives on Immigration](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/give-me-your-tired-poor/) - Attitudes towards immigrants have vacillated in the past between unrestricted welcome and xenophobic opposition.
- [Unlearning Jewish Anxiety: How to Live with More Joy and Less Suffering](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/unlearning-jewish-anxiety-how-to-live-with-more-joy-and-less-suffering/) - When we prioritize caring for ourselves and cultivating joy, we become better resourced to address tikkun olam.
- [‘Laughter Torah Yoga’: Joyous Vulnerability as a Path to Radical Amazement](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/laughter-torah-yoga-joyous-vulnerability-as-a-path-to-radical-amazement/) - Laughter is a form of prayer that allows us to accept and forgive ourselves, each other, life and God.
- [To Be a Mystic-Activist](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/to-be-a-mystic-activist/) - To be a mystic-activist means that I must live in the light of what I know to be true. Through this light, I must heal the racism that is my conditioning and find the deeper knowing that we are one Being.
- [Love at the Center](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/love-at-the-center/) - When we stand before the Great Mystery in a state of calm, alert clarity, we shed all the layers of distraction, turbulence and conditioning and truly have freedom of choice.
- [‘Elohai Neshamah’: The Soul Is Pure](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/elohai-neshamah-the-soul-is-pure/) - We each possess a perfect, pure and untainted core.
- [Towards Wholeness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/towards-wholeness-study-guide/) - A text sheet and study guide created by Rabbi Deborah Waxman on Rabbi Alex Weissman's piece, "Halleluyah."
- [Micah's Message](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/micahs-message/) - How can we feel sorrow and embrace joy at the same time? This is a question for all of us, but one that especially speaks to social justice activists.
- [Between Chaos and Light: Birthing a Child, Birthing Ourselves ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/between-chaos-and-light-birthing-a-child-birthing-ourselves/) - Be brave and willing to be present to the moment — untamed, treacherous and holy.
- [The Most Important Thing Is Not to Be Afraid ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-most-important-thing-is-not-to-be-afraid/) - It is a struggle to separate our inherited fears from our assessment of present threats.
- [Halleluyah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/halleluyah/) - Through practicing gratitude and recognizing the complexities of privilege, we are better suited to pursue the work of changing the world.
- [Kaplan and the Ideal of Democracy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/kaplan-and-the-ideal-of-democracy/) - The concept of “democracy” was essential and basic to Kaplan, even more than “civilization.”
- [Hold Them Accountable: Supporting ICE Victims in Your Own Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/hold-them-accountable-supporting-ice-victims-in-your-own-community/) - We should not ignore what is happening in our own backyards.
- [America in the World War I Era and Beyond: The Tribal Teens and the Tribal Twenties ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/america-in-the-world-war-i-era-and-beyond-the-tribal-teens-and-the-tribal-twenties/) - The current anti-immigration crusade mirrors the rhetoric and actions of the last anti-immigration movement 100-plus years ago.
- [How to Welcome the Stranger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/how-to-welcome-the-stranger/) - Torah admonishes us (36 times!) to love the immigrant as the Holy One does.
- [Praying in the Language of Welcoming: Refugee and Immigration Advocacy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/praying-in-the-language-of-welcoming-refugee-and-immigration-advocacy/) - There is work to do, lives are at stake and our ancestors are depending on us to carry forward the legacy of accountability to this sacred obligation.
- [Immigration Injustice in the U.S. and What You Can Do About It](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/immigration-injustice-in-the-u-s-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/) - I suggest a five-point plan to help Jews who would like to act now but are not sure how to do so.
- [African Refugees in Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/african-refugees-in-israel/) - “Now it’s all right, right, Abba?” my daughter asked. “Because they got to Eretz Israel?”
- [Racism in the Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/racism-in-the-jewish-community/) - Co-written by Rabbis Sandra Lawson and Donna Cephas, this essay examines the assumption that all Jews are white, while touching on a myriad of interrelated issues: conversion, interracial families, adoption, Ashkenazi privilege and political correctness.
- [Preparing Our Communities for Conversations on Race](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/preparing-conversations-race/) - Rabbi Joshua Lesser writes frankly about leadership, representation and making assumptions about Jews of Color in spaces dominated by white Jews.
- [Jews and White Privilege](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jews-and-white-privilege/) - This piece by Rabbis Jessica Rosenberg and Mackenzie (Max) Reynolds provides a brief overview of American Jewish history, antisemitism in the 21st century and big questions for challenging assumptions about Jews, whiteness and privilege in the United States.
- [Hineinu: Being Here with Truth](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/hineinu-being-here-with-the-truth/) - Acknowledging uncomfortable truths can be liberating. White-identified American Jews can look directly at the fact that they have benefited from government policies and programs that were granted at the expense of people of color.
- [Noticing Jews of Color in Our Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/noticingjewsofcolor/) - The challenge is to become more aware that Jews of Color rightfully belong in our communities, and then to welcome and support them in the multiple ways in which it may be appropriate.
- [Radical Inclusion](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/radical-inclusion/) - Declarations that everyone is welcome in a community are insufficient for Jews who do not identify as white. Jewishness is not the sole or primary identity for those who are oppressed and endangered because of the color of their skin.
- [Juneteenth Offers Us A Day For Celebration, Reflection, And Healing](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/juneteenth-offers-us-a-day-for-celebration-reflection-and-healing/) - Rabbi Sandra Lawson explains the significance of Juneteenth and why it is important for Jewish individuals and communities to join in its celebration.
- [<strong>Whitewashing Biblical Characters</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/whitewashing-biblical-characters/) - Biblical characters have been whitewashed in cultural and religious arts, theology and popular imagination. Whiteness has been spackled onto biblical texts and characters.
- [Reading the <s>Bible</s> Scriptures While Womanist](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reading-the-bible-scriptures-while-womanist/) - Womanist biblical interpretation privileges characters on the margins of the text, often reading against the text, and the nation and characters it valorizes.
- [A Little More Darkness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-little-more-darkness/) - An astrophoto of C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), taken by Kendra’s grandfather, Bill. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר בִּדְבָרו מַעֲרִיב עֲרָבִים Baruch atah Hashem, Elokeinu Melech ha’olam, asher bidvaro ma’ariv aravim Blessed are you, G!d, ruler of the universe, whose word brings the evening into being. I love the dark, thanks in no small part
- [The Road to Reparations](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-road-to-reparations/) - How might we understand reparations as a Jewish issue?
- [The Light of our Ancestors is Multicolored: A Purim Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-light-of-our-ancestors-is-multicolored-a-purim-drash/) - A Purim drash
- [It Has Always Been A Shared Story: Finding the Narratives of Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Equity in Judaism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/is-it-our-story-race-and-judaism/) - Our children inhabit a race-based society and receive messages about how to apply racial labels.
- [Teachings From the Tabernacle: A D'var Torah on Vayakhel-Pekudei for ‘Reckoning Together’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/teachings-from-the-tabernacle-a-dvar-torah-on-vayakhel-pekudei-for-reckoning-together/) - We must bring to life that world where the tzelem Elohim (image of the Divine) of every person is recognized and can shine out.
- [Opening Our Eyes: Embracing Intersectionality in the Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/opening-our-eyes-embracing-intersectionality-in-the-jewish-community/) - We must create spaces for Jews of color to share their experiences without judgment and implement policies that actively dismantle racial and cultural biases.
- [I Stand Out](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/i-stand-out/) - I know that I don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why I am present or how I’m Jewish.
- [When Race, Politics and Jewish Studies Collide: Censorship and the Debate Over Black Power, Jewish Politics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/when-race-politics-and-jewish-studies-collide-censorship-and-the-debate-over-black-power-jewish-politics/) - Academics must center white racial privilege in our analyses.
- [The Bilhah Zilpah Project: Twenty-Four Lines of Torah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-bilhah-zilpah-project-twenty-four-lines-of-torah/) - Finding the strength to read Bilhah and Zilpah as possessing power and autonomy helps me do that for myself.
- [Multiracial Jewish America: Telling Our Stories](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/afterword/) - Understanding ourselves as multiracial Jewish community would far better equip us as U.S. Jews to fight antisemitism.
- [Racial Justice Is a Path to Jewish Security](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/racial-justice-is-a-path-to-jewish-security/) - We call on the Jewish community to stay steadfast in racial justice transformation.
- [Collective Liberation Is Our Work: Diversity in the Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/collective-liberation-is-our-work-diversity-in-the-jewish-community/) - Many of us are living in fear that our loved ones will be targeted by racism or genderism or sexism or ableism.
- [The Chosenness of Others](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-chosenness-of-others/) - My understanding of chosenness develops from the perspective of those excluded from the Enlightenment’s putative universalism.
- [A Dangerous Perch: Why Jewish Fear Can Be Heard As ‘White Fear’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-dangerous-perch-why-jewish-fear-can-be-heard-as-white-fear/) - It is a mistake to focus exclusively on antisemitism without defending liberty and justice for all. Here’s why.
- [Being White is Not the Jewish Norm:  How the Mishnah Can Help Us Deconstruct a White-normative Approach to Judaism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beingwhiteisnotthejewishnorm/) - While white Jews might take for granted that ancient Jews looked like them, the evidence is otherwise.
- [Tikkun Adam(ah): A Jewish Response to a World in Upheaval](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-ethic-of-interconnectedness/) - When we live outside of right relationship with the natural world, we curse ourselves.
- [The Limits of Analogy: Keffiyehs and KKK Hoods Are Not the Same](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-limits-of-analogy-keffiyehs-and-kkk-hoods-are-not-the-same/) - It displays an ignorance of the causes of Black terror.
- [The African Roots of a Jewish Family: Rethinking Jewishness and Race](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-african-roots-of-a-jewish-family-rethinking-jewishness-and-race/) - A story hidden from Jewish historians and others who think about what being Jewish means and meant.
- [Dying Before You Die: Writing the Play 'kaddish (how to be a sanctuary)'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/dying-before-you-die-writing-the-play-kaddish-how-to-be-a-sanctuary/) - A play, written by two products of Reconstructing Judaism, calls to us to speak across generational differences.
- [Responding to Cyclic Catastrophe with Feminist Conviviality: Mrs. Noah as Our Model](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/responding-to-cyclic-catastrophe-with-feminist-conviviality-mrs-noah-as-our-model/) - Mrs. Noah rebukes Noah for favoring elite power-hoarders over fellows facing ecological disaster.
- [Animal Intelligence: Looking Beyond Chosenness and Speciesism for the Sake of the Planet](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/animal-intelligence-looking-beyond-chosenness-and-speciesism-for-the-sake-of-the-planet/) - The sonic world all around us reminds us of the agency of the creatures that are its creators.
- [Creating a New Diaspora Judaism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/creating-a-new-diaspora-judaism/) - Seeking to create an ecologically rooted Judaism that could be life-giving for centuries to come.
- [Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza: The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jumpstarting-hope-in-gaza-the-arava-institute-for-environmental-studies/) - This initiative will support the establishment of “Green Refugee Shelters” to house thousands of internally displaced Gazans.
- [‘Maybe it’s Time to Stop Talking About Climate Change’: On Living During a Time of Endings](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/maybe-its-time-to-stop-talking-about-climate-change/) - Things we can do as we live in the end of the world as we know it.
- [The Anti-Environmental Actions of the Trump Administration](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-anti-environmental-actions-of-the-trump-administration/) - Many national, regional and even local efforts within the Jewish community address environmental concerns in a variety of different ways, and all are worthy of support.
- [I’m Religious, Not Spiritual: The Nuances of Obligation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/im-religious-not-spiritual-the-nuances-of-obligation/) - The value of a community is how its existence serves and sanctifies within itself and beyond itself.
- [Climate Advocacy Rooted in Faith, Tradition and Community: The ‘Tu Bishvat’ Virtual Lobby Day](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/climate-advocacy-rooted-in-faith-tradition-and-community-the-tu-bishvat-virtual-lobby-day/) - The Jewish Earth Alliance advocacy day is scheduled for Tu Bishvat.
- [Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation: Community Members with Intensive Commitments](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/adat-shalom-reconstructionist-congregation-community-members-with-intensive-commitments/) - The idea of intensive communal living was built into Reconstructionist Congregation Adat Shalom when Rabbi Sid Schwarz first founded it.
- [A Jewish Embrace of Democracy: Early Reconstructionist Judaism and America’s Promise](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-jewish-embrace-of-democracy-early-reconstructionist-judaism-and-americas-promise/) - Reconstructionist thinkers embraced democracy as both a key strategy and an ultimate truth.
- [Sustaining Democracy Amid Cultural Pluralism: Mordecai Kaplan’s Vision](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/sustaining-democracy-amid-cultural-pluralism-mordecai-kaplans-vision/) - Kaplan was committed to democracy as an intrinsically good way of life.
- [Community: A Contemporary Challenge](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/community-a-contemporary-challenge/) - How can we create and sustain meaning-rich communities with the power to transform lives?
- [Can We ‘Hold Each Other’ Online?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/can-we-hold-each-other-online/) - In Can We ‘Hold Each Other’ Online? Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer explores the community created through Ritualwell's 15-minute minyan 'Holding Each Other.' She shares about the power of a pause in the day for prayer and the opportunity to honor, recognize and see each other, even if community members never meet off line.
- [‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/covenantal-community-and-classical-reconstructionism-talmud/) - Rabbi Deborah Waxman published this essay "'Covenantal Community' and Classical Reconstructionism" in December 2024. What follows is this essay, with commentaries exploring Waxman's points by four other Reconstructionist rabbis: Megan Doherty, Isabel de Koninck, Katie Mizrahi and Elyse Wechterman.
- [Joining the Community Covenant When Becoming a B’Mitzvah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/joining-the-community-covenant-when-becoming-a-bmitzvah/) - The really essential mitzvah in our community is showing up, being present.
- [On Cultivating a Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/on-cultivating-a-community/) - A true community is one in which members share an understanding of mutual concern and obligation.
- [From Passion to Purpose: How a Board Covenant Transforms Jewish Leadership](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/from-passion-to-purpose-how-a-board-covenant-transforms-jewish-leadership/) - Jewish leadership is reimagined not as a seat at the table but as avodah, a sacred offering of service.
- [Creating Covenantal Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/creating-covenantal-communities/) - By its very nature, a covenant between individuals limits what each individual party can do.
- [Characteristics of a Healthy Covenantal Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/characteristic-of-a-healthy-covenantal-community/) - It is a moment of tectonic shift in the ever-evolving expression and experience of Jewish life.
- [Covid: Inclusive Jewish Communities Must Continue to Maintain Pandemic Safety Practices](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/covid-inclusive-jewish-communities-must-continue-to-maintain-pandemic-safety-practices/) - In our shared community spaces, we take responsibility for centering the needs and safety of the most impacted people.
- [A Neurodivergent Congregant Reflects on Prayer Space Experiences](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-neurodivergent-congregant-reflects-on-prayer-space-experiences/) - What we think of as a need for accommodation is more like a need for community.
- [Building Community Through Mutual Responsibility and Care ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/building-community-through-mutual-responsibility-and-care/) - Called to serve, my gratitude anchored me in something far larger than myself.
- [How Strong a Community?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/how-strong-a-community/) - To be part of a strong community, one must give up some autonomy.
- [The Red Scare and Today’s Declared ‘Enemies’ of America: The Jewish Stake](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-red-scare-and-todays-declared-enemies-of-america-the-jewish-stake/) - What is unprecedented is that today’s pursuers of alleged “enemies” of democracy claim dubiously to be acting to protect Jews.
- [The Weaponization of Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-weaponization-of-antisemitism/) - The Jewish community’s often uncomplex reactions to critiques of Israel have now been weaponized by the right to attack free speech and democracy in the United States.
- [The People of Color Conference and Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-people-of-color-conference-and-antisemitism/) - The definition of antisemitism should work to keep Jews safe as Jews in school, while not curtailing free speech or the cultural and religious safety of others, including Muslims and Palestinians.
- [Anti-Israel, Anti-Zionist, Antisemitic: Reflections on the San Francisco Bay Area (and beyond) after Oct. 7](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/anti-israel-anti-zionist-antisemitic-reflections-on-the-san-francisco-bay-area-and-beyond-after-oct-7/) - Reactions in the United States post-Oct. 7 mimicked the mid-1960s’ political moment more than it innovated anything new.
- [Jacob and Esau: Antisemitism Is Not Inevitable](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jacob-and-esau-antisemitism-is-not-inevitable/) - Is antisemitism eternal and inevitable?
- [Holocaust Responsibility and the Power of Language](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/holocaust-responsibility-and-the-power-of-language/) - The Nazis did not refer to themselves as “Nazis.”
- [Prayer as Resistance: A Shabbat Service in Liberated Dachau](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/prayer-as-resistance-a-shabbat-service-in-liberated-dachau/) - Polish non-Jewish inmates had threatened to break up the service by force if was held in the main square.
- [A Fantasy Both Toxic and Tragic: Antisemitism and Islamist Militants](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-fantasy-both-toxic-and-tragic-islamic-militants/) - The Houthis preach a particular, religiously informed hatred of Jews, a specific kind of antisemitism that has its foundation in an extremist strand of modern Islamic teaching.
- [Current Antisemitism From the Right and the Left in the U.S.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/current-antisemitism-from-the-right-and-the-left-in-the-u-s/) - Some of us have felt deeply shaken by rhetoric and activism we’ve seen from critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza. Where does legitimate criticism end and antisemitism begin?
- [Weaponizing Definitions: Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/weaponizing-definitions-anti-zionism-and-antisemitism/) - The IHRA position regards any opposition to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians or advocacy of a democratic one-state solution, or many other substantive criticisms, into being understood as antisemitism.
- [Supporting College Students Facing Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/supporting-college-students-facing-antisemitism/) - Legitimate critiques of Israel tend to veer towards illegitimate generalizations about Israel, Zionists or Jews that rely on age-old antisemitic ideas.
- [Confronting the Legacy of Amalek](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/confronting-the-legacy-of-amalek/) - Rabbinic literature explains that it is not for Jews to fight Amalek because God will exercise vengeance in the “Age to Come.”
- [Facing Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/facing-antisemitism/) - The Torah sometimes feels uncomfortably timeless. Telling the story of yetzi’at mitzrayim (the exodus from Egyptian slavery) at this year’s Seder led some of us to wonder if we, too, are living through the reign of a new king who warns about the Jews growing too numerous and powerful. This is an historically asynchronous but
- [BEYOND ANTISEMITISM](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beyond-antisemitism/) - Living fully and beautifully, and in a deeply interconnected fashion, is the richest possible repudiation of those who hate us.
- [Fighting Antisemitism is a Critical Piece of a Racial Justice Agenda](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/fighting-antisemitism-is-a-critical-piece-of-a-racial-justice-agenda/) - Without a deeper understanding of antisemitism and its relationship to white supremacy, our movements for justice can easily be undermined and weakened.
- [Beyond Erasure: A New Look at Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beyond-erasure/) - Jews and non-Jews have internalized varying degrees of antisemitism, including the insidious idea that Jews should "disappear." This trope of erasure opens up a new frame through which to consider the connections between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
- [Antisemitism in Europe and America in the Modern Period: Historical Perspectives](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/anti-semitism-europe-history/) - Is the United States exceptional in the lack of intensity and violence of American antisemitism? Professor Friedman reviews the evidence and arguments on both sides of the debate.
- [A Brief History and Update on Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/history-and-update-antisemitism/) - Antisemitism holds a central and essential place in the world view of contemporary American white nationalists. By contrast, antisemitism that surfaces on the left is not essential, and can and should be addressed.
- [Thoughts on Racism and Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/thoughts-on-racism-and-antisemitism/) - A look at some of the causes of tension and misunderstanding between Jews and Blacks in the United States.
- [How Trump and Netanyahu made American Antisemitism Come Alive](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/howtrumpandnetanyahumadeamericanantisemitismcomealive/) - For four years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has equated Jews with the Israeli government, while U.S. President Donald Trump has made common cause with white nationalists. I wish more Israelis understood why this was so terrifying.
- [A Pittsburgh Perspective](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pittsburgh-perspective/) - Most significant about Pittsburgh, as well as the mass killings in a Black church several years ago, is the massive outpouring of support from allies. We should continue to cultivate alliances with people with whom we share values.
- [The Danger of Antisemitism in America](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/dangers-antisemitism/) - White supremacists are the greatest danger to the safety of Jews in the United States. The emphasis on antisemitic tropes among progressives is misplaced.
- [Weaponizing Antisemitism: Where Are Our Jewish Leaders?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/weaponizing-antisemitism-where-are-our-jewish-leaders/) - In the guise of protecting against terrorism and antisemitism, the rights of all of us are being restricted.
- [Seeing and Seeing Through: An Approach to Myth, Metaphor, and Meaning](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/seeing-and-seeing-through-an-approach-to-myth-metaphor-and-meaning/) - First published in The Reconstructionist 50/7, June 1985, pp. 9-14
- [​​Beyond Vocation: Reclaiming the Language of Chosenness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beyond-vocation-reclaiming-the-language-of-chosenness/) - To ensure a passionate and distinctive Jewish future, we should reclaim our foundational metaphor of “chosenness.”
- [Chosen to Aspire to Do God’s Will, Not Because We Are Inherently Better](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chosen-to-aspire-to-do-gods-will-not-because-we-are-inherently-better/) - It is important to reconstruct even the most problematic concepts that we have inherited rather than to try to excise them.
- [Standing Lovingly Against Binaries](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/standing-lovingly-against-binaries/) - It is problematic when my claim to uniqueness is such that I lose the ability to hold or respect yours.
- [Chosen for Priesthood: Considering Chosenness Through a Biblical Metaphor](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chosen-for-priesthood-considering-chosenness-through-a-biblical-metaphor/) - God’s invitation to be a nation of priests is an aspiration rather than a firm promise of our indispensability.
- [Reconstructing the Roles of Priests and Levites: Questioning Absolute Egalitarianism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructing-the-roles-of-priests-and-levites-questioning-absolute-egalitarianism/) - How might we reclaim some of the value of the priestly and levitical roles?
- [Choosing Not to Be Chosen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/choosing-not-to-be-chosen/) - The fundamental flaw is not the arrogance of the claim, troublesome as it is, but that the claim requires that there was a Divine chooser who made a choice.
- [Why It Is More Important Than Ever to Renounce the Belief That the Jews Are the Chosen People](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-it-is-more-important-than-ever-to-renounce-the-belief-that-the-jews-are-the-chosen-people/) - The belief that Jews are Chosen risks promoting Jewish chauvinism and even racism.
- [Kaplan, Chosenness & Us](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/kaplan-chosenness-us/) - Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s arguments against chosenness still ring true.
- [The "Chosen People" Reconsidered: 1984 Symposium](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-chosen-people-reconsidered-1984-symposium/) - First published in The Reconstructionist, September 1984, pp. 8-27
- [The Future of the American Jew (Excerpt on Chosenness)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-future-of-the-american-jew-excerpt-on-chosenness/) - First published Mordecai Kaplan's 1948 book, The Future of the American Jew
- [Our Choice Against Chosenness Is Fighting Jewish (and White) Supremacy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/our-choice-against-chosenness-is-fighting-jewish-and-white-supremacy/) - It is not enough for us to change a few prayers in our liturgy to live into Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s rejection of chosenness.
- [Confronting Chosenness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/confronting-chosenness/) - With tenderness and love, we should encourage our community to confront the idea of chosenness and release it as no longer serving us well.
- [Distinctiveness and Universalism: How to Remain Jewish if Jewish isn’t Better](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/distinctiveness-and-universalism-how-to-remain-jewish-if-jewish-isnt-better/) - *This article was first published in the ZEEK issue “Reconstructionism: Denominationalism That Works?” (Fall 2010)* More than 90 percent of those who identify themselves as Jews in North America today do not accept the Orthodox belief that the Torah’s authority derives from its literal dictation by God to Moses on Sinai nor the belief that halakhah (rabbinic
- [Memoir as Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/memoir-as-spiritual-practice/) - Writing memoir opens me to surprise and discovery on the blank page.
- [The Sacred Obligations of Liberal Jews: Claiming the Word 'Religious'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-sacred-obligations-of-liberal-jews-claiming-the-word-religious/) - Our bonds with our loved ones represent obligation through immanence.
- [Revisiting the Case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: How the Case Divided American Jews](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/revisiting-the-case-of-julius-and-ethel-rosenberg-how-the-case-divided-american-jews/) - The 1951 trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg pitted different types of Jews against each other.
- [Hundreds of Israeli Feminists Calling the International Community to Save Israel from Its Government](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/hundreds-of-israeli-feminists-calling-the-international-community-to-save-israel-from-its-government/) - The call of 750 Jewish Israeli feminists and activists urges standing together in their struggle to end the war.
- [Why 21st-Century Judaism Should Reject the Death Penalty](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-21st-century-judaism-should-reject-the-death-penalty/) - Since 1973, 200 death-row prisoners have been exonerated of the charges against them.
- [Myths and Facts About Gender-Affirming Care: How to Be an Ally](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/myths-and-facts-about-gender-affirming-care-how-to-be-an-ally/) - How do you respond when someone says something inaccurate about transgender or nonbinary people?
- [Netanyahu's War on Women: Reclaiming Hope in Dark Times](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/netanyahus-war-on-women-reclaiming-hope-in-dark-times/) - Netanyahu’s seventh government has pursued a patriarchal vision rooted in religious nationalism, restricting women’s rights in nearly every domain.
- [The Disability Torah Project: Embodied Wisdom, Sacred Text and the Future of Jewish Learning](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-disability-torah-project-embodied-wisdom-sacred-text-and-the-future-of-jewish-learning/) - The Disability Torah Project centers disabled wisdom in the interpretation of sacred Jewish texts.
- [God’s Humanity: Strengthening the Relationship](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/gods-humanity-strengthening-the-relationship/) - I derive strength from imagining that God prays for strength to do what is right.
- [Shared Values on Jewish Peoplehood, Israel and Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shared-values-on-jewish-peoplehood-israel-and-palestine/) - Articulating the values we share, even as we may disagree.
- [Have We Composed Enough New Melodies?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/have-we-composed-enough-new-melodies/) - Music can be understood as another form of midrash, textual interpretation.
- [Encountering the Divine Within: Judaism as a Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/encountering-the-divine-within-judaism-as-a-spiritual-practice/) - God created each of us as an individual with the inherent need to be in relationship with another, to connect with another and to share with another.
- [In Preparation for Yizkor: Opening the Window to Loved Ones in the World Beyond](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/in-preparation-for-yizkor-opening-the-window-to-loved-ones-in-the-world-beyond/) - Yizkor can be a way of remaining spiritually interwoven with loved (or unloved) ones in the world beyond.
- [Re-envisioning ‘Tashlikh’ (With Some Help from the Temple)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/re-envisioning-tashlikh-with-some-help-from-the-temple/) - As a marginalized person, I have long found the Yom Kippur liturgy to be as damaging as it is powerful.
- [Nothing So Whole as a Broken God: The ‘Unetaneh Tokef’ and Process Theology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/nothing-so-whole-as-a-broken-god-the-unetaneh-tokef-and-process-theology/) - God is the ground of being, the truth that we so often run away from or delude ourselves about.
- [The Other Jewish View of Forgiveness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/other-view-forgiveness/) - Many Jewish texts, ancient and modern, encourage us to forgive those who injure us, even when they themselves have not acknowledged the injury or asked for forgiveness. When we forgive, we let go of our injury and can proceed with compassion.
- [Where Are You? ‘Ayekah’? A Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/where-are-you-ayekah-a-beginners-guide-to-spiritual-practice/) - Listening with total openness means allowing oneself to be changed, to be called to respond.
- [What Does Your Heart Say? A Hasidic Interpretation of Prayer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-does-your-heart-say-a-hasidic-interpretation-of-prayer/) - One word recited with genuine attention and intention, with genuine focus and purpose, with an awakened and directed heart, has the power of all the words of Torah and all the souls of the Jewish people combined.
- [The Continuing Salience of Kabbalah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-continuing-salience-of-kabbalah/) - I continue to find myself nourished by the Jewish mystical tradition.
- [How to Treat People With Whom We Disagree](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/how-to-treat-people-with-whom-we-disagree/) - The Schools of Shammai and Hillel can teach us how to build a society in which great differences are overcome.
- [Black Fire on Green Kugel: My Experiment in Reconstructing Shiva](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/black-fire-on-green-kugel-my-experiment-in-reconstructing-shiva/) - Shiva provides an opportunity not only to celebrate the life, but also to face the painful side.
- [The Constraints and Abuses of Power: From the Book of Deuteronomy to the U.S. Constitution to Today](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-constraints-and-abuses-of-power-from-the-book-of-deuteronomy-to-the-u-s-constitution-to-today/) - The narrative of biblical kings is a warning: Absolute power corrupts and is unsustainable.
- [The Trouble With Litmus Tests](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-trouble-with-litmus-tests/) - The line between Zionist and non-Zionist or anti-Zionist is thinner than you might expect, as is the boundary between people willing and unwilling to say that Israel is an apartheid state.
- [The Other Side of the Fence: A Review of 'Holding Liat'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-other-side-of-the-fence-a-review-of-holding-liat/) - The film is about the tension between the Israel of the past and the Israel of the present.
- [Fighting for our Vision of Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/fighting-for-our-vision-of-israel/) - What is the dream that will enable us to co-create a reality where my dream is not somebody else’s nightmare?
- [What is Zionism? It Depends on Who You Ask](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-is-zionism-it-depends-on-who-you-ask/) - We cannot afford to dismiss thoughts that are not 100% in lockstep with our own as irrelevant, heretical or even criminal.
- [How We Talk About Jewish Young Adults’ Connection to Israel: The Evidence or Lack Thereof](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/how-we-talk-about-jewish-young-adults-connection-to-israel-the-evidence-or-lack-thereof/) - Much of the rhetoric on the subject is evidence-free, reflecting the hopes, fears or political preferences of the speaker.
- [Cremation, Resurrection and the Journey of Consciousness: Jewish Sources and Contemporary Reflections](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/cremation-resurrection-and-the-journey-of-consciousness-jewish-sources-and-contemporary-reflections/) - Is cremation a permissible practice for Jews?
- [Chickpeas: What My Daughter Taught Me During the Year of Mourning Her](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chickpeas-what-my-daughter-taught-me-during-the-year-of-mourning-her/) - Maybe the past isn’t as dead and buried as we think.
- [Rituals of Grief](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/rituals-of-grief/) - The presence of her absence fills the spaces where she used to be; the presence of her absence, that is what we live with now.
- [Finding one another again: Israel and Palestine Conversation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/finding-one-another-again-israel-and-palestine-conversation/) - When people are traumatized or fearful, they cannot hear another person’s perspective until their fear and trauma have been heard.
- [A Jewish Defense of Universities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-jewish-defense-of-universities/) - Jewish resources can bolster a defense of higher education at a time when it is threatened and discredited. An “argument for the sake of heaven” is one in which both sides share a commitment to uncovering the truth and to the value of respectful disagreement. We must stand firm in the face of the current administration’s attacks on those who have suffered from historic injustices.
- [Dear U.S. Reparations Movement: Australia Is Not a Role Model](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/dear-u-s-reparations-movement-australia-is-not-a-role-model/) - It is not enough to honestly acknowledge the harms of the past and take responsibility for them; we must confront the harms of the present, too.
- [On Finding Our Temple Covered in Blood](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/on-finding-our-temple-covered-in-blood/) - Why can’t religious leaders and institutions say, with clarity, that the grotesque violence against a trapped civilian population in Gaza is indefensible and wrong?
- [Going ‘Beyond the Law’ to Act Ethically](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/going-beyond-the-law-to-act-ethically/) - Jews have an obligation to go past the law toward a more expansive application of ethical behavior.
- [World Jewry, Zionism and the State of Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/world-jewry-zionism-and-the-state-of-israel/) - Today, Israel is more a source of division in the Jewish world than it is a source of unity.
- [Operating Principles for Reconstructionist Synagogues](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/operating-principles-for-reconstructionist-synagogues/) - A classic article suggesting important qualities of a synagogue that define it as "Reconstructionist"
- [‘Mipnei Darkhei Shalom’: Resisting Together While in Disagreement](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/mipnei-darkhei-shalom-resisting-together-while-in-disagreement/) - Resisting tyranny together does not mean that we agree about everything.
- [Composing a New Liturgy Connected to Our Deepest Concerns](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/composing-a-new-liturgy-connected-to-our-deepest-concerns/) - For many people, the liturgy seems disconnected from their concerns, hopes, dreams and challenges.
- [What Is Mine to Do?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-is-mine-to-do/) - By Rabbi Howard Avruhm Addison Maturity and Liberation The Shabbat before Pesakh is known in Jewish tradition as Shabbat HaGadol, literally “The Great Sabbath.” The name and origin of this observance has been subject to no little debate. Many say the Shabbat’s name, “HaGadol,” is derived from the concluding verses of its Haftarah
- [Toward Intentional Spiritual Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/toward-intentional-spiritual-communities/) - Judaism can be made most relevant by creating communities that offer American Jews what America cannot give them.
- [A Synagogue with Principles](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-synagogue-with-principles/) - "A Synagogue with Principles" PDF (Reconstructionism Today, June 1985)Download
- [A Self-Limiting God: Reflections on Rabbi Irving Greenberg’s ‘The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism’ (Jewish Publication Society, 2024)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-self-limiting-god-reflections-on-rabbi-irving-greenbergs-the-triumph-of-life-a-narrative-theology-of-judaism-jewish-publication-society-2024/) - Greenberg reminds us that power may corrupt, but failure to use power in the service of good is a moral failure.
- [Purim This Year in Israel: Sacred Activism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/purim-this-year-in-israel-sacred-activism/) - Where there is struggle, there is hope.
- [Jewish Teaching About Fat Liberation: You Can’t Photoshop Fat People Out of the Image of God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-teaching-about-fat-liberation-you-cant-photoshop-fat-people-out-of-the-image-of-god/) - How can we unlearn the harmful teachings society places upon us and move toward liberation for fat people — and therefore, for all people?
- [From the School Yard to the Talmud: Trans People Exist and Are Not Going Away](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/from-the-school-yard-to-the-talmud-trans-people-exist-and-are-not-going-away/) - The Mishnah mandates that people beyond the gender binary must be protected from all forms of harm. This so much more comprehensive than anything we have today to shield us from attacks.
- [Guided Meditation for a Time of Uncertainty: On the Web of Light and Love](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/guided-meditation-for-a-time-of-uncertainty-on-the-web-of-light-and-love/) - Notice the spider web—the thin, silvery, strong and beautiful lines of light that connect you to those other Points of Light.
- [Searching For Signs of Peace After October 7th: Combatants for Peace](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/searching-for-signs-of-peace-after-october-7th-combatants-for-peace/) - Can joint peace groups like the Combatants for Peace make a difference, particularly in these very dark times?
- [The Making of Gay and Lesbian Rabbis in Reconstructionist Judaism, 1979-1992](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-making-of-gay-and-lesbian-rabbis-in-reconstructionist-judaism-1979-1992/) - Reprinted from Devotions and Desires: Histories of Religion and Sexuality in the Twentieth Century United States, chapter 11, edited by Gillian Frank, Bethany Moreton, and Heather White. University of North Carolina Press, 2017, pp. 214-233. Please click the link below to read: THE MAKING OF GAY AND LESBIAN RABBIS IN RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM, 1979–1992
- [Prayer for the Land and the State of Israel — תפילה לשלום הארץ והמדינה](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/prayer-for-the-land-and-the-state-of-israel-תפילה-לשלום-הארץ-והמדינה/) - The traditional prayer for the state of Israel, more literally titled A Prayer for Peace for the State, made no distinction between peace, survival and victory. It is time to make such distinctions.
- [How Do We Create Communities That Do Not Marginalize? Jacob’s Unsettling, and Our Own](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/how-do-we-create-communities-that-do-not-marginalize-jacobs-unsettling-and-our-own/) - Why do progressive communities, whose members themselves have been marginalized, then proceed to marginalize others in their new communities?
- [Reconstructionist Judaism and the Future of ‘Halakhah’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructionist-judaism-and-the-future-of-halakhah/) - Halakhah is in the doing, and our ability to pass that practice down to the next Jewish generation depends on whether or not we can give it the significance it had for the lives of our ancestors.
- [‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/covenantal-community-and-classical-reconstructionism/) - Covenant is an ancient Jewish concept that puts relationships at the center.
- [The Loneliest Road: God Says, ‘I Will Be with You’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-loneliest-road-god-says-i-will-be-with-you/) - We have a hard road ahead, but not a lonely one. We have each other. And we have the Divine at our side, at our back, and within us.
- [The Jewish Basis for Environmentalism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-jewish-basis-for-environmentalism/) - Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb outlines the five pillars that serve as a base for the Jewish environmental movement: sufficiency (dayenu), resilience (kehillah), responsibility (akhrayut), justice (tzedek) and hope (tikvah).
- [Renewing the Face of the Earth: Addressing Global Climate Disruption Through Torah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/renewing-the-face-of-the-earth-addressing-global-climate-disruption-through-torah/) - תְּשַׁלַּח רוּחֲךָ יִבָּרֵאוּן וּתְחַדֵּשׁ פְּנֵי אֲדָמָה “Sending Your Spirit, Your breath, all creatures come to life, and You renew the face of the Earth.” (Psalms 104:30) The greatest challenge of this century and perhaps the coming centuries will be to address global climate disruption. For humanity to meet this challenge, we need to de-center humanity
- [Does the Earth Have a Prayer? Finding Hope As We Confront the Climate Crisis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/does-the-earth-have-a-prayer-finding-hope-as-we-confront-the-climate-crisis/) - I’ve been part of a global, interfaith effort that has revived my hopes. It has also reminded me about the deeper power of small acts.
- [Hope Amidst the Ruins: Living Through the Crisis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/hope-amidst-the-ruins-living-through-the-crisis/) - We need to reimagine globally how we live without using fossil fuel and make significant changes in a very short span of time.
- [Choosing Life: The Spiritual Challenge of Climate Crisis and Environmental Racism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/choosing-life-the-spiritual-challenge-of-climate-crisis-and-environmental-racism/) - The greatest existential challenge of our time is how to join together to choose life. Judaism and spirituality in general are enormous resources for the mission.Even a 3-year-old looking around can tell whose life matter. When I travel through the great city of Philadelphia, I move from neighborhoods of greenery, estate homes and fresh air,
- [Protecting Water, Healing Ourselves and the Earth](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/protecting-water-healing-ourselves-and-the-earth/) - When I remember water, I allow myself to be transformed, to remember myself in utero, untouched by the violence of this world.
- [Green Love: Expanding Jewish Empathy to the Planet](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/green-love-expanding-jewish-empathy-to-the-planet/) - Nature’s embrace of our fragility is empathic, borne of the Earth’s deep awareness of its own vulnerability.
- [Forcing Nonviolent Encounters Is Powerful: MarchOnHarrisburg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/forcing-nonviolent-encounters-is-powerful-marchonharrisburg/) - “Faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase.” (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
- [What I Learned From Helping 15 Rabbis Write Their High Holiday Sermons This Year](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-i-learned-from-helping-15-rabbis-write-their-high-holiday-sermons-this-year/) - In a situation that was already so broken, trying to avoid breaking something by “threading the needle” doesn’t work.
- [Defending Trans Communities: Why American Jews Should Mobilize Against the Christian Right Agenda](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/defending-trans-communities-why-american-jews-should-mobilize-against-the-christian-right-agenda/) - This year, as the gates closed during the final service of Yom Kippur, I looked around the bimah. I was surrounded by my beloved community: all of the service leaders for Ne’ilah were trans Jews. It was a euphoric experience, particularly in the face of rising political attacks on trans people that assume we aren’t
- [Joseph's Womb: Gender Complexity in the Story of Joseph](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/josephs-womb-gender-complexity-in-the-story-of-joseph/) - I have always seen Joseph in the text, winking across the ages, inviting me to explore more fully the shared elements of our experience.
- [Informed, Honest, Realistic, Steady: Preparing to Advocate for Our Values Over the Next Four Years   ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/informed-honest-realistic-steady-preparing-to-advocate-for-our-values-over-the-next-four-years/) - It is important to find a sustainable sense of balance and long-term hope throughout a period of challenge, loss, disappointment and fear.
- [From God to Godliness: A Proposal for Predicate Theology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/predicate-theology/) - A classic of Reconstructionist theology by Rabbi Harold Schulweis
- [Joseph’s Bones](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/josephs-bones/) - I have been in relationship with Joseph for years — wondering, puzzling, collecting the many hints in Torah that point to some queerness, some difference in Joseph’s gender.
- [Are We Maccabees?  Hanukkah in a Time of Conflict ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-maccabean-legacy-might-hanukkah-have-new-meanings-this-year/) - The Maccabees, at least in their early days, were standard-bearers of the fundamentalist camp.
- [The Language Without Words](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-language-without-words/) - That day, I took off from work to play soccer with the brothers of the Bedouin girl who was injured in Iran’s missile attack.
- [Netanyahu’s Government in 2023-2024: The Failure of Ideology, Strategy and Politics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/netanyahus-government-in-2023-2024-the-failure-of-ideology-strategy-and-politics/) - The personal role of Benjamin Netanyahu in implementing the ideology of the Nationalist Right cannot be overemphasized.
- [Theologies for Shavuot](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shavuot-theology/) - This article is excerpted from The Guide to Jewish Practice, Volume 1. The full Guide may be ordered from the Reconstructionist Press. The festival of Shavuot (“Weeks” or “Pentecost”) is also known in our tradition as z’man matan toratenu—“The Time of the Giving of Our Torah.” While the holiday’s origins lie in an agricultural harvest
- [A Psalm of Outrage at Deception and Lies](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-psalm-for-a-time-of-lies-and-deceptions/) - A word of Torah focusing on this moment in Israel and also the upcoming presidential debate. The "psalm" is composed of a number of verses from the prophets, especially from chapter 5 of Isaiah. The song is from the vision of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, a symbol of hope in dark times. This first
- [The Binding of Isaac (Akedah): Abraham’s Equanimity on his Journey to Mount Moriah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-binding-of-isaac-akedah-abrahams-equanimity-on-his-journey-to-mount-moriah/) - Rabbi Levi’s Abraham passes the test because he remains sufficiently calm and clear-thinking to avert a misinterpretation that would have ended Isaac’s life.
- [Learning About Humpback Whales: How Assumptions Can Mislead Us](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/learning-about-humpback-whales-how-assumptions-can-mislead-us/) - Maybe the search to understand sonic expression in other species cannot be learned through a human lens.
- [The Mothers’ Cry: ‘Za’akat Ha’Imahot’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/7503-2/) - With broken hearts and voices ravaged by tears, we call for the embrace of the value of life over the celebration of death.
- [Confession of a Disillusioned Israeli](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/confession-of-a-disillusioned-israeli/) - I didn’t want to face what we are culpable for, nor did I want to acknowledge what we were capable of.
- [The World Can Be Magical and Horrible: Healing Intergenerational Trauma](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-world-can-be-magical-and-horrible-healing-intergenerational-trauma/) - My great-grandmother tells me that things have always been bad — that things have never been “normal” or calm or safe.
- [Honoring Your Parents: Interrupting Inherited Patterns of Ancestral Trauma](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/honoring-your-parents-interrupting-inherited-patterns-of-ancestral-trauma/) - Interrupting ancestral patterns can be an important way to “honor your father and mother.”
- [All Souls](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/all-souls/) - Come, my beloved, let’s greet the source of blessing.[1] I recognized you during the fifth stanza. Your neck flushed red, and the hairs on mine tingled as I heard your voice distinct above the effervescent chorus singing, “Arouse yourself! Arouse!” I’d been staring at your knitted black kippah[2] and the fringes dangling from your belted,
- [Connecting with Neighbors](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/connecting-with-neighbors/) - Knowing and interacting with neighbors can be hard.
- [Serious Enforcement of Background Checks, Mandatory Training and a Restriction on Possession of Assault Weapons](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/serious-enforcement-of-background-checks-mandatory-training-and-a-restriction-on-possession-of-assault-weapons/) - I would err on the side of balancing the right to bear arms with the Jewish principle of piku’akh nefesh.
- [Ben-Gvir: Building a National Israeli Militia](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/ben-gvir-building-a-national-israeli-militia/) - No one could have guessed that Itamar Ben-Gvir, a convicted felon and terrorism supporter, would be put in charge of the police.
- [Reminding One Another to Whom We Are Accountable](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/remember-professional-ethics/) - Creating communities of practice where accountability and ethical conversation are norms of everyday life.
- [Actifests: Public Rituals That Promote a More Symbiotic World](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/actifests-public-rituals-that-promote-a-more-symbiotic-world/) - How do our Jewish symbols maintain or expand tyranny? In what ways are they hastening and hatching wholeness?
- [The Blessing of Paying Taxes](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-blessing-of-paying-taxes/) - We should do what we can to make paying taxes an uplifting experience.
- [Supporting J Street Defends the Institution of Democracy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/supporting-j-street-defends-the-institution-of-democracy/) - When I give to JStreet, the message of commitment to Palestinian rights alongside Israeli security comes through with every contribution.
- [Remain in Our Natural Habitat](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/remain-in-our-natural-habitat/) - We should not change our behavior just because we think it might help us avoid trouble.
- [Introducing 'Practices for Defending Democracy'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/introducing-practices-for-defending-democracy/) - “We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism.” — Timothy Snyder
- [Essays for the High Holidays](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/essays-for-the-high-holidays/) - Rabbi Nadya Gross and Reb Simcha Paull Raphael, Phd: In Preparation for Yizkor Rabbi Jess Belasco: Re-Envisioning Tashlikh Chloe Zelkha: Nothing So Whole as a Broken God Louis Newman: Forgiveness Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz: Where Are You? Ayekah? A Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Practice Rabbi Josh Feigelson: What Does Your Heart Say? A Hasidic Interpretation of Prayer How Can We
- [We Are Disappearing Into Ourselves](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-are-disappearing-into-ourselves/) - In the face of death, silence is often best.
- [Impinged Grief: Justifying Our Feelings About Oct. 7](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/impinged-grief-justifying-our-feelings-about-oct-7/) - I feel chastised for even considering expressing my grief experience.
- [Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Symphony No. 3, Kaddish’ as a helpmate for Yom Kippur Reflection](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/leonard-bernsteins-symphony-no-3-kaddish-as-a-helpmate-for-yom-kippur-reflection/) - Bernstein’s pleas are timeless: that one can pray despite living in a disappointing world on the edge of self-extinction.
- [The Year Since October 7](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-year-since-october-7/) - Reflections on the year since October 7.
- [Symposium: Practices for Defending Democracy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/symposium-on-democracy/) - Symposium on Democracy.
- [What Is It Like to Be a Jewish Poet Post-Oct. 7?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-jewish-poet-post-oct-7/) - The challenge of getting published is very real.
- [The Light That Has the Capacity to Hold Us All](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-light-that-has-the-capacity-to-hold-us-all/) - What is the prayer that penetrates the body and mind to awaken to the Power that makes for Connection?
- [Remembering Oct. 7th, and 8th, and 9th …](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/remembering-oct-7th-and-8th-and-9th/) - Everyone in Palestine or Israel has been touched by the anguish of the war.
- [Skin in the Game](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/skin-in-the-game/) - My visit was spurred by the desire to join with my brothers and sisters — the Jewish people — out of concern for our homeland.
- [A Year of Death: We Are Not Free to Desist From the Work](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-year-of-death-we-are-not-free-to-desist-from-the-work/) - If we are unable to build a joint peaceful future, I see no future for this country.
- [One Year Later](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/one-year-later/) - If Netanyahu’s plan is pursued, Israel will never be free of destabilizing factors.
- [Showing Up for the Constitution](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/showing-up-for-the-constitution/) - I never imagined that my husband would be walking next to me as we were both piped ashore.
- ["It Must Be Important"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/it-must-be-important/) - We need to act within our capacity.
- [Any Word Can Be Weaponized](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/any-word-can-be-weaponized/) - We need to be on the lookout for the dangerous usage of language. Words themselves are not dangerous.
- [Words Matter, and Words <i>Are</i> Matter](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/words-matter-and-words-are-matter/) - Words are real, and nearly tangible, in many corners of the Jewish textual tradition.
- [We Need to Speak Truth Loudly](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-need-to-speak-truth-loudly/) - Truth is not always what one wants it to be.
- [I Will Not Fear: Practicing for These Times](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/i-will-not-fear-practicing-for-these-times/) - It is possible to resist creeping fascism without assuming that it is genocide that we are fending off.
- [Courage Has a Life of Its Own](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/courage-has-a-life-of-its-own/) - When it matters, we often know enough to step into the breach.
- [Invest Ethically](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/invest-ethically/) - It is easier than you think to find market-rate funds that align with our values.
- [Praying With Your Feet](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/praying-with-your-feet/) - “We need to become citizens who produce democracy."
- [A Time to Speak Loudly. A Time for Silence.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-time-to-speak-loudly-a-time-for-silence/) - Esther’s caution served her well in the end, when she was able to “come out” on her own terms.
- [We Should Be Free of Vermin Attacking Our Children](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-should-be-free-of-vermin-attacking-our-children/) - Beware of imprecise and heavily ideological misuses of any word.
- [On Giving](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/on-giving/) - Most of us are not giving enough!
- [Greeting with a Pleasant Countenance](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/greeting-with-a-pleasant-countenance/) - Small human connections are the relational glue that can determine whether our communities and societies fracture under a tyrant or resist tyranny.
- [Beware the one-party state.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beware-the-one-party-state/) - 3. Beware the one-party state. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Consider running
- [We Need to Pursue Truth: Construct a Diverse Media Diet](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-need-to-pursue-truth-construct-a-diverse-media-diet/) - We need to be sensitive to groupthink.
- [Learning From Peacemakers in Ireland](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/learning-from-peacemakers-in-ireland/) - I wanted to see a society struggling to put itself together after 30 years of violence.
- [Tyranny, Democracy and the Jewish Mandate](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tyranny-democracy-and-the-jewish-mandate/) - Recent developments simply add to the wholesale assault on democracy that threatens America’s future.
- [Storytelling Allows Us to Read New Ideas into Jewish Texts: What Was the Name of Abraham's Mother?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/storytelling-allows-us-to-read-new-ideas-into-jewish-texts-what-happened-to-tiamat-tehom-what-was-abrahams-mothers-name-by-dr-nurete-brenner-there-is-no-such-thing-as-g/) - Can we tell stories that return the female to equal footing with the male?
- [The Work of Freedom is Ongoing, and It Takes All of Us: Democracy Circles](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-work-of-freedom-is-ongoing-and-it-takes-all-of-us-democracy-circles/) - What we are seeing now is the result of a decades-long campaign to entrench “minority rule” and impose a regressive agenda upon the American people.
- [Jewish Theologies and Spiritual Direction](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-theologies-and-spiritual-direction/) - From Jewish Spiritual Direction: An Innovative Guide from Traditional and Contemporary Sources, edited by Howard A. Addison and Barbara Eve Breitman (Jewish Lights, 2006) Is the practice of Spiritual Direction authentically Jewish? The question arises because the field of Jewish Spiritual Direction has developed over the last fifteen years by North American Jews who
- [Disagreements About the Israel-Gaza War Are Opportunities to Deepen Communal Bonds](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/disagreements-about-the-israel-gaza-war-are-opportunities-to-deepen-communal-bonds/) - Being in a community where we disagree with people works against polarization and forces us to consider ideas that make us uncomfortable.
- [A Certain Kind of Devotion: Thinking About the Relationship Between Mussar and Poetry](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-certain-kind-of-devotion-thinking-about-the-relationship-between-mussar-and-poetry/) - What if all these rules about how to read Torah are skills that also apply to the person sitting across from us?
- [When Things Fall Apart: Divine Absence and Presence](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/when-things-fall-apart-divine-absence-and-presence/) - When we open to the pain of isolation and lack of meaning, we invite in the possibility of transformation and healing.
- [Lila Corwin Berman Lecture: POWER TO WHICH PEOPLE? American Jewish Philanthropy and American Democracy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/lila-corwin-berman-lecture-power-to-which-people-american-jewish-philanthropy-and-american-democracy/)
- [Jewish Peoplehood Reconsidered](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-peoplehood-reconsidered/) - The sense of peoplehood is the awareness that an individual has of being a member of a group that is known, both by its own members and by outsiders, as a people. (Mordecai Kaplan, The Future of the American Jew)
- [The Right-Wing Extremists Are In Charge in Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-right-wing-extremists-are-in-charge-in-israel/) - The takeover of Israel by its extreme messianic right wing is now irrefutably complete.
- [Determinism and Free Will: A Reply to Shore](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/determinism-and-free-will-a-reply-to-shore/) - Arguments that tie subjective notions of morality to the measure of brain function are fraught with pitfalls.
- [Towards a Judaism Without Gender?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/towards-a-judaism-without-gender/) - As time goes on, more and more I think of non-binary people as emissaries from the future.
- [Kaplan’s ‘New Zionism’, Rabbi Jack Cohen and the State of Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/kaplans-new-zionism-rabbi-jack-cohen-and-the-state-of-israel/) - Kaplan was convinced that the Zionist movement had made a serious error in not first negotiating directly with the Arabs.
- [Remember, Retell, Resist: Reading Difficult Biblical Passages](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/remember-retell-resist-reading-difficult-biblical-passages/) - By telling and re-telling difficult, even ethically repugnant, stories in the Torah, we may move from silence to healing and from narrowness to expanse.
- [Gam Zu v’Gam Zu: Weeping with All Who Grieve](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/gam-zu-vgam-zu-weeping-with-all-who-grieve/) - We need to hold both: our Israeli and Jewish family, and our extended family — the Palestinians in Gaza living beneath the bombs and those under assault on the West Bank.
- [The Rabbinic Arts Company presents The Oven of Aknai](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-rabbinic-arts-company-presents-the-oven-of-aknai/) - How far are we willing to go to prove that we are right?
- [Revelation Can Be Terrifying](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/revelation-can-be-terrifying/) - The Bible's description of the shuddering of the people at Mount Sinai reflects a deep truth about how moments of revelatory insight can be frightening.
- [Talmud Torah as Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/talmud-torah-practice/) - The enterprise of Talmud Torah tunes our ear to listen for the Divine voice. It is a lifelong project that connects us to the shared consciousness of the Jewish people as we/they have sought God throughout time.
- [Stealing Torah: The Dreams of Hebrew Priestesses](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/stealing-torah-the-dreams-of-hebrew-priestesses/) - A genuinely egalitarian religious tradition can only exist when we consciously work to include voices that have been excluded, from the ancient world forward.
- [Veha’arev: ‘Transmitting, Transforming and Sweetening Our Texts for Ongoing Revelation’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/vehaarev-transmitting-transforming-and-sweetening-our-texts-for-ongoing-revelation/) - The rabbis model how to transmit, transform, and ultimately, sweeten troubling texts.
- [My Recollection of Revelation: A Text Study](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/my-recollection-of-revelation-a-text-study/) - At Sinai, all of Israel directs their hearts to one place -- one Makom.
- [Evolve Video Podcast on Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/evolve-video-podcast-on-antisemitism/)
- [Living in a Time of Shattered Faith](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/living-in-a-time-of-shattered-faith/) - We’re living through the disintegration of American Jewish civil religion as we have known it.
- [“A Hidden Universe of Suffering”: The Palestinian Children Sent to Jail](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-hidden-universe-of-suffering-the-palestinian-children-sent-to-jail/) - The presence of Israeli troops stationed outside the school seemed designed to provoke the students so that they could then arrest as many of them as possible.
- [A Call for Nuance: Thinking About the War in Gaza](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-call-for-nuance-thinking-about-the-war-in-gaza/) - We do well to remain vigilant about the ways in which our overarching narratives become self-serving and one-sided.
- [Martin Buber’s Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/martin-bubers-zionism/) - Martin Buber’s vision of a Zionism that centers ethical values seems particularly urgent right now.
- [Constructive Disagreement: The Pardes ‘Mahloket Matters’ Project](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/constructive-disagreement-the-pardes-mahloket-matters-project/) - Disagreements can be a positive opportunity for enlightenment, growth and deep connection with others.
- [The Torah Case for Reparations: A Jewish View](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/torahcaseforreparations/) - The biblical narrative of the Exodus from slavery understands the reparations taken by the Israelites to be an essential part of the redemption from servitude.
- [Against Free Will](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/against-free-will/) - Far from being a bleak reality, when we view ourselves as lacking free will, it actually brings about significant and desirable implications.
- [Living in the Shadow: The Massacre in York, 1190](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/living-in-the-shadow-the-massacre-in-york-1190/) - Understanding that the mob was bent on death, most of the Jews decided that it was preferable to take their own lives.
- [Zionist Rabbi for Ceasefire](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/zionist-rabbi-for-ceasefire/) - I love Israel, but not more than Judaism itself. Not more than humanity.
- [God Has Gotten Very Lazy: A Purim Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/god-has-gotten-very-lazy-a-purim-drash/) - In Tractate Shabbat 88a, the sages of the Talmud present a stunning midrash about the revelation at Mount Sinai: The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the
- [Antisemitism: The View from Scandinavia](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/antisemitism-the-view-from-scandinavia/) - An escalating fear of antisemitism from both left and right is actually much worse in the United States than in either Sweden or Denmark.
- [Antisemitism and the Intersection of Antisemitism and Racism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/antisemitism-race-intersections/) - Helpful suggestions about criteria for identifying antisemitism, strategies for addressing it, and understanding how antisemitism and racism can trigger one another.
- [Remedy Before the Malady (‘Makdim Refuah Lemakah’): Tackling the Healthcare Crisis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/remedy-before-the-malady-makdim-refuah-lemakah-tackling-the-healthcare-crisis/) - These are values and teachings central to our Torah and identity: to care and provide for the most vulnerable, to welcome the stranger, to honor our elders and to care for the sick.
- [The Israel-Hamas War: Reflections in a Time of Crisis](https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/israel-hamas-war) - Engage in groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. Review multiple perspectives from Rabbis Haviva Ner-David, Yohanna Kinberg, Jason Bonder, Seth Goldstein, Nathan Kamesar, Arthur Waskow, Robert Tabak, Amy Eilberg, Micah Weiss, Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Laurie Zimmerman, David Teutsch, and Dr. Ilan Peleg and Oren Jay Sofer. Explore what's possible.
- [What Are the Jewish Values Underlying the Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-are-the-jewish-values-underlying-the-call-for-a-ceasefire-in-gaza/) - Our call for a ceasefire is not a betrayal of Jewish values but an authentic expression of them.
- [Rabbis During Wartime](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/rabbis-during-wartime/) - In providing venues for both consolation of suffering and the arousal of activism, rabbis lead our synagogues towards becoming communities of deep meaning.
- [Understanding the Impact of Calls for Forced Migrations in Gaza](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/understanding-the-impact-of-calls-for-forced-migrations-in-gaza/) - Israel's Declaration of Independence envisions a state founded on the values of democracy, pluralism and equal rights for all its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
- [‘Israelism’: A Film Worth Taking Seriously, Especially Now](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israelism-a-film-worth-taking-seriously-especially-now/) - Israelism captures a concerted effort that admonishes American Jews to see Israel as a — or maybe the — pillar of Jewish identity, synonymous with their Jewishness.
- [A Dance Between Tradition and Change](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-dance-between-tradition-and-change/) - Since Oct. 7, I have been proud to be the pastoral presence and the listening ear for my congregants, even more than I have been a purveyor of wisdom.
- [The Professionalization of the Rabbinate](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-professionalization-of-the-rabbinate/) - Burnout is a problem for rabbis on a scale that has not occurred before in my lifetime.
- [Evolving Roles of Rabbis in History and Today](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/evolving-roles-of-rabbis-in-history-and-today/) - The first ordained rabbi in America did not arrive until 1840, almost 200 years after the first Jewish arrivals in 1654.
- [Belonging Is Fundamental: Revolutionary Leadership on Campus](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/belonging-is-fundamental-revolutionary-leadership-on-campus/) - I hold the space between “you shall not change” and “you must change” for every community and individual I am blessed to work with.
- [Building Community Is Most Essential](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/building-community-is-most-essential/) - The fundamental goal of building Jewish community remains unchanged in 2024.
- [After Before: A Review of Moriel Rothman-Zecher’s ‘Before All the World: A Novel’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/after-before-a-review-of-moriel-rothman-zechers-before-all-the-world-a-novel/) - Hope somehow emerges from trauma. Love is possible and in a variety of forms.
- [Pacific Northwest Zionism: Healing Through Connection to the Land](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pacific-northwest-zionism-healing-through-connection-to-the-land/) - The healing of the Jewish people is in our indigenous ways, our restoration of the land and our connection to it.
- [The Other Side of the Rain: At a Cemetery in the Galilee](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-other-side-of-the-rain-at-a-cemetery-in-the-galilee/) - Will I be able to do enough inner work to accept all the violent, human-inflicted death around me now? Should that even be my goal?
- [A Response to Nikki Haley’s Claim That America Is a Non-Racist Nation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-response-to-nikki-haleys-claim-that-america-is-a-non-racist-nation/) - Narratives can be shaped and reshaped, often omitting crucial truths, particularly regarding racial issues in America.
- [Wearing the Magen David (‘Star of David’) and Jewish Identity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/wearing-the-magen-david-star-of-david-and-jewish-identity/) - I wear the Star of David not as a response to antisemitism but as a proud demonstration of a rich and meaningful Jewish identity.
- [A Horror in My Lifetime: The New Meaning of ‘Survivor’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-horror-in-my-lifetime-the-new-meaning-of-survivor/) - I so wanted these bullet holes, only days old, to be remnants from a bygone era.
- [The Problem With What I Said Next: A Question of Intrafaith Solidarity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-problem-with-what-i-said-next-a-question-of-intrafaith-solidarity/) - What is “right speech” regarding intrafaith diversity in multifaith conversation?
- [Will You Sweep Away the Innocent?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/will-you-sweep-away-the-innocent/) - We, like Abraham, must be concerned with justice and with the innocent.
- [The Legitimacy of the State of Israel: Surviving in a Hostile Region](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-legitimacy-of-the-state-of-israel-surviving-in-a-hostile-region/) - To be Jewish is to be part of a people—a people with a shared history, roots, a story and, yes, a land.
- [Why I’m Grieving the Loss of Both Israelis and Palestinians](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-im-grieving-the-loss-of-both-israelis-and-palestinians/) - There aren’t really words for the grief of what’s unfolding. It’s okay to feel like it’s too much to hold—because it is too much to hold.
- [Re-envisioning the Temple Mount (and Reclaiming That Vision)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/re-envisioning-the-temple-mount-and-reclaiming-that-vision/) - The Temple Mount can be a powerful image of spiritual centering for the Jewish People as a symbol of a vision of world redemption that is grounded in tradition and supportive of justice, peace and pluralism .
- [Godwrestler: Person, Tribe & State?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/godwrestler-person-tribe-state/) - What did it mean to wrestle with God so that the two brothers could kiss and live in peace?
- [SYMPOSIUM: CONFRONTING ‘CHOSENNESS’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/symposium-confronting-chosenness/) - A Reconstructionist symposium on the notion of 'chosenness.'
- [Going Above and Beyond in Observing Hanukkah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/going-above-and-beyond-in-observing-hanukkah/) - I have come to value this holiday, precisely because of all the assimilationist pressures we face at this time of year.
- [Against Jewish Supremacism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/against-jewish-supremacism/) - Many Jews believe that Judaism commands them to expel the Palestinians and annex the land for themselves.
- [Singing ‘Lekha Dodi’: Shabbat as ‘Tikkun Olam’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/singing-lekha-dodi-shabbat-as-tikkun-olam/) - On Shabbat, we look beyond the veil of the “upside-down world” and see the deeper reality of the One.
- [Chosenness Is a Dangerous Belief](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chosenness-is-a-dangerous-belief/) - The literal use of the concept of chosenness leads to division and dissension within the realm of humanity.
- [Challenging Chosenness: Beyond the Reconstructionist Movement](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/challenging-chosenness-beyond-the-reconstructionist-movement/) - Discomfort with chosenness is a liturgical option, but there is no consistent response of eliminating it.
- [Embracing, Not Choosing: From Humanity to All Species](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/embracing-not-choosing-from-humanity-to-all-species/) - God singles out the human species from among myriads of life forms. The environmental implications are unfortunate.
- [Jewish Superiority in Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-superiority-in-israel/) - Huwara has legitimized speaking out against Jewish racism and supremacy.
- [101 Healthy and Productive Ways to Respond to the War in Israel and Palestine:](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/101-healthy-and-productive-ways-to-respond-to-the-war-in-israel-and-palestine/) - This list is written for Jews living outside the land of Israel who don’t have a one-word Israel identity. If you are feeling alone and struggling to feel fully aligned with any camp or position, and are looking for concrete responses to this moment, this list is for you.
- [Lovingkindness in a Time of War](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/lovingkindness-in-a-time-of-war/) - Offering lovingkindness to oneself and others in times of intense pain.
- [Our Narrow Bridge and Some Difficult Texts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/our-narrow-bridge-and-some-difficult-texts/) - When permission is given to the destructive force to wreak havoc, it does not distinguish between the innocent and guilty. (Mekhilta Bo 12:22)
- [Let Not Our Anger Blind Us: Jews and Palestinians in Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/let-not-our-anger-blind-us-jews-and-palestinians-in-israel/) - Our hearts must remain open and tender, crying along with God for all lives lost; we must remember that we are all created in God’s image.
- [Creating Multifaith Circles, Not Lines, About the War in Gaza and Israel ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/creating-multifaith-circles-not-lines-about-the-war-in-gaza-and-israel/) - We simply sit with and name our grief, sadness and feelings of overwhelm. We lift up the power of this community to offer space for healing and affirmation.
- [I Protest This Bloodshed  ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/i-protest-this-bloodshed/) - This is not the time to root for your team. This is the time to stand on the side of humanity.
- [We Weep   ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-weep/) - Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians should never have to live through the death, destruction, humiliation and torture that have marked recent days.
- [Israel’s Dilemma: Fighting the Gaza War while Fighting for Middle East Peace and Beyond](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israels-dilemma-fighting-the-gaza-war-while-fighting-for-middle-east-peace-and-beyond/) - Fifty years after the 1973 (Yom Kippur) War, Israel has been surprised again by the Arabs. This time, the assault was carried out not by the regular armies of two strong neighbors—Egypt and Syria—but by the irregular forces of the Gaza-based Islamist organization Hamas. By the time of writing, it looks as if over 1,200
- [Ulay Yesh Tikvah: Taking a Leap of Hope ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/ulay-yesh-tikvah-taking-a-leap-of-hope/) - The kind of hope I want to lift up is a nuanced hope that recognizes pain and grief and nonetheless invites us to imagine a better future.
- [Transgender Rights](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/transgender-rights/) - Transgender people, in expressing their true gender identity, do so to be more authentic to themselves and, in many ways, to be closer to the image of the Creator in which they were made.
- [Reinterpreting the Biblical Prohibition of Wearing What Is Gender-Inappropriate: A B’Mitzvah Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reinterpreting-the-biblical-prohibition-of-wearing-what-is-gender-inappropriate-a-bmitzvah-drash/) - What matters most is being who you feel yourself to be.
- [Dayyan HaEmet: Acknowledging the New Reality](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/dayyan-haemet-acknowledging-the-new-reality/) - By reading Dayyan HaEmet, the Judge of Reality, as “the True Judge,” interpreters run from our awareness of the randomness of creation. They seek to provide the cold comfort of a caring God whose plan for us is beyond our understanding.
- [Cry the Beauty, Cry the Alarm: How Jews Are Feeling the Climate Crisis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/cry-the-beauty-cry-the-alarm-how-jews-are-feeling-the-climate-crisis/) - The longer I work as a climate-change chaplain, the more I’ve come to believe that it’s not change we hate so much as stepping into the unknown without a map or a guide.
- [Compelling Meanings of the Circumcision Covenant: ‘Brit Milah’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/compelling-meanings-of-the-circumcision-covenant-brit-milah/) - I find the meanings I’m going to discuss here sufficiently compelling that were I to have a child with a penis, I would circumcise him/them, in spite of the important arguments on the other side.
- [Brit Milah Essay Collection](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/brit-milah/) - Evolve continues to publish essays discussing the practice of brit milah (ritual circumcision. They are gathered here.
- [Reconstructionism, Chosenness, and the Abrahamic Dialogue ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructionism-chosenness-and-the-abrahamic-dialogue/) - *This article was first published in the ZEEK issue “Reconstructionism: Denominationalism That Works?” (Fall 2010)* The first time I encountered the idea that Jews were a “chosen people,” I learned that this was a mistaken and even pernicious belief that was held by other Jews. The rejection of chosenness made sense to me then as a 12
- [Judaism as a Generation: Kaplan, Levi-Strauss, and Why I Believe in the Jewish Future](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/judaism-as-a-generation-kaplan-levi-strauss-and-why-i-believe-in-the-jewish-future/) - by Deborah Glanzberg-Krainin Readers of Mordecai Kaplan, and those familiar with Reconstructionist thinking, will recognize the playful- ness of this essay’s title. Kaplan’s pioneering work, Judaism as a Civilization, challenged American Jews to think creatively and courageously about Jewish life; he wrote about a people bound together not just by shared ritual observance, but by
- [Endings and Beginnings](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/endings-and-beginnings/) - Just as we open the door to new adventures, we close another door behind us.
- [How Can We Pray to God for Compassion?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/how-can-we-pray-to-god-for-compassion/) - We don’t have to believe in supernaturalism to believe in a God who hears our prayers.
- [Praying for Rain: Redrawing the Circle](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/praying-for-rain/) - Everything we do and dream isn’t built upon or etched in stone, but rather relies on whether or not it is going to rain.
- [Standing Together: A Redemptive Vision for Palestinian-Jewish Partnership](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/standing-together-a-redemptive-vision-for-palestinian-israeli-partnership/) - We, Palestinians and Jews, were put together on this land to fulfill a vision of partnership and peace.
- [Jewish Wisdom on Reparations and ‘Teshuvah’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-wisdom-on-reparations-and-teshuvah/) - The process of reparations requires a transformation of the soul of America.
- [Are Trans Women Obligated in Niddah? (Jewish Menstrual Law): Embracing Halakhah That Was Not Addressed to You](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/are-trans-women-obligated-in-niddah-jewish-menstrual-law-embracing-halakhah-that-was-not-addressed-to-you/) - When we approach texts and traditions with assumptions that are fundamental to trans liberation, such as respect of bodily autonomy and self-definition, we end up with readings that never would have been possible before.
- [Breaking Open: A Paradigm for Jewish Prayer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/breaking-open-a-paradigm-for-jewish-prayer/) - A broken heart is one of the most meaningful stances from which to open ourselves to the unknown.
- [The Power and Danger of Artificial Intelligence](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-power-and-danger-of-artificial-intelligence/) - A rigorous, mandatory evaluation of new AI systems needs to be put into place immediately.
- [Settler Violence in the Occupied Territories: Masafer Yatta](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/settler-violence-in-the-occupied-territories-masafer-yatta/) - I’ve witnessed and documented dozens of attacks and crimes committed by settlers and by the Israeli occupation forces.
- [Euphoric Halakhah: The Trans Halakhah Project](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/euphoric-halakhah-the-trans-halakhah-project/) - Euphoric halakhah is the process by which we uncover legal principles and applications that enable us to find the authentic, affirming, joyful and liberatory expressions of who we are.
- [Contra BDS: Strengthening Progressive Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/contra-bds-strengthening-progressive-zionism/) - Our criticism of Israel must be shaped and voiced in an effort to improve Israel, not destroy it.
- [Confronting Difficult Choices: American Jews Face Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/confronting-difficult-choices-american-jews-face-israel/) - Changes in Israeli government policy will only occur when enormous outside pressure is brought to bear.
- [The Case for Divestment](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-case-for-divestment/) - There is nothing sacred about the current structure of Israel’s fundamentally unequal treatment of Palestinians, or the way the U.S. government enables it.
- [Expanding Our Conversation About Israel/Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/expanding-our-conversation-about-israel-palestine/) - Resistance to calling the establishment of the State of Israel a nakba, a “catastrophe” for Palestinians, is reminiscent of the resistance of white Americans to acknowledging that American prosperity was built on oppression and white supremacy.
- [ChatGPT Is the Opposite of the Golem](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chatgpt-is-the-opposite-of-the-golem/) - The Golem could think and reason, but it couldn’t speak. ChatGPT can’t think and can’t reason, but it does a great job of speaking!
- [From Haredi Yeshiva to Insight Meditation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/from-haredi-yeshiva-to-insight-meditation/) - There are few things as meaningful as deeply exploring what it really means to be a conscious being in this world.
- [Project Kesher: Supporting Jewish Life in Ukraine and the Former USSR](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/project-kesher-supporting-jewish-life-in-ukraine-and-the-former-ussr/) - Project Kesher presents pragmatic programs in Ukraine in which Jewish values inspire social activism.
- [Why Israel Can Be Painful for Non-Orthodox Jews](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-israel-can-be-painful-for-non-orthodox-jews/) - Many American Jews are deeply concerned about the rights and well-being of non-Jews, most especially Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
- [The Bloodspots and Upshots in Israel’s ‘Democracy’ Protest](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-bloodspots-and-upshots-in-israels-democracy-protest/) - The protesters wish to keep Israel “Jewish and Democratic,” while ignoring the innate contradiction within this definition and within Zionism itself.
- [The Case for Jewish Communal Divorce Support](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-case-for-jewish-communal-divorce-support/) - As long as there has been marriage in Judaism, there has been divorce. The Jewish community must let people know they are not alone in this moment of life.
- [Robed in Malkhut: The Hidden and Revealed in Esther (and Us)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/robedinmalkhut/) - The Book of Esther offers a clue about what it takes to be a leader who risks charging into the breach. When like Queen Esther, we lose ourselves in beauty or in purpose, it is divine Malkhut (majesty) asserting itself. And in that state, there is much we can do.
- [The Ethics of Esther Moments](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-ethics-of-esther-moments/) - Esther moments ask the question: When does one choose to show up and take on the leadership needed, risks included, in order to move forward a critical, sometimes life-and-death conversation, policy or initiative?
- [Celebrating Purim in Recovery: Shared History and Personal Experience](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/celebratingpuriminrecovery/) - For those who live with addiction or substance dependency, there are occasions that test one's commitment to sobriety. The greatest gift we can give is to dispense with any expectation of inebriation as a mitzvah or an obligation.
- [The Constant Mask: Purim in a Winterless World](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-constant-mask-purim-in-a-winterless-world/) - How do we giddily celebrate the world gone mad in Shushan when our weather foretells our world gone mad?
- [Brilliance and Imperfection: Pathways Towards a Stronger Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/brilliance-and-imperfection-pathways-towards-a-stronger-community/) - Ner Adonai (3x) nishmat adamThe light of The Source of All is composed of the soul of a person.(Proverbs 20:27)During these days, when we can so easily be overwhelmed and discouraged by the darkness in the world, we often forget that the light we most yearn to see and feel in the world begins with
- [Nakba Denial and ‘Teshuvah’/Reparations](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/nakba-denial-and-teshuvah-reparations/) - The Torah insists that our collective pain and suffering can and must increase our empathy for others.
- [ANNOTATED NAKBA LEARNING RESOURCES](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/annotated-nakba-learning-resources/) - Movies Tantura The recent Israeli documentary referred to above is now available on several sites. 1948 Creation and Catastrophe https://www.1948movie.com It includes interviews with many Israelis and Palestinians who participated in the 1948 war, many historians including Israeli new historians and Palestinian scholars. On the Other Side of the Road https://vimeo.com/117772052 A movie
- [Holding the Pain and the Love](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/holding-the-pain-and-the-love/) - Our love of Israel can help us to look squarely at the hard truths of Israel’s history and the darkness of today’s realities.
- [My Israel/Palestine Learning Curve Is a Zigzag](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/my-israel-palestine-learning-curve-is-a-zigzag/) - The Nakba became permanent when the Israeli government denied Palestinian civilians the ability to return to their lands and homes.
- [Group Spiritual Direction](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/group-spiritual-direction/) - It’s a gift to be invited to witness another’s spiritual seeking.
- [Maintaining Equanimity in a Turbulent World](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/maintaining-equanimity-in-a-turbulent-world/) - Equanimity is not resignation or apathy.
- [Shine Light on Chaos and Injustice: A Purim Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shine-light-on-chaos-and-injustice-a-purim-drash/) - This week, on the Shabbat before Purim, we read the weekly Torah portion Tetzaveh. In it, we read about a seven-day period in which the priests, Aaron and his sons, are inaugurated into service in the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Torah provides exacting detail about how the priests should dress, and what and how the sacrifices
- [Adam Uncovers the Light Video Teaching](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/adam-uncovers-the-light-video-teaching/) - Why do Jewish holidays and the holidays of so many other peoples and cultures coincide with the shortest days of winter? Mira Wasserman, Ph.D. offers this Talmudic teaching from Avodah Zara that touches on light, the turning of the seasons and ritual. This story emphasizes the commonalities among people and that all human beings are children of Adam, the first human.
- [Once a Year, Let Us Worship the Stars: A Purim Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/once-a-year-let-us-worship-the-stars-a-purim-drash/) - The myrtle is a lovely plant. Evergreen. Fragrant. Humble. You would never know by looking at her that the myrtle harbors a great secret: Once a year, with the first stirrings of spring, the myrtle transmogrifies into a distant star.
- [Writing Your Own Megillah: A Purim Drash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/writing-your-own-megillah/) - The story of Esther is one of garments and hidden truths. Queen Esther withholds her identity as a Jewish woman from her husband, King Ahashverosh, and she uses her royal attire to win his favor and support. The Zohar teaches us that Torah, too, is clothed in a garment: “Fools of the world look only
- [Rav Zeira Lets Loose: Purim Torah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/rav-zeira-lets-loose-purim-torah/) - A famous Talmud teaching relates that it is obligatory to become intoxicated on Purim to the extent one cannot tell the difference between “Blessed be Mordecai” and “Cursed be Haman,” which, if you don’t know Hebrew, you have a 50-50 chance of mixing up anyway.However, the Talmud goes on to share a story about how
- [Ten Zohars Video Teaching](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/ten-zohars-video-teaching/) - In keeping with the theme of layehudim hayetah orah, “The Jews had light”, Professor Joel Hecker of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College offers a short teaching from the Zohar, the foundational text of Jewish mysticism.
- [The Israeli Government’s War on Women](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israelwaronwomen/) - The new coalition seeks to control almost every aspect of the state's treatment of women and their rights.
- [Stigma & Shame: Breaking the Silence on Mental Illness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/stigma-shame-breaking-the-silence-on-mental-illness/) - Why does it take so much courage to be honest about mental-health struggles?
- [God as Rock](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/god-as-rock/) - “Do you know that rocks can talk?” I asked this question when I taught a unit on geology when our two now-adult daughters (one a writer, one a Reconstructionist rabbi) were in fourth grade. They STILL talk about that. I described the three kinds of rocks — sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic — and that the
- [An Unexpected Interfaith Family: Fostering a Christian Child](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/an-unexpected-interfaith-family-fostering-a-christian-child/) - Reading a sacred text can put it on your heart, and then when your heart breaks, the holy words fall inside.
- [Evolving Views of Evolution](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/evolving-views-of-evolution/) - A scientific look at evolution does not show any directionality, let alone inevitable progress.
- [Richard Zimler’s new novel embraces tolerance](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/richard-zimlers-new-novel-embraces-tolerance/) - Richard Zimler, The Incandescent Threads, Parthian Books, 2022 So many excellent historical and fictional accounts of the Holocaust have been written, it would be difficult to count them all. Some might even be tempted to ask “Why write another one?” Jewish American writer Richard Zimler’s latest novel, The Incandescent Threads, offers two very different answers
- [Kaplan, Herzl and the Current State of Israeli and American Politics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/kaplan-herzl-and-the-current-state-of-israeli-and-american-politics/) - Theodor Herzl supported a Jewish state, but not at the expense of humanistic and democratic ideals that allow all people to share equally in the benefits of the state.
- [The Allure of the Antinomian … or How Jacob Frank Seduced Me](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-allure-of-the-antinomian-or-how-jacob-frank-seduced-me/) - Jacob Frank’s critiques of religion were surprisingly modern.
- [Staying Safe: What Does Security Mean for Communities of Faith?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/staying-safe-what-does-security-mean-for-communities-of-faith/) - How do we think about the meaning of security, not only theologically but logistically? What can we do to stay safe in ways that draw on and honor our faith traditions?
- [AIPAC Has Stepped Way Over the Line](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/aipac-has-stepped-way-over-the-line/) - I write with alarm that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a large and influential PAC in Washington, D.C., that historically has supported Israel, decided to endorse and fund heavily many Republican Congress members who voted against the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. They thereby supported overturning the election as a key
- [Resources on Ethics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/ethics/) - Explore the urgent ethical issues of our time from Jewish perspectives.
- [Reflections on Spirituality](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/introducing-evolve-on-spirituality/) - An overview of Evolve's pieces on spiritual practice—from personal, liturgical and practice-based standpoints.
- [Resources on Judaism and Race](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/judaism-and-race/) - How do we expand our image of Jews to include people of color, and how should Jews deal with systemic racism in America?
- [Resources on Jewish Identity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewishidentities/) - Who is a Jew at this time of demographic disruption?
- [Resources on Israel/Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israelpalestine/) - How do we move our communities toward constructive and meaningful conversations about Israel/Palestine?
- [Resources on Multifaith Work](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/multifaith/) - Watch Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer discuss her essay, "Multifaith Relations: Four Decades of an Evolving Field."
- [Resources on "Why Be Jewish?"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/whybejewish/) - How do Jewish living and study make our lives richer and more meaningful?
- [Resources on Jewish Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/spirituality/) - What are the assumptions about the nature of reality and the human psyche/soul that underlie our spiritual practices? Teachers of different Jewish practices reflect on this question.
- [Resources on Jewish Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reimaginingjewishcommunities/) - What are the structures and functions needed to serve the needs of Jews in the twenty-first century?
- [Resources on Jewish Approaches to Justice Work](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewishapproachestojusticework/) - How do our Jewish values and heritage enrich and sustain our justice work?
- [Resources on Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/antisemitism/) - Explore the history of antisemitism and its shapes today, and reflect upon our contemporary responses.
- [Resources on Technology and Judaism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/harnessingtechnology/) - How can we sanctify our on-line lives by acting according to our values? How can we use the resources on line to enrich our lives?
- [Additional Resources on Gender & Sexuality](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/gender/) - How do Jewish communities continue to become spaces for gender liberation?
- [Becoming Jews of Mixed Identity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/becoming-jews-mixed-identity/) - Mixed identity causes some mixed feelings away at college.
- [God as a Source of Comfort](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/god-as-a-source-of-comfort/) - Is it possible to find comfort in God without believing in God? Rabbi Jacob Staub explores the question and offers other lenses by which the answer might be "yes."
- [Worship for Agnostics: Building a Personal Relationship with a Nonpersonal God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/worship-for-agnostics-building-a-personal-relationship-with-a-nonpersonal-god/) - They envisioned you in an abundance of metaphors. You are one in all of those images. Shir Hakavod (12th-century Germany) How can you have a personal relationship with a God who is not (necessarily) personal? I preface this essay with a line from Shir Hakavod[1] to remind us that long before our time, Jews were
- [Problematic ‘Yahrzeits’: Should We Sing the Melodies of Carlebach?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/problematic-yahrzeits/) - Honesty about the legacies of those who have caused unrepaired harm is the first step in tending to our communal responsibility to repair the world.
- [Reconstructing the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructing-the-society-for-the-advancement-of-judaism-saj/) - Synagogues are in trouble. I suggest that we revisit Kaplan’s notion of the synagogue-center.
- [What’s the Secret Sauce to Making Sacred Space?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/whats-the-secret-sauce-to-making-sacred-space/) - I marvel at our ability to arrive at a new moment — to get from here to there emotionally if we allow ourselves that kindness.
- [Homosexuality & Judaism: The Reconstructionist Position (The 1992 Report of the Reconstructionist Commission on Homosexuality)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/homosexuality-judaism-the-reconstructionist-position-the-1992-report-of-the-reconstructionist-commission-on-homosexuality/) - "Homosexuality & Judaism: The Reconstructionist Position" (The 1992 Report of the Reconstructionist Commission on Homosexuality) is available to read here.
- [Thriving Where We Are](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/thriving-where-we-are/) - Why must "diaspora" be a term rooted in pain? Rabbi Alissa Wise argues for a redefining of diaspora, in which one's spiritual and physical home can remain undivided by the fragmented politics and policies of Israel.
- [Diversity and Welcoming](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/diversity-and-welcoming/) - We live in a quickly diversifying Jewish community; Rabbi Emily Cohen explores Psalms 118:22 as sustenance for these changes.
- [The Torah Process: How Jews Make Decisions](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-torah-process-how-jews-make-decisions/) - Values-based decision-making is a process deeply grounded in Torah and Jewish modalities of conversation and choices.
- [COVID’s Financial Impact on the Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/covids-financial-impact-on-the-jewish-community/) - Far too many Jews were unprepared to cope with the financial challenges of the coronavirus pandemic . We should take notice and better arrange our finances to meet future challenges.
- [Values Based Decision Making](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/values-based-decision-making/) - Principles, concepts and methods behind values-based decision-making.
- [Transcription of Cultivating Resilience Through the Practice of Lament, a talk by Dr. Koach Baruch Frazier from “Avodah Presents: Speak Torah to Power”](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/transcription-of-cultivating-resilience-through-the-practice-of-lament-a-talk-by-dr-koach-baruch-frazier-from-avodah-presents-speak-torah-to-power/) - Shalom aleikhem. [Aleikhem shalom from audience.] We have a tradition of dedicating our learning to people who have inspired us. And on Friday, a good friend and teacher of mine passed from this world to the next. And so, tonight, I am dedicating my learning with you to Gene, zikhrono livrakha, may his memory forever
- [<strong>Judith’s Bat Mitzvah Service: The Launch of Reconstructionist Innovation</strong><strong></strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/judiths-bat-mitzvah-service-the-launch-of-reconstructionist-innovation/) - Reconstructionist experimentation beginning with the bat mitzvah — and continuing on in so many different ways — has been profoundly impactful and transformative. That’s where the revolution happened and continues to unfold.
- [Building a Future for Reconstructing Judaism: A Tribute to Jacob J. Staub](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/building-a-future-for-reconstructing-judaism-a-tribute-to-jacob-j-staub/) - Jacob played an indispensable role in creating a generation of Reconstructionist rabbis that is moving this community forward. When Rabbi Ira Eisenstein retired as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in 1981, it marked the end of a generation of professional Reconstructionist rabbinic leaders that Mordecai Kaplan led; that generation also included Milton Steinberg,
- [The Torah of Inclusion](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-torah-of-inclusion/) - Rabbi Brian Field depicts the work of Judaism Your Way: bridging gaps, reducing gatekeeping in the Jewish community, and offering inclusive services and experiences for all interested in Jewish involvement.
- [Re-imagining Synagogues and Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/re-imagining-synagogues-and-communities/) - Rabbi Rachel Weiss challenges the assumptions of how a synagogue should operate by highlighting multi-generational programming and interfaith activism at Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (JRC) in Evanston, Ill.
- [Attitudes, Beliefs and Values Shaping Jewish Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/attitudes-beliefs-and-values-shaping-jewish-practice/) - Behind all Jewish practices are a range of reasons why. This extensive list provides an opportunity to identify and explore the "why" behind the "what."
- [Queer Delicacy:  An Ancient Approach to Halakhah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/queer-delicacy-an-ancient-approach-to-halakhah/) - At the age of 10, I was presented with one of the greatest theological and spiritual challenges of my life. I was in my fifth-grade religious-school class at my Reform synagogue, and my teacher introduced us to Leviticus 18:22, a verse that has been used against LGBTQ people by Jews and Christians alike. While my
- [Jacob Staub: Student and Teacher of Middot](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jacob-staub-student-and-teacher-of-middot/) - This piece describes Jacob’s experience as a student, practitioner and teacher of Mussar through his involvement with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Tikkun Middot Project.
- [Preparing for Psalm 27](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/preparing-for-psalm-27/) - One thing I ask.[1] And another thing: let my thyroid, please, function with sufficient vigor, lest days drift by without focus. And if I catch the flu this winter, may it not become bronchitis. Night coughing and codeine keep me groggy all day long, and the month of February disappears. My children, may they live.
- [The Healing Serpent: Recovering Long Lost Jewish Fragments in Parashat Hukkat (Numbers 19:1-22:1)](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-healing-serpent-recovering-long-lost-jewish-fragments-in-parashat-hukkat-numbers-191-221/) - From Torah Queeries, edited by David Shneer, Greg Drinkwater, and Joshua Lesser, New York University Press, 2009 When Ezra returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile, he brought a version of the Torah virtually identical to the one we have today. All subsequent Jewish reflection on the text was recorded as commentary. Ezra and the
- [Smash It and Smash It, For Everything Is in It](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/smash-it-and-smash-it-for-everything-is-in-it/) - “Grief is a breaking,” the tradition seems to say, “so instead of turning away from it, why not make it visible?” Why not break something that you can hold, wear, see?
- [<strong>Jewish Peoplehood, Israel and Reconstructionist Judaism</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-peoplehood-israel-and-reconstructionist-judaism/) - Our movement’s position papers that criticize the State of Israel are imprudent and dangerous.
- [<strong>Jewish Texts Reject the Male-Female Gender Binary</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-texts-reject-the-male-female-gender-binary/) - The Zohar, a collection of mystical teachings, tells us that “every person needs to be male and female at all time.”
- [Moving Ahead Without Leaving Anyone Behind: A Loving Strategy for Bold Leadership](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/moving-ahead-without-leaving-anyone-behind-a-loving-strategy-for-bold-leadership/) - Ahavat yisrael — the love of the Jewish people — is actually a belief that Jewish people always have the ability to evolve.
- [Reconstructionism Without Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructionism-without-zionism/) - If concerns about Zionism could be examined anywhere in the organized Jewish community, Reconstructionist Judaism — with its history of taking courageous stances on difficult issues — should be the place.
- [Silence](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/silence/) - When you aren’t sure what to say or the emotions are running high, leave a bit more room for silence.
- [Kavod: Experiencing the Glory of God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/kavod-experiencing-the-glory-of-god/) - When we see everyone as beloved, we become Divine ourselves (or dwell in that realm or Presence). We all can be Israelites, basking in the kavod/Glory of God.
- [The History of the Reconstructionist Approach to Israel, Zionism and the Treatment of Palestinians](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-history-of-the-reconstructionist-approach-to-israel-zionism-and-the-treatment-of-palestinians/) - The reprehensible behavior of the current Israeli government and the previous one is not a reason to abandon the Jews of Israel. Quite the reverse: The current situation demands greater involvement.
- [<strong>Shemini: The Danger and the Opportunity of the Eighth Day</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shemini-the-danger-and-the-opportunity-of-the-eighth-day/) - All around me, I see the fear of the eighth day — fear of the mundane, of the silence, of the now.
- [<strong>The Founding of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ) Was Significant: Not Primarily Because of the ‘First Bat Mitzvah’</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-founding-of-the-society-for-the-advancement-of-judaism-saj-was-significant-not-primarily-because-of-the-first-bat-mitzvah/) - The big news was the founding of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ) earlier that same year, creating an institution where radical change could happen.
- [Guardians of the Dream Temple](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/guardians-of-the-dream-temple/) - The experience of contact with an elemental dream guide, and the portal that guide tends, can be a life-altering experience.
- [<strong>Eco-Theology in the Biblical Tradition</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/eco-theology-in-the-biblical-tradition/) - Consciousness of the fruitfulness of Earth was the major way of celebration in biblical times.
- [<strong>Journey to Restorative Justice in Sunday-School Classrooms</strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/journey-to-restorative-justice-in-sunday-school-classrooms/) - Restorative Justice (RJ) is invested in long-term classroom culture-building. The work starts long before an offense.
- [A New Mitzvah: Loving All Those Who Dwell in the Land](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-new-mitzvah-loving-all-those-who-live-dwell-in-the-land/) - Ultimately, the mitzvah of “loving all those who dwell in the land” invites us into some radical acts of compassion.
- [From Bereaved Refugee to Man of Destiny: A Midrash on Pandemic Languishing and Hearing the Call](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/from-bereaved-refugee-to-man-of-destiny-a-midrash-on-pandemic-languishing-and-hearing-the-call/) - Abram, Sarai and Lot were alone in the wilderness of unknowing, in grief, unable to return to the old familiar ways. And so it is with us today.
- [Reimagining the Divine: A Review Essay](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reimagining-the-divine-a-review-essay/) - God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine, Toba Spitzer, St. Martin’s Press, 2022. Imagine a person: Let’s call her Jane. Jane has deep intuitions of awe, wonder and the mystery of life. If she were comfortable with the word, she would say she has known grace. She cares about making the world a better place, and
- [Building a Truly Diverse and Inclusive Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/building-a-truly-diverse-and-inclusive-jewish-community/) - Learning from others who are not like us is a blessing and one of the most tangible ways to make progress.
- [Shabbat](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shabbat-2/) - The part of me that craved answers, structure and safety struggled with the part that wanted freedom, mystery and adventure.
- [Four Questions for the Passover Seder: Ukraine and Israel/Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/four-questions-for-the-passover-seder-ukraine-and-israel-palestine/) - Most Americans have reacted with horror to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are many reasons why it has affected so many of us in the Jewish community so powerfully. Many American Jews have ancestors from Ukraine, and some still have relatives there. We remember the historic hostility of Ukrainians towards Jews. The invasion reminds
- [Reconstructing Yiddishkeit ](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructing-yiddishkeit/) - *This article was first published in the ZEEK issue “Reconstructionism: Denominationalism That Works?” (Fall 2010)* Among recent attempts to define “Jewish authenticity,” I find one characterization of its absence most intriguing. In an essay titled “The Imaginary Jew ” that appeared in The Nation three years ago, literary critic William Deresiewicz analyzed the failure of contemporary Jewish
- [<strong>The Case for Welcoming Uncircumcised Jews From Rabbinic Sources</strong><strong></strong>](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-case-for-welcoming-uncircumcised-jews-from-rabbinic-sources/) - It is time to welcome with open arms Jews who think differently about circumcision.
- [We Should Reconstruct ‘Brit Milah’](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-should-reconstruct-brit-milah/) - We no longer believe in a personal, supernatural God with whom we can enter into a covenant.
- [New Startup Challenges Circumcision Status Quo](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/new-startup-challenges-circumcision-status-quo/) - Bruchim is a startup nonprofit that advocates for Jewish families opting out of circumcision and others who object to the practice. Bruchim holds that forgoing circumcision is fully compatible with traditional Jewish values and full Jewish engagement. The organization provides opportunities for Jewish people to connect and engage around the historically taboo topic of infant
- [Be Honest About the Bris: A Jewish Call for Greater Integrity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/be-honest-about-the-bris-a-jewish-call-for-greater-integrity/) - The progressive rabbinate will have to contend with the ritual for what it is: the foundational act of Jewish patriarchy marked by a blood sacrifice performed on a child.
- [Praying Elohai Neshamah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/praying-elohai-neshamah/) - My soul is pure.
- [We Should Continue Practicing Brit Milah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-should-continue-practicing-brit-milah/) - Circumcision (but not brit milah) is the most widespread Jewish custom among the world’s Jews today.
- [Gender Fluid Shekhinah: It Matters How We Gender God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/gender-fluid-shekhinah-it-matters-how-we-gender-god/) - Which narratives, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors cultivate well-being, and which reinforce systems of persistent and terrible harm?
- [Smashing the Imperialist Napkin Holder: Community Based Congregation Organizing](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/smashing-the-imperialist-napkin-holder-community-based-congregation-organizing/) - How does a congregation engage its members in the work to change systemic injustice?
- [Reunderstanding Jewish Historical Trauma: Moving From the River to the Watershed](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reunderstanding-jewish-historical-trauma-moving-from-the-river-to-the-watershed/) - In order to heal from the traumatic aspects of Jewish history, we must first understand our trauma differently, in ways that will allow us to heal.
- [Who, If Anyone, Should be Boycotted? The Ben and Jerry's Controversy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/who-if-anyone-should-be-boycotted-the-ben-and-jerrys-controversy/) - So much has been written about the decision by Ben & Jerry’s corporate board last spring to stop selling ice cream in the West Bank that one might think there’s nothing more worth saying about it. As the dust settles, I think there are some important things that the controversy has revealed about the way
- [‘Eco-Kashrut’: A ‘Kashrut’ for Our Times](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/eco-kashrut-a-kashrut-for-our-times/) - Kashrut is a complex and mysterious term having the same Hebrew root as “kosher.” Simply translated, it means “proper” or “correct.” Kashrut is synonymous with how Jews determine their relationship to the food they eat. All of the so-called “kosher laws” are an extrapolation of simple proclamations in the Torah that were refined and expanded
- [The Vaccination Sweepstakes](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-vaccination-sweepstakes/) - Jewish ethics demands that we invest in producing and distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to the developing world.
- [Questioning Easy Narratives: Exploring Adoption](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/questioning-easy-narratives-exploring-adoption/) - Thirty years ago, as a single woman in my 20s, I had no reason to think that I’d one day adopt. Yet adoption somehow kept coming up in conversations with potential partners in ways that occasionally proved pivotal. Over dinner with a man nearly two decades my senior, I teased a bit about our age
- [Transforming Our Unjust World and Personal Teshuvah: Considering Reparations for Slavery](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/transforming-our-unjust-world-and-personal-teshuvah-considering-reparations-for-slavery/) - Mark Pinsky joined us for an Evolve web conversation on Monday, February 14, 2021, which you can view here. We stand in the midst of the burning world primed to burn with compassionate love and justice, To turn inward and find holy fire at its core, To turn outward and see the world that is
- [Good It Is, Good May It Be: Dream Sharing as a Group Spiritual Journey](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/good-it-is-good-may-it-be-dream-sharing-as-a-group-spiritual-journey/) - By Rabbi Howard Avruhm Addison Rabbi Huna ben Ammi said: “If one has a dream … go and have it interpreted in the presence of three. … Bring them together and say: I have seen a good dream; and they should say: Good it is and good may it be ... .[1] Introduction From the
- [A Fresh Look at Who We Are and What That Means](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-fresh-look-at-who-we-are-and-what-that-means/) - The latest Pew study suggests that the Jewish community in the United States will only flourish if we address the interests of unaffiliated young Jews: social justice and a willingness to criticize Israeli policies.
- [Speak Torah to Power: "Resilience Through the Practice of Lament"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/speak-torah-to-power-resilience-through-the-practice-of-lament/) - To heal from our grief, we first need to acknowledge it and then make time for lamentation.
- [First Rung](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/first-rung/) - Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come.[1] You should have known. The ladder can be ascended by the wounded. You who had seen the intersection of heaven and earth could not discern: your heirs were not prisoners of your thoughtless parenting. A pity. You thought you
- [Facing You Facing Me](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/facing-you-facing-me/) - Moses misunderstood in the cleft of the rock. He was trapped in the essentialist fallacy. Up on the mountain, on top of the world, after forty days suspended over the clear, crisp desert vistas, of leaning into Your muscular arms, penetrated by Your words, imbibing the call to sacred leadership, he yearned, like every lover,
- [Tribute for Rabbi Jacob Staub, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tribute-for-rabbi-jacob-staub-ph-d/) - I am a Reconstructionist rabbi and leader of the Reconstructionist movement in no small part because of Jacob Staub. Long before I met him, Jacob was my earliest guide to Reconstructionism through Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach, the persuasive, accessible book he co-wrote with Rebecca Alpert. When I arrived at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in
- [Jacob Staub’s Impact on Reconstructionist Rabbinical Education](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jacob-staubs-impact-on-reconstructionist-rabbinical-education/) - Ask any student or alumnus of RRC, “What is distinctive about a Reconstructionist rabbinical education,” and you will probably hear a few things repeatedly. Among them are the civilizational approach to Judaism, the integration of academic study and spirituality, and the community. Each of these three signature strengths is largely a product of Jacob’s leadership
- [A Tribute to Rabbi Jacob Staub](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-tribute-to-rabbi-jacob-staub/) - We are pleased to offer the following essays as a tribute to Evolve's editor, Rabbi Jacob Staub, upon his retirement from RRC: Jacob Staub: Student and Teacher of Middot by Rabbi David Jaffe Jacob Staub's Impact on Reconstructionist Rabbinical Education by Elsie Stern Building a Future for Reconstructing Judaism by Rabbi David Teutsch Tribute for
- [Cultivating Trust: God Supports All Those Who Fall](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/cultivating-trust-god-supports-all-those-who-fall/) - The book of Psalms says, “God supports all those who fall.” It doesn’t say, “God supports those who don’t fall.” In order to fall, you need to let go.
- [Sefardi Crypto-Jews: Real Jews or Remnants of a Distant Past?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/sefardi-crypto-jews-real-jews-or-remnants-of-a-distant-past/) - When Jews forced into hiding by the 15th-century Spanish Inquisition now want to affirm their Jewish identity, we should welcome and support them.
- [Process Theology and Seeing the Divine in the Other: A Reading of Brad Artson and Emmanuel Levinas](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/process-theology-and-seeing-the-divine-in-the-other-a-reading-of-brad-artson-and-emmanuel-levinas/) - We find the divine in the face of the other. Everything is interrelated, including God.
- [Grounded in Gratitude, Tackling Systematic Racism with Open Hearts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/grounded-in-gratitude-tackling-systematic-racism-with-open-hearts/) - By focusing on racial justice, we can make Jewish communities more inviting, and ultimately, more vital. At the same time, we’ll be taking on white supremacy, the primary American source of antisemitism.
- [Me & Jewish Supremacy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/me-jewish-supremacy/) - The idea of chosenness is a barrier to a world in which every human being is seen as made in the image of God, worthy of respect and honor.
- [Edith Stein and Me](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/edith-stein-and-me/) - Edith Stein was a Jewish woman who converted to Roman Catholicism, joined the Carmelite order and was murdered at Auschwitz. Her story raises questions about who is a Jew.
- [The Priestly Blessing in Light of the Murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-priestly-blessing-in-light-of-the-murders-of-george-floyd-and-breonna-taylor/) - How might we transform the traditional words of our liturgy to address our pain and commitment?
- [A Beat to Which We Can All Move](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-beat-to-which-we-can-all-move/) - Pursuing racial justice work enables white Jews to untangle the ways in which we have been aided by white privilege and structural racism so that we can undo its harm to Black people — Jewish and non-Jewish — and to ourselves.
- ["Anti-Semitism" or "antisemitism"? And Why the Hyphen Matters](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/antisemitism-hyphen/) - Hyphenating the word "antisemitism" gives the erroneous impression that Semitism exists -- either as an innate ethnic characteristic of all Jews or as an ideology held by all Jews.
- [Beruriah's Wisdom: Everything we have is borrowed from a Divine source](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beruriahswisdom/) - What if we were to understand divinity as the source from which we borrow all that we have — our loved ones, our bodies, our material possessions, our memories?
- [Revisiting Rituals: Offering Non-Alcoholic Options](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/revisitingrituals/) - For a person who is an alcoholic or for a family that contains an alcoholic, little or no acknowledgement is given to the recognition that a glass of wine can often be toxic.
- [Hope as an Ethical Imperative](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/hopeasethicalimperative/) - Having faith in the power of an ethical/spiritual vision guides our action and activism toward revitalization, justice and compassion.
- [The Fifth Vessel of Jewish Ethics: Between a Person and Her Devices](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-fifth-vessel/) - Developing an applied ethics to our behavior on the Internet is an urgent priority.
- [The Azazel Chapbook: An Earth-Based Yom Kippur Guide](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/azazel/) - Azazel: עזאזל; entire removal [of sin and guilt from sacred places into desert on back of goat, symbolic of entire forgiveness] Brown-Driver-Briggs Dictionary, 736 The Azazel Chapbook is a new resource for Yom Kippur Musaf (midday prayers) co-authored by Sarah Chandler and RRC student Aya Baron. It empowers folks to spend intentional time, either solo
- [The Origins of Creativity: A Religious Perspective](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/originsofcreativity/) - God is a process at work in the universe, within and among us, that makes for the fulfillment of our human potential.
- [Hanukkah, Light and Resistance](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chanukahlightresistance/) - This piece is taken from the dvar Torah delivered at the inaugural meeting of the Jews of Color and Allies Advisory group. As we begin to celebrate Hanukkah, I am comforted by the themes of creating light in the midst of darkness, rededication to the sacred and resisting assimilation. This year has been a dark
- [Philanthropy in a Time of Crisis—and Why History Matters](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/philanthropyinatimeofcrisis/) - How might we re-envision philanthropy so it is less a handmaiden to capitalism and more an agent of the broad citizenry of democracy?
- [Where Is God? A Jewish Approach to Death](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/where-is-god/) - Where was God when I was run over by the train? God was there when the nurses treated me with kindness as I slowly recovered from the pain, when my broad community visited me in the hospital.
- [Chaos and Creation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chaosandcreation/) - Just like the unformed void that eventually became the Earth through the power of G-d's creative imprint, memory is the process and power of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained.
- [Environmental Racism: A New Year, An Ancient Call for Breath](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/environmentalracism/) - The first time I flew into Philadelphia, I looked out the window and saw a mess of smokestacks and industry awfully close to the city. Isn’t that unsafe? I thought to myself. Of course, it was. I studied environmental justice in college and, and when I went to rabbinical school, I was determined to find
- [Global Warming: A Dangerous Understatement](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/global-warming/) - The results of global-climate chaos include death, malnutrition, homelessness, global migration, the extinction of species, and eventual worldwide economic and social displacement.
- [Climate Justice & Environmentalism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/climatejusticeenvironmentalism/)
- [What Happens When Everything Is Broken? Grappling With #DefundthePolice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-happens-when-everything-is-broken/) - The entire paradigm underlying contemporary policing in the United States is broken. Jewish sources provide a way forward to a new model of policing.
- [A Path Back to Jewish Living](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-path-back-to-jewish-living/) - I experienced the God I could believe in -- One who inhered in the divinity of human striving here on earth.
- [Human Composting: A Reconstructionist Rabbi's View](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/human-composting/) - Recently legalized in Washington state, human composting is a new alternative to burial and cremation. How do Reconstructionists balance tradition with innovation in this case?
- [A Time for Anger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-time-for-anger/) - How can we be surprised that people are angry? And how can we argue when that anger is expressed?
- [The Prepositional Rabbi: The Small Hebrew Words That Make All the Difference](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-prepositional-rabbi/) - I want to make room for complexity and nuance, to be flexible enough to change direction to meet the needs of everyone I serve, to assist in the building of connection and relationship, and to help people shift perspective in ways that can open up unexplored depths.
- [Against Apocalyptic Ethics: Human Responsibility Before, During and After a Pandemic](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/againstapocalypticethics/) - Jewish ethics regards every human life as having absolute value. What follows from this is a vision of how society must be structured all the time, rather than a prescription for ER triage, as exemplified recently in the coronavirus pandemic.
- [Generational Change: Crossing Over to a New Land](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/generational-change-crossing-over-to-a-new-land/) - As the Israelites in the book of Numbers undergo a generational transition in leadership in order to enter the Promised Land, so must we prepare to cross over to a new post-COVID-19 world, addressing racial injustice and environmental calamity.
- [Dancing Between Constraints and Spaciousness: The Message of Tisha B'Av](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/dancing-constraints/) - How do we cultivate the resilience to rebound from mass shootings and incarcerations? Rabbi Adam Lavitt offers some advice from the Book of Psalms in his piece.
- [Now I Finally Get It: What George Floyd Has Taught Me](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/now-i-finally-get-it-what-george-floyd-has-taught-me/) - "Black Lives Matter" is an insistent cry that it's way past time for America to acknowledge the sin of racism and to stop acting as if Black lives don't matter.
- [The Death of Aaron](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-death-of-aaron/) - How do we imagine the death of Aaron, the High Priest -- the pursuer of peace, the brother of Moses?
- [A Contemplative Amidah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-contemplative-amidah/) - Rabbi Weinberg takes us through each paragraph of the Amidah, offering windows through which we can pray contemplatively.
- [Empathy Doesn't Come With Conditions: A Jewish response to the murder of George Floyd](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/empathy-doesnt-come-with-conditions-a-jewish-response-to-the-murder-of-george-floyd/) - Comforting African-Americans who are mourning the death of George Floyd requires the unconditional empathy due to every mourner, according to Jewish law.
- [Lessons Learned From the Pandemic of Our Lives](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/lessons-learned-from-the-pandemic-of-our-lives/) - Our goal is not to "get back to normal." It is to emerge more sustainable, more just and more connected than before.
- [Anti-Racism Work in the Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/anti-racism-work-in-the-jewish-community/) - It's painful to look at the ways we perpetrate wrongdoing, the ways we are on the privileged side of an unjust system. It can feel easier to ignore injustice and cut off connection.
- ["It Is Not Good for the Human to Be Alone": Community Organizing as Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/it-is-not-good-for-the-human-to-be-alone/) - Not only does organizing have an impact on the outside world, on power relations and on policies. It also shapes our inner lives and offers us the potential to cultivate a deeper spiritual awareness.
- [Multifaith Work as Urgent, Deeply Meaningful and Complicated](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/multifaith-work-as-urgent-deeply-meaningful-and-complicated/) - A Response to Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer's "Multifaith Relations: Four Decades of an Evolving Field"
- [Response to Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer's "Multifaith Relations: Four Decades of an Evolving Field"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/response-to-rabbi-nancy-fuchs-kreimers-multifaith-relations-four-decades-of-an-evolving-field/) - Honoring Nancy Fuchs Kreimer for her signal and courageous contributions to the field of multifaith studies.
- [Daf Yomi While Sheltering in Place](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/daf-yomi-while-sheltering-in-place/) - We read the conversations of rabbis scrupulously considering a sacrificial system no longer operative in their time, and wonder: Was this a resilience practice in their shaky reality? Certainly, our study takes us out of our indeterminate present.
- [Judaism and Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/judaism-and-justice/) - Faith communities, when they work, are places that get people to focus on ethical values that encourage greater kindness and generosity, one for the other.
- [Saving Each Other's Lives: An Essay in Honor of Rabbi Mordechai Liebling](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/saving-each-others-lives/) - Living in the crisis of COVID-19 offers new opportunities for connection and perhaps also new avenues to solidarity.
- [The Pandemic as a Teacher](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-pandemic-as-teacher/) - People are radiating their compassionate awareness that we are all in this together -- all of us facing a deadly and invisible foe. Might we continue to be kinder with one another even after the threat of the virus is gone?
- [Reflections on the Field of Jewish Social Justice:  Ten Years of Training Rabbis for Activism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reflectionsonjewishsocialjustice/) - We are here to serve life, to love expansively, to celebrate our connections -- the "voices of all that exist" praise Havayah, the life force.
- [Multifaith Relations: Four Decades of an Evolving Field](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/multifaithrelations/) - How can encountering religious diversity help us grow spiritually? If we can let down our barriers of fear and mistrust, how might we be enriched and inspired by the insights of other traditions?
- [Never Again: Expanding Our Hearts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/never-again/) - We celebrate our liberation from slavery on Pesakh, and we work for the liberation of all those who remain oppressed, including undocumented people held in ICE prisons.
- [Leviticus Has the Answers: COVID-19 and Community Welfare](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/leviticus-has-the-answers/) - The biblical response to contagion: Self-quarantine voluntarily, even if you personally have nothing to gain from doing so, for the good of the community.
- [A Havurah Explores Interfaith and Interracial Issues](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-havurah-explores/) - African-American and Jewish residents of Capitol Hill are sitting in interfaith text studies. They hear the very different ways our communities engage with text and think about God.
- [Buber, Berlin and Pesakh: Ethics in an Age of Pandemic](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/buber-berlin-pesakh/) - Are we going to subscribe to an ageist and ableist medical model of decision-making driven by profit, and outmoded ideas about the infallibility of science? Or are we going to seek ethical alternatives that make life-and-death choices more equitable?
- [A New Theory of Interfaith Marriage](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/new-theory-of-intermarriage/) - We need a new theory of interfaith marriage in which the covenant is understood to be between God and people who are Jewishly engaged. What matters is the engaging itself, not whether the person engaging is a Jew or not.
- [The Right Side of History](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/right-side-of-history/) - On April 19, 1506, a pogrom broke out in Lisbon, Portugal, led by Dominican priests shouting “Death to the Jews!” and “Death to the heretics!” Rioters following these fanatical churchmen through the city ended up murdering some 2,000 New Christians — Jews who’d been forcibly baptized in a mass conversion nine years earlier. Their bodies
- [Can Multi-faith Relations Be a Harbinger of a New Way That Faith Leaders See Their Own Religious Tradition?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/multifaith-leaders/) - When faith leaders in a community join together and determine that each of their traditions requires righting a particular injustice, relationships are formed that transcend the resolution of a particular issue.
- ["We Ask Your Forgiveness": Hevra Kadisha As a Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/an-extraordinary-act/) - It is said that caring for the dead in this way — an opportunity to perform what our tradition rightly calls hesed shel emet, an act of true lovingkindness — is the ultimate act of selfless devotion, for we do it knowing that it can never be reciprocated.
- [Beyond Inclusion: How Converts to Judaism Are Transforming Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beyond-inclusion/) - Jews by choice contribute immeasurably to the Jewish community. Their experiences, questions and perspectives invigorate the Jewish world and open exciting possibilities for the evolution of Jewish civilization.
- [The Snuggle for Survival](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/snuggle-for-survival/) - As individuals and families, as communities and nations, we can best survive with one another and not against each other.
- [The Holiness of Being Broken: Trauma and Disability Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/holiness-of-being-broken/) - Most of us will experience some form of trauma or wounding in our lifetime. Trauma and disability are essential parts of what make us human and what connects us to one another.
- [February Adult Ed Beit Midrash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/february-adult-ed-beit-midrash-clone-q9zb2/) - Rabbi Maurice Harris argues that liberal Jewish communities have the full right to use tikkun olam as an umbrella term, despite opposition voiced by conservative critics. The spiritual significance of the term is not undervalued by the use of it.
- [God's Presence in All Things](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/gods-presence-in-all-things/) - A description of one individual's experience that the whole world is filled with God's glory.
- [Handling Subjectivity With More Care: There Is Right and Wrong](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/handling-subjectivity/) - The integrity of any community depends on honesty in business and all interpersonal transactions, teaches the book of Deuteronomy. Fraudulence is an abomination.
- [January Adult Ed Beit Midrash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/january-adult-ed-beit-midrash-clone-dwgcz/) - Rabbi Joshua Lesser writes frankly about leadership, representation and making assumptions about Jews of color in spaces dominated by white Jews.
- [God Cafes](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/god-cafes/) - In our culture, talking about our experience of God/the Divine or our relationship with God/the Divine is uncommon and even countercultural. Doing so often satisfies a deep need.
- [Divine Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/divine-justice/) - Faith in a God who is not personal and does not intervene supernaturally animates our sense of the beauty and sanctity of the world. It also enables us to maintain faith and equanimity in the face of tragedy.
- [God Is the Space Between Us](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/god-is-the-space-between-us/) - God is the space between the one who needs and the one who is needed.
- [How to Have Healing Public Conversations About Israel-Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/healing-public-conversations-israel-palestine/) - Structured, facilitated dialogue among Jews about Israel-Palestine issues can help heal communal rifts and tensions.
- [December Adult Ed Beit Midrash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/december-adult-ed-beit-midrash/) - n this month’s December beit midrash, we’ll explore how identity politics hold an increasingly defining role in the American social and political landscape of the 21st century.Rabbi Jane Litman explores the complexity of holding Jewish identity in relationship to other identities.
- [Havdalah: Time to Get to Work!](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/havdallah-work/) - We observe Shabbat every week and bid it farewell at Havdalah. Rabbi Ari Witkin offers a different approach to this ritual.
- [Judaism on Our Own Terms: Radical Inclusivity on College Campuses](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jooot/) - Jews on college campuses across the continent are forming independent groups they call Judaism on Our Own Terms. The impetus is often constraints by institutions about what topics can be discussed and who counts as a Jew.
- [Our Jewish Identities Are Situational](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/identities-situational/) - 'Jewish' foods vary from place to place as Jews adopt the cuisines of their neighbors.
- [Against Assisted Suicide](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/against-assisted-suicide/) - There are at least two ways to reason toward a Jewish position against assisted suicide. One is indirect, the other more direct. The roundabout way considers the arguments put forward by those supporting, endorsing or otherwise permitting assisted suicide. This tack takes on their assumptions, how they read their chosen sources, and their overall arguments.
- [The Jewish Studio Project: Art-Making as Another Way to Interpret Our Texts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/art-making-text/) - Making art as we respond to a Jewish text taps nonverbal, deeper levels of our being, transforming our relationship to the text.
- ['Zionism Yes — And'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/zionism-yes-and/) - Zionism is a modern movement that has employed age-old beliefs to support the urgent need for a refuge from antisemitism. Zionists today are obligated to move Israel to embody Jewish values of justice and peace.
- [Faith at the End of Life](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/faith-at-the-end-of-life/) - Our lives are a gift from God. It is not up to us to end a life, no matter how much we want to end suffering.
- ["If we can do it, then anyone can"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/if-we-can-do-it/) - “You may not kill anybody in the name of my child,” Robi Damelin said shortly after being told by the Israeli Army that her son, David, had been killed by a Palestinian sniper. David, an active member of the Israeli peace movement and a talented musician, had been studying for his master’s degree in the
- [Earth, Wind and Fire: The Dueling Pulls of Theology and Religion](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/earth-wind-fire/) - Don't let the literal meaning of the words of prayers obstruct your religious experience. And don't let your religious experience keep you from formulating beliefs you can believe in.
- [From Despair to Awakening](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/despair-to-awakening/) - A clinical psychologist who specializes in treating trauma, Ravital offers three suggestions about how to approach our despair about the state of the world.
- [Patient-Assisted Suicide: A Chaplain's View](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/patient-assisted-suicide-chaplains-view/) - A geriatric chaplain reflects on how best to accompany loved ones with loving compassion.
- [Preserving Quality of Life Towards the End of Life: A Values-Based Approach](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/values-based-end-of-life/) - Saving a life is a preeminent principle of Jewish ethics, but there are circumstances in which other Jewish values may lead us to make ending a life the priority.
- [Losing Quality of Life at the End of Life: Is Suicide or Assisted Suicide Permitted?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/quality-life-end-of-life/) - How might traditional texts help us negotiate sensitive choices at the end of life?
- [November Adult Ed Beit Midrash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/november-adult-ed-beit-midrash/) - In 2018, Rabbis Toba Spitzer and Brant Rosen engaged in an epistolary back and forth on Evolve about the questions of narrative writing around Israel/Palestine. By studying their words, we find a model for how to engage with kavod in a makhloket leshem shamayim.
- [Real and Enduring](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/real-enduring/) - Our stories and traditions are powerful, whether or not they qualify as historical facts. There are 70 faces of Torah, multiple truths that coexist.
- [A 'Daf' Appeared to Me: Words to Keep Us Afloat](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/daf-appeared/) - We can use the texts from our traditions to stay afloat while we navigate uncertain waters.
- [Miriam: A Eulogy and a 'Tikkun'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/miriam-eulogy-tikkun/) - When I was in college, I taught Hebrew school on the weekends. At the same time, I was beginning my medical transition from “female” to “male.” Alas, this is not a coming-out speech, just one of the very rare moments that my being transgender is actually relevant. Because one Sunday morning, my voice was much
- [An American 'Hiloniut': Contemporary Jewish Secularism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/american-hiloniut/) - How can we serve Jews interested in Jewish values and customs who are unwilling to enter a synagogue?
- [The Uses of Technology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-response-to-harnessing-technology-clone-1y5v0/) - Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Peshischa carried two slips of paper, one in each pocket. On one, he wrote: Bishvili nivra ha’olam—“for my sake the world was created.” On the other, he wrote: V’anokhi afar v’efer”—“I am but dust and ashes.” He would take out each slip of paper as necessary, as a reminder to himself.
- [One Synagogue's Experience With a Racial Justice Discussion Group](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shul-race/) - Fran and Jayme are active members of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md., and Jews United for Justice (JUFJ). They work together to raise awareness of racial inequities in our society by facilitating programs at Adat Shalom and JUFJ. As White people around the country are increasingly waking up to their advantage, and the
- [Healing the Soul and Healing the World](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/healing-soul-world/) - We are flying home from Israel/Palestine after the pioneer trip with Combatants for Peace.[fn]The American Friends of Combatants for Peace is only two years old, and this was the first tour that they organized to Israel-Palestine to acquaint foreigners with their work.[/fn] It is Nov. 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, ending World
- [1979](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/1979-2/) - It was 1979. There had been a few women ordained as rabbis by the Reform and Reconstructionist movements, but the Conservative Movement was not ready to consider ordaining women. The first women who had become rabbis were serving as assistant rabbis or co-rabbis or academics, but none were senior rabbis or the sole rabbi in
- [Dreams: Judaism's Forgotten Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/dreams-practice/) - Dream work was an established Jewish practice before the modern era. It is now being revived as a means to receive messages from the Divine.
- [September Adult Ed Beit Midrash](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/september-beit-midrash/) - Rabbi Toba Spitzer dives into the use of metaphors in framing a picture of the Jewish people that is encompassing and defining, drawing on three conceptual metaphors: "covenant," "narrative" and "tribal."
- [Embracing What It Means to Be Jewish and...: Patrilineal identity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-and/) - I was a meticulous rule-follower as a child. My parents still tease me about how I was so terrified of the consequences of wrongdoing that I even refused to let them read me bedtime stories where the characters misbehaved. So I was understandably horrified when I found out that I wasn’t “technically” Jewish. I don’t
- [Pride Month, Israel and Us](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pride-month-israel-us/) - A personal message from Rabbi Deborah Waxman.
- [To Live This Utopia, for Moments](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/to-live-utopia/) - Sulaiman Khatib ("Souli") co-founded and co-directed Combatants for Peace, a group of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who come together to work nonviolently for peace.
- [Microaggressions on Campus](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/microaggression-campus/) - One student's experience of antisemitic microagressions on a college campus.
- [The Challenges and Unexpected Rewards of 'Teshuvah'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/teshuvah/) - Professor Louis Newman helps to launch us into the spirit of the month of Elul and the High Holy Days that follow.
- [Voice, Water, Place: New/Old Ways of Understanding God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/metaphor/) - We are heir to a rich assortment of metaphors for God that may resonate more powerfully than the High Holy Day images of king and judge.
- [Seeing Israel and Palestine With New Eyes](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/seeing-israel-palestine-new-eyes/) - One rabbi's trip to Israel/Palestine in 2018 challenges her ideas about Israel, and offers new insight into the experiences of Israelis and Palestinians.
- [My Justice Work Is Grounded By the Words of Our Prayers](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/justice-grounded-by-words-prayers/) - Prayer offers a way out of the distraction and indignation created by the daily news roundups.
- [Hallah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/hallah/) - Hallah-making is the practice and transmission of family story and connection to Judaism.
- [Reeling from my journey into America's ugly past](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reeling/) - Reflections on a visit to the National Memorial of Peace and Justice and to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala.
- ["If he is female..."](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/if-he-is-female/) - There is more gender-bending in the Torah than we might have thought.
- [Transgender Rights](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/personal-request/) - A synagogue president writes to his community, asking for their support of his transgender family ahead of Election Day.
- [This Year I Skipped Purim](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/this-year-i-skipped-purim/) - How do we balance raucous joy with global suffering? Is it sometimes impossible to celebrate, even when the Jewish calendar calls for it? Rabbi Amy Eilberg shares about her skipping Purim in 2019 in response to attacks in Pittsburgh and Christchurch.
- [Review essay of Deborah E. Lipstadt, Antisemitism: Here and Now, Schocken Books, 2019](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/review-essay-antisemitism/) - In her new book, Lipstadt details antisemitism on the right and the left. She urges Jews to balance the oy of being Jewish with the joy of being Jewish.
- [Celebrating Diversity at Camp](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/diversity-at-camp/) - Camp Havaya staff members are engaged in an ongoing process to create an environment in which campers can be celebrated in all of their diversity.
- [The Reconstructionist Experience of LGBTQ Inclusion and the Ordination Struggle Among Progressive Orthodox Jews](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/lgbtq-ordination/) - Might the knowledge gained within Reconstructionist communities and our experience of values-based decision-making prove useful to Yeshivat Chovevei Torah? I believe that it can.
- [Scenes from the Q of LGBTQ+](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/scenes-from-the-q/) - What is it like to live every day outside the confines of "he" and "she"? Difficult, intimidating, powerful—and occasionally, funny.
- [All Are Responsible](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/all-are-responsible/) - This quote from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century, offers provocative and powerful words about the responsibility we must bear for ending the suffering of all people.
- [Modeh Ani as a Means for Cultivating Resilience](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/modeh-ani-as-a-means-for-cultivating-resilience/) - A new interpretation of the story of Lot's wife: that bearing witness provokes her transformation into the pillar of salt. The question remains: How can we act with compassion and bear witness without becoming paralyzed or fixed?
- [Why I Include Bilhah and Zilpah in the Imahot](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-i-include-bilhah-and-zilpah-in-the-imahot/) - Why include all six matriarchs in the Amidah? Why include the matriarchs at all? David Mosenkis looks at the way narratives dominated by a ruling group overpower the essential contributions to Jewish lineage and civilization by non-dominant populations.
- [The Help We Need Right Now](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-help-we-need-right-now/) - Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum responds to Toba Spitzer's essay "Israel and Us" by asking, rather than focusing on disparate narratives: Are American Jews instead willing to value pragmatism over "ideological purity" when it comes to finding peace in Israel?
- [Home Shalom: Jews and Domestic Violence](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/home-shalom/) - Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben describes why speaking out against domestic violence has been essential to his role as a rabbi and leader, drawing from modern statistics and Talmudic teachings.
- [A Brief Primer on Coalitions](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-brief-primer-on-coalitions/) - A discussion of how and why coalitions are effective in enacting political change and moving issues forward.
- [A Call for Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-call-for-justice/) - A speech by Michael Pollack outside the Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pa., calls for an end to corruption and the influence of big businesses over the state legislature.
- [Affirming My Jewish Identity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/affirming-my-jewish-identity/) - Rabbi Nina Mandel admits her discomfort with a line from Birkhot Hashakhar, the morning blessings, and examines why thanking God for making her "a Jew" brings about such complicated feelings.
- [Seven Essential Jewish Practices](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/seven-essential-practices/) - Seven essential Jewish practices that are the most valuable for living a life of connected purpose with a full awareness of its many blessings.
- [The Blessing of Being Jewish](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-blessing-of-being-jewish/) - Why should we thank God for having made us Jewish each day during the morning blessings? Professor David Ebenbach divines possible answers to this question: receiving mitzvot, Jewish community, spirituality or having to wrestle with the challenges brought
- [The Covenant of Salt](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-covenant-of-salt/) - The "covenant of salt," Rena Blumenthal writes, is the agreement that Jews will not only bear witness to suffering and destruction, but preserve memories of pain to teach to future generations.
- [Developing a Jewish Identity: A Mystery](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/developing-jewish-identity/) - People begin to form a Jewish identity in a myriad of ways.
- ['We Are So Beautiful': A Jewish Response to White Supremacism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-response-to-white-supremacy/) - Living a Jewish life is rich, meaningful and joyful. It is a wonderful way to respond to the violence and lies of antisemitism. And it is healing.
- [A Prayer for a New Vision of Jewish Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-new-vision/) - May we, speedily and in our days, help to move towards such a reality of deep connection to ourselves, one another, our place in the world and knowing You.
- [Celebrating the Seven Days of Shavuot:  A Journey of Revelation and Relationship](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shavuot-revelation-relationship/) - Let's expand our observance of Shavuot -- affirming our relationship with the Earth and our commitment to deepening our relationship with all people.
- [One State, Two States: The Road to Justice in Israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/one-state-two-states/) - Annexing Jewish settlement in the territories ends the possibility of a two-state solution and seriously endangers Israeli democracy.
- [A Pesah Tale](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-pesah-tale/) - “Rabbi Elazar son of Azaria said: Here, I might as well be seventy years old, and still, I could not persuade others to tell the tale of the Exodus during the nights, not until Ben Zoma illuminated it this way: As it is written, So that you remember the day of your exit from Egypt
- [Tikkun Middot, Integrating Mindfulness and Ethical/Spiritual Traits](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tikkun-middot/) - Rabbi Marc Margolius affirms three core teachings in the Torah: that each human being is created in the image of the Divine, that human beings must "serve and guard" the earth and that together, we must pursue justice and peace.
- [Patriotism, Religion and Culture](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/patriotism/) - "I am a Jew, an American and a humanist -- in no specific order."
- [Getting Ready for Elijah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/elijah/) - Were the Prophet Elijah to arrive at our seders, what would he witness? Are our lives filled with empathy and compassion? Are we dedicated to justice and peace?
- [We Value the Questions](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/we-value-the-questions/) - Why becoming Jewish is attractive.
- [Beyond Life Itself: A Letter to My Daughters on the Question of 'Why Be Jewish'?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beyond-life-itself/) - A father explains why he feels Judaism is so important for his daughters: offering them a sense of identity, a source of resilience, worldwide connections, ethical guidance and spiritual wisdom.
- [Supporting Integrity: Pastoral Care for Conversion and Transition](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/supporting-integrity/) - Our responsibility is to assert as legitimate the religious identity of those converting to Judaism and those who transition to a different gender identity. We can learn from our support of each of these groups about how to support the other.
- [Jewish Spiritual Direction: Fundamental Assumptions](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/spiritual-direction/) - Our view of reality can be transformed when we ask, "Where is God/the Holy in this?" and "What is the invitation/opportunity at this moment?" Gradually, we can build a relationship with what is beyond our ability to conceive.
- [#MeToo, Gender Socialization and the Movement We Are Constructing](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/me-too/) - The #MeToo movement focuses primarily on white cisgender women, ignoring victims who are of color, trans, non-binary and cisgender men. The systemic problem of men's sense of entitlement must be addressed by values-based, comprehensive sex education.
- [Beyond the Kingdom: Transforming God Imagery](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/beyond-the-kingdom/) - A brilliant homily for Rosh Hashanah that queers the biblical texts and suggests that there are many allusions in the Bible to the ambiguous, nonbinary gender identity of God.
- [Is It Antisemitic to Consider Zionism a Colonial Project?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/isitantisemeticcolonialismzionism/) - Rabbi Gluskin distinguishes between "œcolonialism" and "settler colonialism." Recent use of the term "settler colonialism" correlates with a demand for Palestinian rights rather than with a delegitimization of the State of Israel.
- [Creating a Progressive, Inclusive, Egalitarian Jewish People](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/creating-a-progressive-inclusive-egalitarian-jewish-people/) - In his inaugural speech at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association convention, Rabbi Seth Goldstein frames a vision of an American Jewish community guided by progressive values and radical egalitarianism.
- [18 Rituals for Social Activism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/18-rituals-for-social-activism/) - This piece was originally published at Ritualwell.org. In partnership with the podcast Hashivenu: Jewish teachings on resilience, created by Rabbi Deborah Waxman, we are highlighting rituals that have sustained the Jewish people throughout history. The fifth episode addresses social activism. Below are 18 rituals which address, inspire, and motivate social activism, as recommended by Ritualwell.
- [A Dwelling Place for Divinity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-dwelling-place-for-divinity/) - Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde discusses the power of Exodus 25:8, as the line evokes the possibility for spiritual transformation within the human body, as we seek to discover the sanctuary contained within ourselves.
- ['Why Were You Not Zusia?'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/kaplan-zusia/) - From the diaries of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, a reflection on the beauty of stepping outside proscribed lines and being fully oneself.
- [Reply to Brant Rosen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/toba-spitzers-reply-to-brant-rosen/) - Adding onto Rabbi Brant Rosen's response essay, Rabbi Toba Spitzer further defines her use of "narrative" in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the struggle for liberation from trauma and oppression.
- [Jews with a Mission](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jews-with-a-mission/) - As the participants in Adat Shalom's service mission in Haiti engage in the practice of literally loving their neighbors as themselves, they feel deeply connected to the people with whom they work, to all of humanity and to the mystery of being.
- [My name is Dev, and my pronouns are 'they' and 'them'](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pronouns/) - Having their choice of pronouns respected is very important to a trans or nonbinary person. They perpetually face the false but ubiquitous assumption that the male/female binary includes all gender identities.
- ["Renouncing Racism" Resources](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/rra-renouncing-racism/) - Essays, sermons and study guides from the RRA around racial justice.
- [Teaching Israel at Camp](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/havaya-israel/) - Camp Havaya programs cultivate a love of Israel in campers, and present Israel realistically. Campers learn how to listen deeply to those with whom they disagree.
- [Making Jewish Ritual Spaces All-Gender Inclusive](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/ritual-space-gender/) - Valuable recommendations about how to make a community inclusive of people of all genders, including those who identify as neither male or female. A glossary of terms used in contemporary discussions of gender.
- [Mindfulness: Telling the Truth, Redeeming Through Love](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/mindfulness/) - Rabbi Sheila Weinberg explains how the awareness and love that are cultivated in mindfulness practice lead to tikkun hanefesh (healing of the soul) and tikkun olam (healing of the world).
- [Cleaving to God: A Jewish Way of Prayer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/cleaving-to-god/) - Rabbi Shefa Gold describes the practice of devekut, the continual remembrance of God that leads us past the edge of what can be expressed through words.
- [Advice Process: Revisiting Organizational Decision-Making to Make Executives Our Coaches and Mentors](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/advice-process/) - Towards leadership models for Jewish communal leadership that empower at all levels and lifts up the unique expertise of leaders, regardless of hierarchy.
- [Davenning: Finding Meaning in Jewish Prayer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/davvening-meaning/) - Rabbi Benjamin Weiner explores the ways that traditional Hebrew prayers can provide meaningful spiritual experiences for those who neither understand Hebrew nor believe in a God who hears and responds to our prayers.
- [Parenting a Trans Child](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/parenting-a-trans-child/) - The author narrates his experience of parenting a trans child—the challenges and the joys.
- [Why Bother With Judaism?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-bother-with-judaism/) - In this speech from the 2017 RRA convention, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld reflects on redemption, responsibility and embodying Torah as Jewish leaders and community members.
- [Transcending 'Digital Resources,' Embracing Digital Judaism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/transcending-digital/) - Digital Judaism is fundamental to the Jewish future and not merely an add-on to enhance in-person interaction.
- [A Footnote to "Reconstructing Judaism"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/footnote-reconstructing-judaism/) - In a depressed mood, Kaplan found the following prayer helpful. He hoped to “reconstruct himself.” Petitions like the following just fit my mood and needs: “Still every passion, rebuke every doubt, strengthen every element of good within me, that nothing may hinder the outflow of Thy life and power. ... Transform me by the breath
- [Who is a Jew?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/who-is-a-jew-kaplan/) - From the diaries of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, a reflection on how to define the term "Jew."
- [Merit](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/merit/) - The mystics of Safed taught that we should not begin our prayers without first adopting the proper intention. As it’s articulated in the Kol Haneshamah siddur, that intention goes like this: For the sake of the union of The Blessed Holy One with The Shechinah, I stand here, ready to take upon myself the Mitzvah,
- [Pursuing Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pursuing-justice/) - We must teach these words to our children. We cannot afford to be distracted; the world depends on us.
- [A Response to "Harnessing Technology"](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/harnessing-technology-response/) - Rabbi Jeffrey Schein responds to the ideas raised in "Harnessing Technology."
- [Standing in Solidarity With Palestinians: Reflections of a Reconstructionist Rabbi](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/standing-in-solidarity-with-palestinians/) - As younger non-Orthodox Jews increasingly grow wary of the American Jewish establishment’s unconditional support for Israel, fractures within the American Jewish community continue to deepen. Bitter disagreements about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have developed in synagogues, Jewish federations and other American Jewish institutions. Rabbis and Jewish professionals are frequently caught in the middle, being forced to
- [Why We Do What We Do](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-we-do-what-we-do/) - Rabbi Amy Small reflections on the fundamental connection between Judaism and working toward justice.
- [Slavery and Its Atonement](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/slavery-and-its-atonement/) - On the impact of slavery and the white Jewish obligations to respond.
- [Jewish Perspectives on Racial Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-perspectives-on-racial-justice/) - A dinner learning program on racial justice from Repair the World.
- [Jews and the Civil Rights Movement](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jews-and-the-civil-rights-movement/) - A visual and textual study on Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights Movement--challenging some of the traditional narratives that are commonly recounted in the Jewish community.
- [Peoplehood Reconsidered](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/peoplehood-reconsidered/) - Rabbi Toba Spitzer dives into the use of metaphors in framing a picture of the Jewish people that is encompassing and defining, drawing on three conceptual metaphors: "covenant," "narrative" and "tribal."
- [Jewish Particularism and Race](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/jewish-particularism-and-race/) - In this d'var delivered in 2009, Rabbi Malkah Binah Klein reflects on race, particularism and the work needed to be done by white Jews to address racism and colorblindness in Jewish communities, neighborhoods, schools and relationships.
- [Staying Sane in a World Gone Mad](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/staying-sane-in-a-world-gone-mad/) - How do we keep going when the world is full of terror and suffering? A Kol Nidrei sermon exploring some possibilities.
- [Justice Work is a Mitzvah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/justice-work-is-a-mitzvah/) - How do we work to make things better? This interpretation of the morning Shaharit offers a way in: to act in spiritual alignment with creation for a more equitable and just world.
- [Communities of Commitment](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/communities-of-commitment/) - Community can only exist on mutual interconnection and commitment, but more than ever, congregations fear asking for that level of engagement from members for fear of scaring them off.
- [Text Resources](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/text-resources/) - Explore short reflections on inspiring texts.
- [Race Must Be Addressed Systemically: A Study Guide](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/race-must-be-addressed-systemically-a-study-guide/) - In this study guide, Rabbi Bob Gluck outlines the book Racing to Justice by John A. Powell, including major themes, notable quotes and topics for discussion.
- [Tikkun Olam Is an Authentic Jewish Value](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tikkun-olam-is-an-authentic-jewish-value/) - Maurice Harris argues that liberal Jewish communities have the full right to use tikkun olam as an umbrella term, despite opposition voiced by conservative critics. The spiritual significance of the term is not undervalued, he writes, by the use of it.
- [Loving the Stranger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/loving-the-stranger/) - "Loving the stranger" and "welcoming the stranger" are not always equivalent. How can we go out of our way to help those who are unfamiliar to us?
- [A Tool of Awareness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-tool-of-awareness/) - Torah, or more broadly, Jewish civilization, is a tool of awareness. It keeps us awake to the world around us and demands that we respond with holy consciousness.
- [Israeli and Palestinian Historical Narratives](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israeli-and-palestinian-historical-narratives/) - This curriculum covers a five-part class or series designed to explore Israeli and Palestinian historical, literary and cultural narratives side by side. It includes books, essays, literary fiction and discussion.
- [Reconstructionist Chutzpah: A Spirit of Provocation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructionist-chutzpah-a-spirit-of-provocation/) - There is special chutzpah in the heart of a Reconstructionist, in relationship to Torah, communal life and the world.
- [Witnessing Suffering](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/witnessing-suffering/) - A new interpretation of the story of Lot's wife: that bearing witness provokes her transformation into the pillar of salt. The question remains: How can we act with compassion and bear witness without becoming paralyzed or fixed?
- [Spiritual Activism: Tikkun HaNefesh v'Olam in Our Time](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/spiritual-activism-tikkun-hanefesh-volam-in-our-time/) - This PowerPoint presentation created by Rabbi Shawn Zevit for his Spirituality and Activism Reconstructionist Learning Network covers everything from "finding a spiritual home" to understanding the deeper roots of tikkun olam, as well as the intersection between internal and external transformation.
- [Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Statement on Ishut](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructionist-rabbinical-association-statement-on-ishut/) - How is Jewish status conferred? In this 2013 document from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the tension between biology and identity is most prominent.
- [A Reconstructionist View on Patrilineal Descent](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-reconstructionist-view-on-patrilineal-descent/) - In this piece from 2001, Rabbi Jacob Staub wrestles with the arguments around inclusion of patrilineal Jews, and explains why the inclusion and celebration of patrilineal Jews are crucial to the Jewish future.
- [Rituals of Return and Re-Affirmation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/rituals-of-return-and-re-affirmation/) - Exploration of the halachah (Jewish law), contemporary environment and theological implications around rituals of affirmation of Jewish identity.
- [Interpreting Jewish History in Light of Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/interpreting-jewish-history-in-light-of-zionism/) - How seriously should the Zionist reading of Jewish history affect the way we interpret the meaning of the Jewish past and the significance of contemporary events?
- [In at the Deep End](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/in-at-the-deep-end/) - Immersion and Affirmation of Jewish Identity -- a Personal Account
- [Rabbi A.J. Heschel's Lessons on Religion and Race](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/lessons-on-despair-from-religion-and-race/) - Sarah Barasch presents a selection of quotes from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's 1963 speech, "Religion and Race."
- [A Reconstructionist Response to the Pew Study](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-reconstructionist-response-to-the-pew-study/) - Reflections on the Pew Study, its implications for the Jewish world and the unique contributions the Reconstructionist movement can bring.
- [Reimagining Jewish Community Sermon Sparks](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reimagining-jewish-community-text-sheet/) - Rabbi Rachel Weiss challenges the assumptions of how a synagogue should operate by highlighting multi-generational programming and interfaith activism at Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (JRC) in Evanston, IL.
- [Harnessing Technology Study Guide](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/harnessing-technology-study-guide/) - This study guide outlines major themes and discussion questions in "Harnessing Technology" co-written by Rabbis Deborah Waxman and Nathan Kamesar.
- [Israel & Zionism: A Contemporary Challenge](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israel-zionism-a-contemporary-challenge/) - On Reconstructionist support and the ideology of Zionism, Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan's views on Zionism and the possibility of peace.
- [Israel, Palestine and Us: A Response to Toba Spitzer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israel-palestine-and-us-a-response-to-toba-spitzer/) - In this response to Toba Spitzer's essay "Israel and Us: Creating a New Narrative," Rabbi Brant Rosen argues that the "justice narrative" outlined by Rabbi Spitzer is more than a narrative; it's a reality that should be placed at the forefront
- [Here we are: congregation planting in Baltimore](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/here-we-are-congregation-planting-in-baltimore/) - Rabbi Ariana Katz describes the process of envisioning and constructing Hinenu, a shul and Jewish home for those marginalized by mainstream Jewish communities.
- [5 Guidelines for Community Encounters](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/5-guidelines-for-community-encounters/) - Some best practices for growing communities that welcome Jews of color.
- [Israel & Us:  Creating a New Narrative](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israel-us-creating-a-new-narrative/) - Drawing from her involvement with groups ranging from T'ruah to the New Jewish Agenda, Rabbi Toba Spitzer explains the power of two disparate narratives in describing, understanding and working to find commonality within the American Jewish discourse on Israel/Palestine.
- [Harnessing Technology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/harnessing-technology/) - How can we sanctify our on-line lives by acting according to our values? How can we use the resources on line to enrich our lives?
- [Our Responsibility](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/responsibility/) - Drawing from teachings in the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi David Teutsch teaches that "silence is consent." For American Jewish communities, keeping silent about injustice emerging in Israel makes Jews complicit in those acts of injustice.
- [Some Call It God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/some-call-it-god/) - Click here to continue reading “Some Call It God” by Rabbi Sid Schwarz. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
- [Reconstructionist Halaha](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructionist-halaha/) - Click here to read “Reconstructionist Halaha” by Rabbi Sid Schwarz. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
- [Rabbi as Spiritual Leader](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/rabbi-as-spiritual-leader/) - What is the role of a rabbi in Reconstructionist congregational life? Rabbi Sid Schwarz argues for a unique role in shaping the congregational culture. (Originally published in The Reconstructionist, Fall 1999) Rabbi as Spiritual LeaderDownload [pdfjs-viewer viewer_width=0 viewer_height=800 url=https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Rabbi-as-Spiritual-Leader.pdf download=true print=true fullscreen=false fullscreen_target=false fullscreen_text="View%20Fullscreen" zoom=auto search_term="" ] Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered
- [The Sabbath Manifesto](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-sabbath-manifesto/) - Learn more about The Sabbath Project here. About this Project Way back when, God said, “On the seventh day thou shalt rest.” The meaning behind it was simple: Take a break. Call a timeout. Find some balance. Recharge. Somewhere along the line, however, this mantra for living faded from modern consciousness. The idea of unplugging
- [Seeking Help for the Long Haul](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/audio-seeking-help-for-the-long-haul/) - Changing the World from the Inside Out, Kameelah Mu’min Rashad, Founder of the Muslim Wellness Foundation and Roshi Enkyo O’Hara, abbot and founder of the Village Zendo in New York City. Dr. Barbara Breitman, psychotherapist and spiritual director, provides a closing reflection and blessing. A young activist asks how she can sustain herself, her communities
- [On Judaism and Technology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/on-judaism-and-technology/) - Read more on Sefaria.org
- [A Prayer for Wholeness](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/a-prayer-for-wholeness/) - This piece was originally published at Ritualwell.org. Oh World of Miracles, you are supremely broken.Your shards are painful and cutting.Your pieces are scattered across the globe, aching for wholeness.We seek justice and peace in you.We long and love, divine sparks igniting fires within us.We tend the embers and feed the flames, at times nearly consuming
- [The Synagogue as a Support System](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-synagogue-as-a-support-system/) - Click here to read “Synagogue as Support System” by Harriete A. Feiner. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
- [Shabbat](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shabbat/) - From the Guide to Jewish Practice
- [Why Be Jewish?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/why-be-jewish/) - Rabbi Nick Renner uses unique examples from his rabbinic career to explore the blessings offered by being Jewish and taking part in Jewish communal life.
- [On Catastrophe and Renewal](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/catastrophe-renewal/) - Rabbi Deborah Waxman asks: What does a post-Holocaust progressive Judaism looks like today? By embracing our shared humanity and valuing difference, we can create a version of the Jewish future that calls us to move forward while drawing from the lessons.
- [Mitzvat Ahavat Erev Rav: Loving the Complexity of Our Identities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/mitzvat-ahavat-erev-rav-loving-the-complexity-of-our-identities/) - Identity politics hold an increasingly defining role in the American social and political landscape of the 21st century. Jane Litman explores the complexity of holding Jewish identity in relationship to other identities.

## Pages

- [Home](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/) - Evolve is an online platform with conversation-sparking essays from thought-provoking rabbis, leaders and creators. Explore essays on key topics, as well as curricula, sermon sparks and videos that apply the best thinking to contemporary questions.
- [Pesakh (Passover) 2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pesakh-passover-2026/) - "All of us are required to feel as if we ourselves have been enslaved and as if we ourselves are being delivered from Egyptian bondage." —Pesakh Haggadah
- [Joy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/joy/) - How can we celebrate joyfully when there's so much to be upset about
- [Essays for the High Holidays](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/essays-for-the-high-holidays/) - Dive into these essays for the High Holidays.
- [Black History Month](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/black-history-month/) - Black History and American Jewish History are intertwined, and that expands our definition of Jewish Identity.
- [Practices for Defending Democracy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/practices-for-defending-democracy/) - What can each of us do to protect democracy in the United States? Review multiple perspectives from Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Rabbi David Teutsch, Sabrina Sojourner, Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, Rabbi Sid Schwarz, Rabbi Michael Pollack, Rabbi Alex Weissman, Ruth Messinger, Andy Levin and more.
- [Immigration](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/immigration/) - “You shall not oppress the stranger.” (Exodus 22:20) The commandment to treat aliens kindly, justly, lovingly occurs at least 36 times in the Torah—more than any other mitzvah.
- [Tu Bishvat 2026/5786](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tu-bishvat-2026-5786/) - Tu Bishvat is the Jewish Holiday on which we are called to attend to the Earth.
- [Building Thriving Communities](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/building-thriving-communities/) - Dive into these essays for the High Holidays.
- [Reflecting on Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/reflecting-on-antisemitism/) - Dive into these essays for the High Holidays.
- [Rethinking Chosenness: A Dialogue for Our Time](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/chosenness2025/) - Rethinking Chosenness: A Dialogue for Our Time “Chosenness” has been both a source of pride and discomfort in Jewish life. What does it mean to be a “chosen people” in an age of equality, interconnection, and moral responsibility? This Evolve series invites a deeper look — not to settle the question, but to open it.
- [About](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/about/) - Home » About About Evolve is an online platform with conversation-sparking essays from thought-provoking rabbis, leaders and creators. Explore Essays on key topics Curricula Text resources Videos Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations is an initiative of Reconstructing Judaism. We seek to promote the ongoing evolution of the Jewish community by facilitating communal conversations about the urgent
- [Web Conversations](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/web-conversations/) - Evolve Web Conversations are opportunities for you to interact with our authors in real-time, by asking questions and challenging their assumptions. Videos and transcripts are posted in an archive for those who are unable to attend live. Watch Past Web Conversations
- [I’m Right, You’re Wrong: What Data Reveals About North American Jewish Opinion on Israel, Zionism and Anti-Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/im-right-youre-wrong-what-data-reveals-about-north-american-jewish-opinion-on-israel-zionism-and-anti-zionism/) - Get a sneak peek at our July 24 episode with Matthew Boxer. His survey of 1,800 North American Jews reveals surprising truths about Jewish opinion on Israel.
- [Juneteenth](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/juneteenth/) - Juneteenth The liberation of enslaved people in 1865 was not the end of the story. How do we support efforts to move towards meaningful Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Dear U.S. Reparations Movement: Australia Is Not a Role Model It is not enough to honestly acknowledge the harms of the past and take responsibility for them;
- [Shavuot](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/shavuot/) - Shavuot: A Wide Spectrum of Ways to Access Revelation Engage in groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. Review multiple perspectives from Maria Pulzetti, Rabbi Nicole Fix, Rabbi Bronwyn Mullen, Rabbi Toba Spitzer, Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz, Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein, Rabbi Jill Hammer, Rabbi Vivie Mayer and Rabbi Ben Weiner. The Rabbinic Arts Company presents The Oven of
- [Search](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/search/) - Search Search Spiritual Practice Why I Don’t Eat ‘Kitniyot’ The point of Pesakh is not culinary creativity. The point is constraint. Read More » March 19, 2026 No Comments Justice The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power The plagues give us a model for how to think about liberation struggles.
- [Authors](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/all-authors/) - Search Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed Professor Martha Ackelsberg Rabbi Avruhm Addison Rabbi Adina Allen Rabbi Rebecca T. Alpert Jon Argaman Dr. Carol Ascher Rabbi Caryn Aviv John Backman Sarah Barasch Rabbi Benjamin Barnett Rabbi Aya Baron Rabbi Geoff Basik Rabbi David Dunn Bauer Dr. Joel Beinin Dr. Anna Beresin Rabbi Marjorie Berman Rabbi Leila Gal
- [Evolve Adult Education Program](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/adult-education/) - Explore featured essays from Evolve with our discussion and study guides. Created with adult education in mind, these resources offer framing materials, group exercises and prompts which you can tailor to your community’s needs. Join groundbreaking Jewish conversations about urgent issues of our day. Rabbis Jessica Rosenberg and Mackenzie Reynolds, Jews & White Privilege Click
- [‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/covenantal-community-and-classical-reconstructionism/) - Rabbi Deborah Waxman Rabbi Deborah Waxman published this essay “‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism” in December 2024. What follows is this essay, with commentaries exploring Waxman’s points by four other Reconstructionist rabbis: Megan Doherty, Isabel de Koninck, Katie Mizrahi and Elyse Wechterman. What Is ‘Covenantal Community’? The “torah” I have been teaching intensively since the
- [Encountering Each Other, Discovering the Divine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/encountering-each-other-discovering-the-divine/)
- [Covenantal Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/covenantal-community/) - Covenantal Community What are our commitments to one another as part of a sacred community? Characteristics of a Healthy Covenantal Community It is a moment of tectonic shift in the ever-evolving expression and experience of Jewish life. Read More » May 11, 2025 by Rabbi Shawn Zevit 1 comment Creating Covenantal Communities By its very
- [Deepening Our Connection to the Natural World](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/deepening-our-connection-to-the-natural-world/) - Tu B'Shvat: Deepening Our Connection to the Natural World A variety of voices for living with the Earth and its fullness. Tikkun Adam(ah): A Jewish Response to a World in Upheaval When we live outside of right relationship with the natural world, we curse ourselves. Read More » January 11, 2025 by Rabbi Nate DeGroot
- [October 7](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/october-7/) - The Year Since October 7 A Septet of Diverse Reflections. Review multiple perspectives from rabbis Amy Klein, Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Nina Mandel, Vivie Mayer, Haviva Ner-David and David Teutsch, and Professor Joel Hecker. The Light That Has the Capacity to Hold Us All What is the prayer that penetrates the body and mind to awaken
- [Evolve Video Podcast on Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/evolve-video-podcast-on-antisemitism/) - Confused? Looking to untangle where antisemitism and anti-Zionism diverge and overlap? Dive into this thoughtful, engaging and sometimes proactive discussion with Rabbi Toba Spitzer and Rabbi David Teutsch, Ph.D.
- [The Israel-Hamas War: Reflections in a Time of Crisis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/israel-hamas-war/) - The Israel-Hamas War: Reflections in a Time of Crisis Impinged Grief: Justifying Our Feelings About Oct. 7 I feel chastised for even considering expressing my grief experience. Read More » September 29, 2024 by Rabbi Nina Mandel 3 comments Remembering Oct. 7th, and 8th, and 9th … Everyone in Palestine or Israel has been touched
- [Purim 2024: Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/purim-2024/) - Purim 2024: Discussions & Analyses of Antisemitism Today We’ve all been troubled by the upsurge of antisemitism in recent months. We have curated a series of essays that open discussions and analyses of antisemitism today by Rabbi Rebecca Lillian, Rabbi Elisheva Salamo, Rabbi Josh Snyder and Rabbi David Teutsch. We are also offering our newsletter subscribers an
- [Pesakh 2024](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/pesakh-2024/) - Enrich Your Passover Experience Explore a variety of ways to understand Pesakh and to immerse in its practices. Liberation is Up to Us: Understanding Our Ancestor’s Shortcomings Through the Lens of the Passover Story The Torah doesn't steer people away from slavery; it merely regulates the “lawful” treatment of human property. Read More » April
- [Uncover the Light Kavvanot, Essays and Video Teachings](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/uncover-the-light-kavvanot-essays-and-video-teachings/) - Uncover the Light Kavanot, Essays and Video Teachings Evolve is turning five. We’re celebrating and seeking your support. Help keep this essential resource at your fingertips. To celebrate five years of this sacred work, we are designating the month before Purim as a time in which we fulfill the line from the Book of Esther, “The Jews
- [Uncover the Light - Shiurim](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/uncover-the-light-shiurim/) - Give at the Shiurim Level to Access Special Content For those supporters who are able to contribute $250 or more, we are offering access to five online hour-long shiurim, study sessions. These interactive sessions will happen live on zoom, where you’ll have a chance to dig in and ask questions about the topic directly to the
- [Uncover the Light Purim Campaign](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/uncover-the-light-purim-campaign/) - Evolve is turning five. We’re celebrating and seeking your support. Help keep this essential resource at your fingertips.
- [Terms & Conditions](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/terms-and-conditions/) - We want to respect the integrity of all material contributed and utilized through our website, so we ask you to follow these guidelines: Unless otherwise specifically agreed in writing, the information provided on our website is for educational and religious purposes only. You may use our site only as permitted by law, and in accordance
- [Privacy Policy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/privacy-policy/) - We at Reconstructing Judaism are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your visits to this website. Outlined below is our online privacy policy. This privacy policy addresses our practices regarding information collected from visitors of this website – it does not address any information other than that which is collected directly through or
- [Contact Us](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/contact/) - Name Email Message Send Message
- [Topics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/topics/) - Antisemitism Climate Justice & Environmentalism Community End of Life Ethics Gender God Identity Israel and Palestine Justice Multifaith Race Spiritual Practice Technology Text Resources Why Be Jewish?
- [Support Us](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/support-us/) - The Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations project demonstrates that Judaism is exciting, relevant and worth exploring. Please help us sustain this work by making a gift today.

## My Templates

- [Default Kit](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=default-kit)
- [Content Promotion Landing Page](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=content-promotion-landing-page) - Think you understand what North American Jews believe about Israel? Researcher Matthew Boxer‘s groundbreaking survey of 1,800 North American Jews reveals just how incomplete our assumptions have been.This eye-opening episode challenges the widely-cited “95% of American Jews are Zionist” statistic and the oversimplified narratives dominating Jewish discourse today. Boxer uncovers the complex reality: strong emotional
- [Search Results - Template](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=search-results-template) - Search Template: Search Results – Template Authors March 19, 2021 Author List Read More » Spiritual Practice Why I Don’t Eat ‘Kitniyot’ The point of Pesakh is not culinary creativity. The point is constraint. Read More » March 19, 2026 No Comments Justice The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power
- [Reconstructing Judaism Site Header](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=reconstructing-judaism-site-header) - Content area
- [Email Signup](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=email-signup) - Content area
- [Author Archive](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=author-archive) - Author Archive Essays No essays found for this author
- [Evolve Post Template](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=evolve-post-template) - Home » Evolve Post Template Evolve Post Template June 6, 2022 by Rabbi Deborah Waxman published this essay “‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism” in December 2024. What follows is this essay, with commentaries exploring Waxman’s points by four other Reconstructionist rabbis: Megan Doherty, Isabel de Koninck, Katie Mizrahi and Elyse Wechterman. What Is ‘Covenantal Community’?
- [Covenantal Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=covenantal-community) - Rachel Forth Pipitone Rabbi Deborah Waxman published this essay “‘Covenantal Community’ and Classical Reconstructionism” in December 2024. What follows is this essay, with commentaries exploring Waxman’s points by four other Reconstructionist rabbis: Megan Doherty, Isabel de Koninck, Katie Mizrahi and Elyse Wechterman. What Is ‘Covenantal Community’? The “torah” I have been teaching intensively since the
- [Reconstructionist Network Menu v2](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=reconstructionist-network-menu-v2) - Content area
- [Category Archive](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=category-archive) - Home » Category Archive Category Archive Why I Don’t Eat ‘Kitniyot’ March 19, 2026 by Rabbi Ari Witkin The point of Pesakh is not culinary creativity. The point is constraint. Read More The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power March 19, 2026 by Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein The plagues
- [Evolve - site footer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=evolve-site-footer) - Content area
- [home israel hero](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=home-israel-hero) - Israel/Palestine Engage in groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. Review multiple perspectives from Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Rabbi Micah Weiss, Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz and Oren Jay Sofers. Explore what’s possible. Read here »
- [Latest Posts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=latest-posts-2) - Justice, Spiritual Practice The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power March 19, 2026 by Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein The plagues give us a model for how to think about liberation struggles. Read More Justice, Race Exodus, Passover and the Path to Redemption March 16, 2026 by Rabbi Sid Schwarz
- [Latest posts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=latest-posts) - Justice, Spiritual Practice The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power March 19, 2026 by Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein The plagues give us a model for how to think about liberation struggles. Read More Justice, Race Exodus, Passover and the Path to Redemption March 16, 2026 by Rabbi Sid Schwarz
- [Evolve Israel Hero Bar](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=evolve-israel-hero-bar) - Israel/Palestine Engage in groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. Review multiple perspectives from Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Rabbi Micah Weiss, Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz and Oren Jay Sofers. Explore what's possible. Read here >>
- [Recon Hero Nov 2023](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=recon-hero-nov-2023) - Praying for Israel and for Peace Read Our Movement's Statement PIN Statement We've Signed On to Find Spiritual Support Read Analysis How You Can Help Join our event on Thurs, Nov. 16
- [Mobile menu - after items](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=mobile-menu-after-items) - Search
- [Section - featured essay hero](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=section-featured-essay-hero) - Why I Don’t Eat ‘Kitniyot’ March 19, 2026 by by Rabbi Ari Witkin The point of Pesakh is not culinary creativity. The point is constraint. Read
- [Uncover the Light Footer Donation with Shiurim](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=uncover-the-light-footer-donation-with-shiurim) - Evolve is turning five. We’re celebrating and seeking your support. Help keep this essential resource at your fingertips. To celebrate five years of this sacred work, we are designating the month before Purim as a time in which we fulfill the line from the Book of Esther, “The Jews had light/ Layehudim hayeta orah.” During this month, we will
- [Uncover The Light Footer Donation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=uncover-the-light-footer-donation) - Evolve is turning five. We’re celebrating and seeking your support. Help keep this essential resource at your fingertips. To celebrate five years of this sacred work, we are designating the month before Purim as a time in which we fulfill the line from the Book of Esther, “The Jews had light/ Layehudim hayeta orah.” During this month, we
- [Hanukkah support](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=hanukkah-support) - Content area
- [Reconstructionist Sites Menu](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=reconstructionist-sites) - Content area
- [The Forward Features Rabbi Sandra Lawson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=the-forward-features-rabbi-sandra-lawson) - This story by TaRessa Stovall was originally published Oct. 31 in The Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. We asked 8 Black Jews to weigh in on the Kanye West mess Oy Ye.By now, the world has heard from practically everyone with an opinion on Kanye West’s antisemitic
- [Event - Single](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=event-single) - Home » Event – Single Event – Single Every few years, someone asks me whether I eat kitniyot on Passover. It’s usually not a charged question. In most liberal Jewish spaces, the default assumption today is that it is now permissible to do so. The historic Ashkenazi prohibition has been widely reconsidered. In 2015, the
- [Featured Grid](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=featured-grid) - Justice, Spiritual Practice The Narrative of the Plagues: The Consequences of the Abuse of Power March 19, 2026 by Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein The plagues give us a model for how to think about liberation struggles. Read More Justice, Race Exodus, Passover and the Path to Redemption March 16, 2026 by Rabbi Sid Schwarz
- [Featured Posts Grid listing section](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=featured-posts-grid-listing-section) - Spiritual Practice Featured Posts Grid listing section July 15, 2022 by Jonathan
- [Featured Post listing section](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=featured-post-listing-section) - Featured Post listing section July 15, 2022 by Jonathan Read
- [Breadcrumbs](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=breadcrumbs) - Home » Breadcrumbs
- [Breadcrumb Section](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=breadcrumb-section) - Home » Breadcrumb Section
- [Basic Page](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=basic-page) - Home » Basic Page Basic Page Paragraph from Jacob about campaign will go here.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Support us at the Shirim Level
- [News Post Template](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/?elementor_library=news-post-template-2) - Home » News Post Template News Post Template June 6, 2022 Jonathan Email First Name Sign Up [rj-show-related-posts post-type="post, article"]

## Events

- [Creating New Jewish Music: Finding Meaning & Transformative Power in Ancient Texts with Rabbi Solomon Hoffman](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/creating-new-jewish-music-finding-meaning-transformative-power-in-ancient-texts/#new_tab)
- [Going ‘Beyond the Law’ to Act Ethically with Rabbi Marc Katz](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/going-beyond-the-law-to-act-ethically-with-rabbi-marc-katz/#new_tab)
- [The Words of Prayer: Rewriting and Revising the Traditional Liturgy with Rabbi Michael Strassfeld](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/the-words-of-prayer-rewriting-and-revising-the-traditional-liturgy-with-rabbi-michael-strassfeld/#new_tab)
- [Creating Sacred Community: Leadership and Connection with Rabbi Megan Doherty](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/creating-sacred-community-leadership-and-connection-with-rabbi-megan-doherty/#new_tab)
- [Collective Liberation Is Our Work: Diversity in the Jewish Community with Dr. Deitra Reiser](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/collective-liberation-is-our-work-diversity-in-the-jewish-community-with-dr-deitra-weiser/#new_tab)
- [The Anti-Environmental Actions of the Trump Administration: How We Can Respond with Rabbi Daniel Swartz](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-the-anti-environmental-actions-of-the-trump-administration-how-we-can-respond/#new_tab)
- [Joseph’s Womb: Gender Complexity in the Story of Joseph](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-josephs-womb/#new_tab)
- [Forcing Nonviolent Encounters Is Powerful with Rabbi Michael Pollack](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-forcing-nonviolent-encounters-is-powerful-with-rabbi-michael-pollack/#new_tab)
- [Netanyahu’s Government in 2023-2024: The Failure of Ideology, Strategy and Politics with Dr. Ilan Peleg](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-the-failure-of-ideology-strategy-politics-with-dr-ilan-peleg/#new_tab)
- [When Race, Politics, & Jewish Studies Collide: Censorship and the Debate Over Black Power, Jewish Politics with Professor Marc Dollinger](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-when-race-politics-jewish-studies-collide-censorship-and-the-debate-over-black-power-jewish-politics-with-professor-marc-dollinger/#new_tab)
- [The Light That Has the Capacity to Hold Us All with Rabbi Vivie Mayer](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-the-light-that-has-the-capacity-to-hold-us-all-with-rabbi-vivie-mayer/#new_tab)
- [Ancient Jewish Wisdom on How to Face Calamity](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/ancient-jewish-wisdom-on-how-to-face-calamity/#new_tab)
- [What Can Each of Us Do to Preserve Democracy?](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/what-can-each-of-us-do-to-preserve-democracy/#new_tab)
- [What If We Stopped Assuming That the Human Species is the Chosen Species? with Rabbi Bob Gluck](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-what-if-we-stopped-assuming-that-the-human-species-is-the-chosen-species/#new_tab)
- [The Right-Wing Extremists Are In Charge In Israel with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-the-right-wing-extremists-are-in-charge-in-israel/#new_tab)
- [Jewish Sources on the Equal Value of All Human Lives](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-jewish-sources-on-the-equal-value-of-all-human-lives/#new_tab)
- [Before All the World with Moriel Rothman-Zecher](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-before-all-the-world/#new_tab)
- [Rabbis During Wartime with Rabbi Michael Rothbaum](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-rabbis-during-wartime/#new_tab)
- [Against Free Will with Mike Shore](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-against-free-will/#new_tab)
- [Immigration Injustice and What You Can Do About It](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/immigration-injustice-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/#new_tab)
- [Where Are You? A Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Practice](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/where-are-you-a-beginners-guide-to-spiritual-practice/#new_tab)
- [Pillars of (the) Cloud: The Liberatory Potential of Digital Judaism](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/pillars-of-the-cloud-the-liberatory-potential-of-digital-judaism/)
- [Are Trans Women Obligated in Niddah?: Embracing Halakhah That Was Not Addressed to You](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/are-trans-women-obligated-in-niddah-embracing-halakhah-that-was-not-addressed-to-you/#new_tab)
- [Holding the Pain & the Love](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-holding-the-pain-the-love-with-rabbi-amy-eilberg/)
- [God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/god-is-here-reimagining-the-divine/)
- [A Leap Toward Justice in Israel/Palestine: Considering Confederation with Rabbi David Teutsch, Ph.D.](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/a-leap-toward-justice-in-israel-palestine-considering-confederation/#new_tab)
- [Choosing Life: The Spiritual Challenge of Climate Crisis and Environmental Racism](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/choosing-life-the-spiritual-challenge-of-climate-crisis-and-environmental-racism/)
- [Confronting the Legacy of Amalek with Dr. Adam Strater](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-confronting-the-legacy-of-amalek-with-dr-adam-strater/#new_tab) - Join us on Monday, February 13, at 1 p.m. EST as Dr. Adam Strater discusses his Evolve essay, “Confronting the Legacy of Amalek.” The Purim villain Haman was descended from the nation Amalek, the arch enemy of the Israelites, whom they are commanded to exterminate. Dr. Strater explores the identification of enemies of the Jews as Amalekites through Jewish history,
- [Moving Ahead Without Leaving Anyone Behind: A Loving Strategy for Bold Leadership with Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay](https://www.tickettailor.com/events/reconstructingjudaism/749217) - Join us on Thursday, December 8 at 1 p.m. EDT as Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay discusses her Evolve essay, “Moving Ahead Without Leaving Anyone Behind: A Loving Strategy for Bold Leadership.” Sarah reflects upon the dilemma faced by any leader who wants to lead boldly when many are not ready to move so quickly. Her proposal resonates
- [Evolve Web Conversation: Moving Ahead Without Leaving Anyone Behind - A Loving Strategy for Bold Leadership](https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-convo-moving-ahead-without-leaving-anyone-behind-a-loving-strategy-for-bold-leadership/#new_tab) - Join us on Wednesday, September 7 at 1 p.m. EDT as Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay discusses her Evolve essay, “Moving Ahead Without Leaving Anyone Behind: A Loving Strategy for Bold Leadership.” Sarah reflects upon the dilemma faced by any leader who wants to lead boldly when many are not ready to move so quickly. Her proposal
- [Evolve Web Conversation: Reconstructionism Without Zionism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-convo-reconstructionism-without-zionism/) - Join Rabbi Jacob Staub on Wednesday, July 27 at 1 p.m. EDT, when Rabbi Rebecca Alpert will discuss her essay, Reconstructionism Without Zionism. Rabbi Alpert explains that even though Reconstructionists say that belonging is primary—prior to behaving or believing, and even though the founder of Reconstructionism, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, was an early and enthusiastic Zionist, it is
- [Evolve Web Conversation: God is Here](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/event/evolve-web-conversation-god-is-here/) - Rabbi Toba Spitzer will discuss her just-published book, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine, with on Thursday, June 23 at 1 p.m. EDT. Going back to the earliest sources for Judaism as well as Christianity, Spitzer discovers in the Hebrew Bible a rich and varied palette of metaphors for the divine―including Water, Voice, Fire, Rock,

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/uncategorized/)
- [Identity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/identity/)
- [Why Be Jewish?](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/why-be-jewish/)
- [Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/justice/)
- [Text Resources](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/text-resources/)
- [Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/community/)
- [Spiritual Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/spiritual-practice/)
- [Technology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/technology/)
- [Gender](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/gender/)
- [Ethics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/ethics/)
- [God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/god/)
- [Israel and Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/israel-palestine/)
- [Race](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/race/)
- [Climate Justice & Environmentalism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/climate-justice-environmentalism/)
- [Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/antisemitism/)
- [End of Life](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/end-of-life/)
- [Multifaith](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/category/multifaith/)

## Tags

- [Community](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/community/)
- [God](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/god/)
- [disqus](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/disqus/)
- [pcff](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/pcff/)
- [End of Life](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/end-of-life/)
- [BDS](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/bds/)
- [boycott](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/boycott/)
- [dialogue](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/dialogue/)
- [israel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/israel/)
- [Israel Palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/israel-palestine/)
- [jewish dialogue group](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/jewish-dialogue-group/)
- [palestine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/palestine/)
- [two-state solution](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/two-state-solution/)
- [Avraham](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/avraham/)
- [Interconnection](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/interconnection/)
- [Relationship](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/relationship/)
- [Sarah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/sarah/)
- [Harold Kushner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/harold-kushner/)
- [Harold Schulweis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/harold-schulweis/)
- [Mordecai Kaplan](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/mordecai-kaplan/)
- [Predicate Theology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/predicate-theology/)
- [Process Theology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/process-theology/)
- [Divine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/divine/)
- [Isolation](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/isolation/)
- [Theology](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/theology/)
- [Vulnerability](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/vulnerability/)
- [abomination](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/abomination/)
- [Deuteronomy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/deuteronomy/)
- [honest weights and measures](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/honest-weights-and-measures/)
- [integrity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/integrity/)
- [subtle deception](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/subtle-deception/)
- [Emet](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/emet/)
- [Isaiah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/isaiah/)
- [Kavod](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/kavod/)
- [Likkutim](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/likkutim/)
- [Sefat](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/sefat/)
- [Soul](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/soul/)
- [Yekarim](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/yekarim/)
- [Disability Justice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/disability-justice/)
- [Epigenetics](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/epigenetics/)
- [Healing](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/healing/)
- [Kotzker Rebbe](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/kotzker-rebbe/)
- [Trauma](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/trauma/)
- [Caring](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/caring/)
- [Evolution](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/evolution/)
- [Martin Nowack](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/martin-nowack/)
- [Sequoias](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/sequoias/)
- [Survival of the fittest](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/survival-of-the-fittest/)
- [Conversion](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/conversion/)
- [Inclusion](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/inclusion/)
- [Intermarriage](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/intermarriage/)
- [Tolerance](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/tolerance/)
- [chevra](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/chevra/)
- [chevre](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/chevre/)
- [Hesed](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/hesed/)
- [Hesed Shel Emet](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/hesed-shel-emet/)
- [Hevra Kadisha](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/hevra-kadisha/)
- [Rehitzah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/rehitzah/)
- [Taharah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/taharah/)
- [Tahririn](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/tahririn/)
- [Eric Yoffie](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/eric-yoffie/)
- [Multifaith](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/multifaith/)
- [Pope Francis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/pope-francis/)
- [Quran](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/quran/)
- [Baptist Church](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/baptist-church/)
- [DC](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/dc/)
- [Hill Havurah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/hill-havurah/)
- [interfaith](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/interfaith/)
- [interracial](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/interracial/)
- [Mount Moriah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/mount-moriah/)
- [multiracial](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/multiracial/)
- [roots](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/roots/)
- [washington](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/washington/)
- [COVID-19; Ritual purity; Contagion; Tum’ah; Taharah](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/covid-19-ritual-purity-contagion-tumah-taharah/)
- [Antisemitism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/antisemitism/)
- [Jewish Social Justice Roundtable](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/jewish-social-justice-roundtable/)
- [Jews of Color Initiative](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/jews-of-color-initiative/)
- [Jews of Color Initiative White Supremacy Antisemitism Jewish Social Justice Roundtable Book of Ruth](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/jews-of-color-initiative-white-supremacy-antisemitism-jewish-social-justice-roundtable-book-of-ruth/)
- [White Supremacy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/white-supremacy/)
- [Epistle to Yemen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/epistle-to-yemen/)
- [Keywords Converso](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/keywords-converso/)
- [Maimonides](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/maimonides/)
- [Rambam](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/rambam/)
- [Secret Jews](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/secret-jews/)
- [Exploring Judaism](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/exploring-judaism/)
- [Jewish Spiritual Direction](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/jewish-spiritual-direction/)
- [Ru’akh Hakodesh](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/ruakh-hakodesh/)
- [Sylvia Boorstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/sylvia-boorstein/)
- [Jacob Staub](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/jacob-staub/)
- [Israel/Palestine 2023](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/israel-palestine-2023/)
- [RRA2024](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/rra2024/)
- [purim2024](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/purim2024/)
- [Pesakh2024](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/pesakh2024/)
- [Shavuot24](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/shavuot24/)
- [Exclude from Homepage](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/exclude-from-homepage/)
- [democracy2024](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/democracy2024/)
- [october7](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/october7/)
- [tubishvat2025](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/tubishvat2025/)
- [CovenantalCommunity](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/covenantalcommunity/)
- [juneteenth2025](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/juneteenth2025/)
- [highholidays25](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/highholidays25/)
- [chosenness2025](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/chosenness2025/)
- [chosenness-archive](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/chosenness-archive/)
- [antisemitism2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/antisemitism2026/)
- [community2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/community2026/)
- [tubishvat2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/tubishvat2026/)
- [BHM2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/bhm2026/)
- [immigration2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/immigration2026/)
- [joy2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/joy2026/)
- [pesakh2026](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/tag/pesakh2026/)

## Authors

- [Jonathan](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/reconjuddev/)
- [Rabbi Jane Litman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jane-litman/) - Rabbi Litman supervises the Jewish Roundtable at the Pacific School of Religion’s Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies (CLGS). The Jewish Roundtable sponsors cutting-edge speakers on queer and Jewish issues, and convenes conferences and strategic summits for groups such as trans Jews, LGBT rabbis confronting Trumpism and Jewish queerspawn. She works closely with her Pacific Asian, African-American and Latinx colleagues addressing interfaith issues such as Religious Liberty and Trans Inclusivity using an intersectional approach. Rabbi Litman has served Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform and Gay Outreach congregations, and has been a consultant on moral education for diverse families for national Jewish institutions, the National Council of Churches and the Metropolitan Community Church. She was the Western Regional Director for JRF and a senior congregational consultant for the Reconstructionist movement. In addition to her rabbinate, she was a professor of Religion and Women’s Studies at California State University at Northridge and Loyola Marymount College, and currently teaches at the California Institute for Integral Studies. Rabbi Litman is highly committed to social action and interfaith work. She chaired the board of the Clinica Msgr. Oscar Romero, the Southern California Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights and the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, as well as served as a founding member of the executive committee of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. She is an international vice chair for Rabbis for Women of the Wall, and recently finished an eight-year term as a Peace and Justice Commissioner for the City of Berkeley. Widely published in the fields of Jewish women’s history, queer theory and contemporary theology, Rabbi Litman’s book, Lifecycles 2: Jewish Women on Scriptural Themes in Contemporary Life, co-edited with Rabbi Debra Orenstein, won prestigious academic and community awards. Her most recent work includes Krovai Elohim: All in God’s Family for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and her essay on Judaism in Struggling in Good Faith, co-edited by our colleague Mychal Copeland. She is currently working on Transkeit: Affirming Jewish Gender Diversity with Rev. Jakob Hero. Rabbi Litman hikes, gardens and cooks organic food with her spouse, Stewart Schwartz, in Berkeley, Calif.
- [Evolve](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/evolve/)
- [Rabbi Deborah Waxman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-deborah-waxman/) - THE FIRST WOMAN RABBI to head a Jewish congregational union and a Jewish seminary, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., became president and chief executive officer of Reconstructing Judaism in 2014. Since then, she has drawn on her training as a rabbi and historian to be the Reconstructionist movement’s leading voice in the public square. Under Rabbi Waxman’s leadership, Reconstructing Judaism has undertaken a number of major initiatives, while building even stronger relationships with affiliated congregational leadership and innovating Judaism for the 21st century. During her tenure, the organization has reimagined its rabbinical training curriculum, bolstered the movement’s ties to Israel, hosted the largest convention in the movement’s history, and launched an online project, Evolve, which enables substantive Jewish learning, models nuanced and respectful discussion, and serves as an incubator for ideas that can positively transform Jewish life. Rabbi Waxman is creator and host of Hashivenu, a popular podcast about resilience and Judaism. Rabbi Waxman has taught courses on Reconstructionist Judaism and practical rabbinics since 2002 at the rabbinical college, where she is the Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Presidential Professor. Waxman is a cum laude graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University, and graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She earned a Ph.D. in American Jewish history from Temple University.
- [Rabbi David A. Teutsch](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-david-a-teutsch/) - Rabbi David A. Teutsch is the Wiener professor emeritus at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he previously served as president for a decade, and later as director of the Center for Jewish Ethics. He also served as executive director of the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot, as program director of the National Jewish Resource Center (now known as CLAL) and as a congregational rabbi. He is the editor in chief of the groundbreaking Kol Haneshamah prayerbook series and of a three-volume Guide to Jewish Practice, the first volume of which won a National Jewish Book Award, as well as dozens of other books and articles. His new book, co-written with Marilyn Price, is From Gratitude to Blessings and Back. He earned his A.B. with honors from Harvard University, his ordination from HUC-JIR in New York, and his Ph.D. at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where his dissertation was on organizational ethics. He also holds four honorary degrees. An internationally known consultant and trainer, primarily to not-for-profit organizations and synagogues, Teutsch has been helping organizations for more than 35 years. He is co-chair of JStreet’s Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet. A past president of the Society of Jewish Ethics and of the Academic Coalition of Jewish Ethics, he has served on a broad variety of boards and editorial boards. He is also an avid biker.
- [Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-harold-m-schulweis/)
- [Rabbi Alex Weissman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-alex-weissman/) - Rabbi Alex Weissman (RRC ’17) serves as the Rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, MA and as the Rabbinic Organizer at T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. Previously, Alex served as the senior Jewish educator at Brown RISD Hillel, where he taught Torah and Jewish practice, and fostered creative approaches to Jewish life. While a student at RRC, Alex served as a rabbinic intern with Avodah, piloting a new model of Jewish and spiritual support for young activists. He worked with JOIN for Justice as their Philadelphia Area Coordinator, exploring new opportunities for JOIN. He was also a Social Justice Rabbinic Intern with Congregation Rodeph Shalom and POWER, supporting their multifaith congregation based community organizing, and was a summer fellow with T’ruah. Alex also served two synagogues, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and Temple Shalom of Newton, as a rabbinical intern. Prior to attending rabbinical school, Alex worked at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah as their first Social Justice Coordinator, moving forward campaigns to support LGBTQ homeless youth and LGBTQ eldercare, in addition to creating learning and training opportunities for Jewish clergy to deepen their skills in serving LGBTQ communities. He was in the inaugural cohort of the Grace Paley Organizing Fellowship with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, during which he served as chair of the Sh’lom Bayit: Justice for Domestic Workers campaign and later served as a member of the board of directors. Prior to his work as a community organizer, Alex worked in LGBTQ public health at Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project, Fenway Community Health, and the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training. Alex lives in Providence, R.I., with his partner, Adam, the source of much Alex’s gratitude.
- [Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jeremy-schwartz/)
- [Rabbi Jacob Staub](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jacob-staub/) - Rabbi Jacob Staub is the director of Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. He is Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he directs the Program in Jewish Spiritual Direction. He served as editor of The Reconstructionist 1983-89. He co-authored with Rebecca Alpert Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach.
- [Harriet A. Feiner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/harriet-a-feiner/)
- [Sefaria](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sefaria/)
- [Spirit in Practice](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/spirit-in-practice/)
- [Rabbi Sid Schwarz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-sid-schwarz/) - Rabbi Sid Schwarz is currently a senior fellow at Hazon. He is the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md., where he continues to teach and lead services. Rabbi Sid is the author of three groundbreaking books — Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue (Jewish Lights, 2000); Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World (Jewish Lights, 2006); and Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future (Jewish Lights, 2013). Rabbi Sid created and directs the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), a program that trains rabbis to be visionary spiritual leaders. He also created and directs the Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network, which is identifying, convening and building the capacity of emerging spiritual communities across the country.
- [Rabbi Nathan Kamesar](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nathan-kamesar/) - Rabbi Nathan Kamesar is the associate rabbi of Society Hill Synagogue and will assume the role of senior rabbi in June 2020. He was ordained and earned a master’s degree in Hebrew letters at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as president of the student body and was honored with the “Tikkun Olam Award” for service to the college community. During rabbinical school, Kamesar also earned a Master of Science degree in nonprofit leadership at the University of Pennsylvania and was selected by his classmates to be the graduation speaker for the program. Prior to rabbinical school, he worked as an attorney, including at the law firm Skadden Arps. Kamesar earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. Before law school, he served two years with AmeriCorps*VISTA, a national service program aimed at alleviating poverty, in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He is a proud Oregon Duck; he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Oregon in 2004 with a degree in economics.
- [Rabbi Toba Spitzer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-toba-spitzer/) - Rabbi Toba Spitzer has served Congregation Dorshei Tzedek since she was ordained in 1997 at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Spitzer is a popular teacher of courses on Judaism and economic justice, Reconstructionist Judaism, new approaches to thinking about God, and the practice of integrating Jewish spiritual and ethical teachings into daily life. In March of 2022 she published her first book, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine, from St Martin’s Press (you can learn more about the book at www.rabbitobspitzer.net). Spitzer served as the president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association from 2007-09, and was the first lesbian or gay rabbi to head a national rabbinic organization. She has received the honor of being included in Newsweek’s Top 50 Rabbis in America 2008 list, the 2008 Forward 50 list, as well as the 2010 Forward list of 50 Female Rabbis Who Are Making a Difference. In January 2015, Rabbi Spitzer was awarded the Elizabeth Wyner Mark Peace Award by Americans for Peace Now. Rabbi Spitzer has been involved for many years in American Jewish efforts to help foster a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as work in the U.S. for economic and social justice. She is a former president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis, served for a decade on the board of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and also serves on the Advisory Board of J Street. Her writings on process theology, Judaism and social justice, and explorations of biblical texts have been published in The Reconstructionist Journal and in the anthology Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. While a student at RRC, she organized a rabbinic delegation to Haiti to serve as human-rights witnesses during the military junta. The trip and resulting Haitian-Jewish seder are described in her article “Of Haiti and Horseradish,” in The Narrow Bridge: Jewish Views on Multiculturalism, edited by Marla Brettschneider. Toba grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard-Radcliffe. She has a life goal of bowling in all 50 states—34 down so far!
- [Rabbi Sandra Lawson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-sandra-lawson/) - Rabbi Sandra Lawson (she/her) is director of Racial Justice, Equity and Inclusion at Reconstructing Judaism. She works with senior staff, lay leaders, clergy, rabbinical students and Reconstructionist communities to help Reconstructing Judaism realize its deeply held aspiration of becoming an anti-racist organization and movement. In her role, Lawson is developing a series of anti-racist policies and trainings for the organization and its affiliate members. She also serves as a mentor to rabbinical students. The 2018 Reconstructionist Rabbinical College graduate is one of the first African-American, queer, female rabbis. The thought-leader has consciously sought to alter the perception of what a rabbi — and the rabbinate — looks like. Lawson is known for tackling difficult questions surrounding Jews and race in podcasts, essays, media appearances and speeches. A social-media pioneer, Lawson models what it means to teach Torah in digital spaces. She has built a following of more than 50,000 people on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. In 2020, The Forward named Lawson to its “Forward 50” proclaiming her a “truth teller.” Prior to joining Reconstructing Judaism, Lawson served as the associate chaplain for Jewish life and the senior Jewish educator at Hillel at Elon University in North Carolina. She is also the founder of Kol Hapanim — “All Faces” — an inclusive, Jewish community that is relevant, accessible and rooted in tradition, where all who come are welcomed and diversity is embraced. Lawson was born in St. Louis and grew up in a military family. She graduated from Florida’s Saint Leo University magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Clark Atlanta University. Lawson served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police person with a specialty in Military Police investigations. She specialized in cases involving child abuse and domestic violence. Upon leaving the military, she started a personal training business and later worked as an adjunct instructor of sociology at local community colleges. She has also served as the investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region, becoming the “go to” person when law enforcement in the South needed information on hate groups. Lawson lives in North Carolina with her wife, Susan, and three “fur babies”: Izzy, Bridget and Simon.
- [Rabbi Donna Cephas](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/donna-cephas/) - Donna Cephas is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. In 2008, she earned a master’s degree in Jewish education from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Since 2009, she has chronicled the personal narratives of a cross-section of non-Jewish adults committed to raising Jewish children, and teaches workshops on developing and using personal narratives. At Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, she helped develop and co-facilitate a learning and support group for non-Jewish adults raising Jewish children. Currently, she is president of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, a nationwide network of Muslim and Jewish women dedicated to fostering relationships, interfaith learning and social-justice initiatives. Donna was born and raised in New York City, where she lives with her husband, Derrick, and their children.
- [Rabbi Rachel Weiss](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-rachel-weiss/) - Rabbi Weiss is known for her commitment to Jewish life that is creative, connective and deep. She brings her warmth and energy to life-cycle officiation and pastoral counseling, is an innovative teacher of Torah and a passionate spiritual leader. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Weiss was an Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman scholar, and the recipient of the Berger Prize in Practical Rabbinics. She holds a certificate in “congregational life” and has taken leadership roles within the Reconstructionist movement. Rabbi Weiss joins the JRC community having previously served Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York City’s LGBTQS synagogue, as its associate rabbi. At CBST, Rabbi Weiss directed the Limmud Family Education program, creating an original curriculum for Jewish LGBTQ families. She brings her experience from CBST—a large metropolitan synagogue for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities—to her work and her commitment to social justice. In 2014, she was named one of the New York Pride Guide’s “45 Under 45” for her leadership. Rabbi Weiss previously served as the rabbi of JRF affiliate Am Haskalah in the Lehigh Valley, Pa., and was a member of the senior staff and faculty of Camp JRF. As a rabbinic fellow at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, she developed this multi-denominational rabbinic fellowship to bring rabbinical students from all backgrounds to study social justice and community organizing. Prior to becoming a rabbi, she served as the director of Nuestro Center in Highwood, providing social-work services to recently immigrated Latino families through Family Service of South Lake County. A fluent Spanish speaker, she is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish with an interdisciplinary concentration in gender and women’s studies. A JRC and Evanston, Ill., native, Rabbi Weiss is excited to return to her home congregation and community and to Lake Michigan. She is a foodie and fan of all things culinary, an artisan and craftsperson, a lover of languages and grammar, and a Hebrew/English calligrapher. She is married to Julia Tauber; they are parents of Hannah and Norah.
- [Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jessica-rosenberg/) - Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg currently resides on Dakota land, also home to the Anishinaabe, known as South Minneapolis. She was raised on Lenape land, in the Philadelphia suburbs, by Ken z”l and Shelley, accidental organizers who taught her that Jewish communities should be life-giving and values-aligned, and that it is up to us to build them. She became a Reconstructionist rabbi in order to learn our people’s diverse and nuanced histories, and create spaces, ritual and organizing that help transform our relationships to past, present and future. She has worked as a national organizer at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action and as a collective member of the Radical Jewish Calendar project. She has served and learned from: the visionary young people at Keshet’s LGBTQIA Teen Shabbatonim, the rabbis and members of Jewish Voice for Peace and the Jewish Congregation at SCI-Phoenix Prison. She authored an Introduction to Trauma, Healing and Resilience for Rabbis, Jewish Educators and Organizers, published by Reconstructing Judaism.
- [Rabbi Max Zev Reynolds](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-max-reynolds/) - Mackenzie (Max) Zev Reynolds (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based rabbi with over a decade of experience as a pastoral care and direct services provider in congregations, health centers, community organizations, and libraries. Max is especially interested in end-of-life care; the spiritual and existential care of non-religious people; trauma and moral injury; trans and queer liberation; racial, economic, and gender justice; building vibrant multi-racial and multi-class Jewish communities; Musar (Jewish ethics); and public ritual as art, catharsis, and action. Max was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, holds an MA in Philosophy of Religion from Union Theological Seminary, focusing on feminist philosophy and theology, and a BA in theology from Seattle University. He is a board-eligible chaplain and currently works as a Palliative Care Chaplain and Staff Chaplain at The Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC.
- [Rabbi Joshua Lesser](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-joshua-lesser/) - Joshua Lesser, an Atlanta native, serves Congregation Bet Haverim as its rabbi. Proudly, he founded Sojourn: The Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender & Sexual Diversity. He chairs the City of Atlanta’s Human Relations Commission and serves on the Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board. He is the rabbinic editor of Torah Queeries: A Weekly Commentary on the Hebrew Bible. Believing that we are stronger together, Josh advocates for racial justice, gender equality, interfaith partnership and transgender rights, while challenging white supremacy and triumphalism. He unrepentantly believes that joy is a form of resistance, and that everyone can make a difference. Josh lives with his partner, Alex, and their dog, Opal.
- [Rabbi Ariana Katz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-ariana-katz/) - Rabbi Ariana Katz was the founding project manager of Evolve. She is the founding rabbi of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl in Baltimore, MD. She is the host of Thread, a question and sometimes answers podcast. Ariana graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in the spring of 2018. Ariana was the creator and host of Kaddish, a podcast about death and identity.
- [Rabbi Brian Field](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-brian-field/) - A 1994 graduate of RRC, Brian came to Denver in 2004 to become the rabbi—now the senior rabbi—of Judaism Your Way, a creative and evolving Jewish outreach initiative. Judaism Your Way serves all Jews and loved ones, including Jews who are intermarried, LGBTQ, atheist or who haven’t found a good fit in organized Jewish life. Brian’s vision is a maximally inclusive Judaism that plays a robust role in the healing of the planet and the liberation of all human beings
- [Rabbi Brant Rosen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-brant-rosen/) - Rabbi Brant Rosen (RRC ’92) Is the rabbi of Tzedek Chicago and the Midwest Regional Director of the American Friends Service Committee. He is the author of the book, Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi’s Path to Palestinian Solidarity, and blogs at Shalom Rav and Yedid Nefesh.
- [Sarah Barasch](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sarah-barasch/)
- [Rabbi David Dunn Bauer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-david-dunn-bauer/)
- [Rabbi Shawn Zevit](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-shawn-zevit/)
- [Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-sandy-eisenberg-sasso/)
- [Rabbi Josh Bolton](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-josh-bolton/) - Rabbi Josh Bolton is the executive director of Brown RISD Hillel, coming from the University of Pennsylvania Hillel where he spent eight years as the Director and Senior Jewish Educator for the Jewish Renaissance Project. A celebrated educator and innovator in the Hillel movement, he is the recipient of a Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence Award for “pushing the boundaries of social media and articulating a rabbinate for the 21st century.” He is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His collection, One Hundred Suggestions for Seekers and Spiritual Activists, was published in 2018 by Alternadox Press.
- [Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-laurie-zimmerman/) - Laurie Zimmerman has served as the rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, an affiliate of Reconstructing Judaism, since 2003. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she writes and teaches frequently on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is the author of Reframing Israel: Teaching Kids to Think Critically About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Rabbi Laurie also works closely with Wisconsin’s immigrant rights organization, Voces de la Frontera, and is an active member of the Madison chapter’s fundraising committee. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her partner, Rabbi Renée Bauer, and their two children.
- [Rabbi Emily Cohen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-emily-cohen/)
- [Rabbi Elyssa Cherney](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-elyssa-cherney/)
- [Rabbi Maurice Harris](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-maurice-harris/) - Maurice is the author of three books: Moses: A Stranger Among Us (2012); Leviticus: You Have No Idea (2013), and The Forgotten Sage: Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah and the Birth of Judaism as We Know It (2019), all from Cascade Books. He blogs at www.theaccidentalrabbi.blog. He is married to Melissa Crabbe, and they have two children, Clarice Harris and Hunter Harris.
- [Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-fred-scherlinder-dobb/) - Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb (RRC ’97) has served his entire rabbinic career at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md. He is chair of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and serves on the boards of Interfaith Power and Light, and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. Fred, his spouse Minna and their two children live in Washington, D.C.
- [Rabbi Bob Gluck](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-bob-gluck/) - Pianist/composer and writer, Rabbi Bob Gluck is a Professor at the University at Albany. He is the author of two books published by University of Chicago Press, most recently “The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles” (2016). His ten recordings include “Infinite Spirit: Revisiting Music of the Mwandishi Band,” with Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson & Chris Sullivan (FMR Records, 2016). Gluck is a former executive director of the RRA and pulpit rabbi. He staffed the Joint Reconstructionist Commission on Homosexuality 1990-93 and edited the Commission’s report and study guide. He also chaired the 1995 Kehillah Mekabelet (Welcoming Communities) Task Force of the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot.
- [Rabbi Malkah Binah Klein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-malkah-binah-klein/) - Malkah Binah Klein (RRC ’04) is a rabbi, artist and community leader working at the intersection of mind, body and spirit. She integrates many spiritual practices into her teaching, including Hebrew chant, Qigong, Mussar and meditation. She is the author of a chapter on “Jewish Rituals Across the Life Cycle” in A Guide to Jewish Practice (RRC Press). Malkah Binah is a devoted student of the art of thriving in challenging times, discovering ever-deeper wellsprings of courage, resilience and knowing. Her writing and creative work can be found on her website, thrivingspirit.org.
- [Repair The World](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/repair-the-world/)
- [Rabbi Amy Small](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-amy-small/)
- [Rabbi Jeffrey Schein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jeffrey-schein/) - Jeffrey Schein is a Jewish educator. He became a Reconstructionist Rabbi in 1977 and in 1980 earned his doctorate in education from Temple University. For 25 years he guided Jewish educators through the masters of Jewish education program at Siegal College in Cleveland. He presently works as the senior education consultant for the Kaplan Center for Jewish peoplehood and also directs the Text Me: Ancient Jewish Wisdom Meets Contemporary Technology project. He is an 8th grade teacher at the Heilicher Day School in Minneapolis. He and his wife Deborah moved to Minneapolis in 2015 so that they could continue their work in closer proximity to their children and grandchildren as they continued their writing and consulting.
- [Rabbi Leila Gal Berner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/leila-gal-berner/) - Rabbi Leila Gal Berner (RRC ’89) is dean of students in the Aleph Alliance for Jewish Renewal Ordination Program, where she also teaches history and midrash. She has recently published Listening to the Heart of Genesis: A Contemplative Path available from Wipf and Stock Publishers. She is Ima to her beloved daughter Kayla; Savta to her exquisite granddaughters Aliya, Olivia and Lucy; and besherte to her wonderful wife Franna.
- [David Ebenbach](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/david-ebenbach/) - David Ebenbach is the author of The Artist’s Torah, and teaches at Georgetown University.
- [Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-mordecai-m-kaplan/)
- [Mel Scult](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mel-scult/)
- [Lex Rofeberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/lex-rofeberg/) - Lex Rofeberg is a Jewish Educator and Organizer, currently serving as co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast, a project of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife (Valerie) and cat (Peeve). He graduated with a degree in Judaic Studies from Brown University in 2013, and for two years worked as an Education Fellow for the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Alongside his current work for Judaism Unbound, he is studying towards rabbinic ordination through ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal and is a member of the activist group IfNotNow. Lex has had his writing featured in a variety of publications, including JTA, Jewish Currents, and MyJewishLearning. Last and certainly not least, Lex is a die-hard Packers fan and a former college a cappella nerd. He can be contacted at Lex@JudaismUnbound.com
- [Rabbi Michael Strassfeld](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-michael-strassfeld/) - Michael Strassfeld is the rabbi emeritus of the SAJ-Society for the Advancement of Judaism. He is an editor of The Jewish Catalogs and with Joy Levitt, A Night of Questions: A Passover Haggadah. He is completing his next book on re-inventing Judaism for the 21st century
- [Anonymous](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/anonymous/)
- [Rabbi Benjamin Weiner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-benjamin-weiner/) - Rabbi Benjamin Weiner, a 2008 graduate of RRC, has been the spiritual leader of the Jewish Community of Amherst, Mass., for almost a decade. He studied English literature at Columbia College and received a Master of Philosophy degree in Anglo-Irish literature from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, focusing his thesis on the works of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. He worked for a time as a translator of Yiddish and Hebrew, and also wrote occasionally for publications including the Forward, Religion Dispatches and Pakn Treger, the magazine of the Yiddish Book Center. While in rabbinical school, he served as a chaplain for adults with mental illness, Jewish elders and terminally ill hospital patients. In addition, he interned at the RRC archives and, under a Luce Foundation grant, at the Institute for Christian-Jewish Study in Baltimore. He lives with his wife, Cantor Elise Barber, and their son, Efraim, on a three-acre family homestead in Deerfield, Mass., along with several dairy goats and chickens, and a hive of bees.
- [Rabbi James Greene](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-james-greene/) - Rabbi James Greene is the assistant executive director of the Springfield JCC in Western Massachusetts. He is a board member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and prior to moving to Springfield in 2015 had previously served Jewish communities in Oregon and California. Rabbi James recently completed the Executive Leadership Program, an initiative of the Mandel Institute for Nonprofit Leadership. The 16-month fellowship enables rising leaders of Federations and Jewish Community Centers to sharpen their visions for their communities and organizations, and gain critical leadership and management skills. He is a member of the advisory board.
- [Rabbi Shefa Gold](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-shefa-gold/) - Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She is the director of C-DEEP: The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, N.M. Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced 10 albums, and her liturgies have been published in several new prayerbooks. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community Building, Meditation, and trains Chant Leaders in Kol Zimra, a two-year program for rabbis, cantors and lay leaders. She is a resource faculty for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and a fellow for CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders. She was recently named “One of the 33 most inspiring rabbis in America,” by the Jewish Forward. Her new project is called SOULIFT, a one-week immersion in spiritual practice designed to lift participants into the soul perspective. Shefa combines her grounding in Judaism with a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic and Native American spiritual traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the shared path of devotion. She is the author of Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land, In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs and Are We There Yet? Travel as a Spiritual Practice, published by Ben Yehuda Press, and The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening Love published by Jewish Lights. For information about how to order CDs and about Shefa’s teaching schedule, visit her website: www.rabbishefagold.com.
- [Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-sheila-peltz-weinberg/) - Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg served as a congregational rabbi for seventeen years. She has also worked in the fields of Jewish community relations, Jewish education and Hillel. She has published widely on such topics as feminism, spiritual direction, parenting, social justice and mindfulness from a Jewish perspective and has contributed commentaries to Kol HaNeshama, the Reconstructionist prayer book. Rabbi Weinberg has taught mindfulness meditation and yoga to rabbis, Jewish professionals and lay people in the context of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She serves as a spiritual director to a variety of Jewish clergy including students and faculty at HUC-JIR in New York. She is creator and co-leader of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Program. She is married to Maynard Seider and they have three married children and six grandchildren.
- [Rabbi Vivie Mayer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-vivie-mayer/) - Vivie Mayer has been teaching at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College for 13 years. She serves as director of the Mekhinah Program and the Beit Midrash. Vivie is a 1996 graduate of RRC. In 2012, Vivie completed one cycle of daf yomi study. She is an alumna of Rabbi Shefa Gold’s Kol Zimra Chanting Leadership Training. She also teaches for the Aleph Ordination Program. One of Vivie’s particular interests is discovering the theological ideas presented in the Mishnah through its design. She also writes Jewish songs and music.
- [Reena Sigman Friedman, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/reena-sigman-friedman-ph-d/) - Dr. Reena Sigman Friedman is associate professor of Modern Jewish History at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, as well as adjunct professor of Jewish History at Gratz College. She is the author of These Are Our Children: Jewish Orphanages in the United States, 1880-1925, several encyclopedia entries and numerous scholarly articles. Dr. Friedman lectures widely on topics relating to various aspects of American Jewish history.
- [Rabbi Lily Solochek](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-lily-solochek/)
- [Lanni Solochek](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/lanni-solochek/)
- [Rabbi Isaac Saposnik](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-isaac-saposnik/) - Rabbi Isaac Saposnik is executive director of Havaya Summer Programs: Camp Havaya, Havaya Arts and Havaya Israel. He is a graduate of Tufts University, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Executive Leadership Institute. A longtime camper and youth worker, he is passionate about creating engaging, meaningful and innovative Jewish experiences that celebrate children in all of their diversity and wonder.
- [Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/reconstructionist-rabbinical-association/)
- [Aurora Levins Morales](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/aurora-levins-morales/) - Aurora Levins Morales is a Puerto Rican Ashkenazi writer and liberationist, and an active member of Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, Calif. Born in Puerto Rico and an immigrant at 13, she has dedicated herself to the work of social justice since her teens. The author of six books, her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She was a regular contributor to Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends, and writes for Unruly, the blog of the Jews of Color, Sephardi and Mizrahi Caucus. She also blogs at www.patreon.com/auroralevinsmorales. Her newest book, Medicine Stories: Essays for Radicals will be released in April by Duke University Press. Aurora is the co-creator and poet-in-residence of Rimonim Liturgy Project, a collaborative project to create new liturgy that is inclusive, rooted in global Jewish cultures, joyful and responsive to the crises of our times. http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/rimonim-liturgy-project.html
- [Rabbi Dev Noily](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-dev-noily/) - Dev Noily (RRC 2009) serves as senior rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Oakland, Calif., on ancestral Chocheño and Karkin Ohlone land. Kehilla is a multigenerational experiment in community-rooted Jewish spiritual practice, celebration and justice-building. Dev trained as a Jewish meditation teacher with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and is an alum of the Catalyst Project’s Ann Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program. They are part of the inaugural cohort of the SVARA Transformative Talmud Teaching Fellowship. In 2018, Dev co-founded 700 Benches, a SVARA-inspired Beit Midrash, offering queer Talmud for everyone.
- [Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-josh-jacobs-velde/)
- [Ritualwell](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ritualwell/)
- [Rabbi Seth Goldstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-seth-goldstein/) - Rabbi Seth Goldstein is both committed to creating vibrant Jewish community and using a spiritual voice to speak to issues of social justice and common concern. He has been serving Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, WA since graduating from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2003. He also holds an MA in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington, and has trained in professional mediation. He currently serves as Immediate Past President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. He has completed the Clergy Leadership Program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and was a member of the third cohort of the Clergy Leadership Incubator. He is a Rabbis Without Borders fellow and was a Brickner Rabbinic Fellow through the Religious Action Center, andwas recently named as one of “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by the Forward. Rabbi Goldstein is the author of numerous published articles, essays and liturgy. He writes regularly on his blog, Rabbi 360 and produces two podcasts, Torah tl;dr and The Golden PodCalf, and a webseries, Carpooling with Rabbi. He is deeply engaged in local community affairs and active in Interfaith Works of Thurston County and the Faith Action Network, a statewide advocacy organization, and is one of the founders of Concerned Clergy of Olympia. He has testified in front of the Washington State Legislature on numerous occasions. Rabbi Goldstein lives in Olympia with his wife, Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg (RRC ’03), and two sons, Ozi and Erez. They recently took a social justice themed cross country roadtrip, which they recounted in their blog, Two Rabbis Cross America.
- [Rabbi Shai Gluskin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-shai-gluskin/) - Rabbi Shai Gluskin is a graduate of RRC and has served there as an adjunct faculty member. He is the former education director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. Shai works as a senior consultant at Affusion Consulting, where he is currently placed at a Fortune 500 company providing technology services. He sits on the Rabbinic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace.
- [Rabbi Mordechai Liebling](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-mordechai-liebling/) - After founding the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and directing it for ten years, Rabbi Mordechai Liebling is now the Director of the Reflection and Renewal Process at POWER a faith-based community organizing group that is part of the Faith in Action Network (PICO) in which he is part of their training team on Race, Antisemitism and Christian Hegemony. Currently, he sits on the boards of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; Faith and Politics Institute; The Shalom Center; and Green Justice Philly. He is married to Lynne Iser, and they have five adult children. Recently, he answered the clergy call to come to Ferguson, Mo.; Standing Rock, N.D.; and Charlottesville, Va.
- [Dr. Gwynn Kessler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/gwynn-kessler/)
- [Rabbi Tamara Cohen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-tamara-cohen/) - Tamara Cohen is an educator, rabbi and poet who currently works as chief of innovation for Moving Traditions. At Moving Traditions, she oversees training, curriculum development and sexuality education, among other areas. The editor of the Ma’yan Passover Haggadah, Tamara’s recent publications include an essay in Faithfully Feminist, liturgical poetry in Siddur Lev Shalom and other liturgy that can be found on ritualwell.org and theshalomcenter.org. Her own blog underthispalm.org is a work in progress. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Sarah Lawrence College and Barnard College, she lives in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia with her partner, Gwynn Kessler, and their sons Tobias and Kliel. Tamara is a member of Rabbis Without Borders and the Selah Social Justice Fellowship, and is currently a Generation Now fellow. Tamara was a co-founder of Jewish Activist Gays and Lesbians, and Brit Tzedek V’Shalom: The Jewish Alliance for Justice.
- [Essie Shachar-Hill](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/essie-shachar-hill/) - Essie Shachar-Hill is the Chicago education and training manager for Keshet, the national organization working for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life. Essie is a graduate of the Jewish Communal Leadership Program at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. They have a passion for group facilitation and creating radically inclusive spaces, and much of their work involves training Jewish institutions to be more inclusive. Previously, Essie worked for a Chicago-area girls’ empowerment organization that helped underserved populations build resilience, healthy life habits and leadership, as well as worked in Michigan facilitating after-school groups for middle and high school students. Before pursuing their MSW, Essie was a corps member in AVODAH: the Jewish Service Corps. They currently facilitate a monthly group for trans and nonbinary Jewish teens through Moving Traditions.
- [Bryan Schwartzman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/bryan-schwartzman/) - Bryan Schwartzman is the assistant director for media and development communications at Reconstructing Judaism.He is also the host of the podcast, Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations. An award-winning journalist, Schwartzman spent a decade reporting for the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent and has written for a variety of Jewish publications, including The Forward and The Jerusalem Post. Before that, he covered the human diversity found in his home borough of Queens, N.Y. His fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A native New Yorker, Schwartzman earned his master’s degree in modern Jewish studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He and his family live in suburban Philadelphia.
- [Rabbi Sarah Newmark](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-sarah-newmark/)
- [Jodi Rosenfeld](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jodi-rosenfeld/) - Jodi Rosenfeld is an incoming rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is a clinical psychologist with a small private practice in Phoenixville, Pa. Jodi holds a degree in English and Women’s Studies from Tufts University and a doctorate from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (now William James College). Her debut novel, Closer to Fine, will be published in May of 2021 by She Writes Press.
- [Rabbi Dennis C. Sasso](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-dennis-c-sasso/) - Rabbi Dennis C. Sasso, who holds a Doctor of Ministry degree, has been senior rabbi of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck since 1977. A member of the 1974 RRC graduating class, Rabbi Sasso is active in numerous interfaith and civic causes. A past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, he serves on the board of the Lake Institute for Faith and Giving, IUPUI Center on Philanthropy. He is the recipient of several Doctorate of Divinity degrees, Honoris Causa, and serves as an affiliate professor of Jewish studies at Christian Theological Seminary. A native of Panama, he writes and lectures on Sephardic and Caribbean Jewry. Rabbi Sasso and his wife, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, were designated Hoosier Jewish Legends by the Indiana Jewish Historical Society (2016).
- [Rabbi Elyse Wechterman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-elyse-wechterman/) - Rabbi Wechterman came to the RRA as executive director in the fall of 2015. She has brought a commitment to social justice, a passion for interfaith and inter-communal partnership, and a deep respect and love for her Reconstructionist colleagues to the position. Rabbi Wechterman was a founding faculty member of Camp JRF in the Poconos (now called Camp Havaya) and served on its summer faculty for many years. Before coming to the RRA, Rabbi Wechterman served as spiritual leader of Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Mass., 2001-2014. Prior to serving a pulpit, Rabbi Wechterman was the director of congregational services at the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and consulted with congregations throughout the movement on governance, growth, staffing and other issues. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Wechterman brings an open and inclusive approach to teaching Jewish life and traditions. She is committed to empowering Jews and fellow travelers on their individual and unique Jewish journeys.
- [Rabbi Marc J. Margolius](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-marc-j-margolius/) - Rabbi Marc Margolius is senior program director at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, a center for training rabbis, cantors, educators and lay leaders in Jewish mindfulness practice and revitalizing Jewish life. At IJS, he directs the Kivvun program for lay leaders, the Tikkun Middot Project for integrating mindfulness with middot (character traits) and alumni programming for clergy trained by the Institute. He also authors “Mindful Torah for our Times: Meeting Challenges with Clarity and Wisdom,” a teaching on the weekly Torah portion through the lens of mindfulness and middot practice Rabbi Margolius previously conceived and directed the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project, an initiative supporting systemic educational transformation in congregations across North America, Europe and Israel. As spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley, Pa., from 1989-2003, Rabbi Margolius helped develop a national model of the synagogue as a Shabbat-centered community constructed around intergenerational learning. He was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1989). A graduate of Yale Law School, he has long been active in interfaith matters and social-justice issues.
- [Rabbi Fredi Cooper](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-fredi-cooper/)
- [Maggid Andrew Ramer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/maggid-andrew-ramer/) - Andrew Ramer was privately ordained a maggid in 2012 by a Reconstructionist rabbi and a Mennonite pastor, and publicly ordained by a Reform rabbi in the midst of their community. He is the author of Queering the Text: Biblical, Medieval, and Modern Jewish Stories; Torah Told Different: Stories for a Pan/Post/Poly-Denominational World; Deathless: The Complete, Uncensored, Heartbreaking, and Amazing Autobiography of Serach bat Asher, the Oldest Woman in the World; and Fragments of the Brooklyn Talmud, in which a shorter version of this piece appears. Many of his blessings and prayers can be found in the inclusive, feminist siddur of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco. Born in Elm/hurst, N.Y., across the street from an amusement park called Fairyland, he now lives in Oak/land, Calif., up the street from an amusement park called Fairyland.
- [Rabbi Daria Jacobs-Velde](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-daria-jacobs-velde/)
- [Rabbi Josh Weisman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-josh-weisman/) - Rabbi Josh Weisman is the Jewish Emergent Network Rabbinic Fellow at the Kavana Cooperative in Seattle. Prior to rabbinical school, Rabbi Josh worked for 12 years in nonprofits, mostly as a grass-roots organizer. During that time, he worked for several years as a congregation-based community organizer, where he experienced the power of religious communities to transform the world and transform themselves in the process, and later helped launch a Jewish startup. His interests include Jewish meditation, musical participatory prayer and re-engaging with traditionally radical interpretation of Jewish sacred text as post-moderns. He was ordained by Hebrew College in 2018.
- [Rabbi Rena Blumenthal](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-rena-blumenthal/) - Rena Blumenthal is a freelance rabbi based in New Paltz, New York. She graduated from RRC in 2003 after a prior career as a psychologist. Rena worked at Vassar College for eleven years as the Assistant Director of Religious & Spiritual Life and Advisor to Jewish Students. She currently serves as part-time Advisor to Jewish students and an Adjunct Professor for Jewish Studies at Marist College. She also provides consultation to campuses looking to expand Jewish life and engages in a wide range of teaching and service-leading opportunities and life cycle officiation. Rena is the author of a novel, “The Book of Israela.”
- [Rabbi Elliott Tepperman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-elliott-tepperman/) - Rabbi Elliott Tepperman embraces spiritually courageous Judaism, and the loving pursuit of shalom and justice for all people. He believes that Jewish practice is most transformational when deep internal work becomes a springboard for building community and engaging with the world, and likewise, when we bring the profound and mundane challenges of our personal and public lives to bear on Jewish study and worship. Since 2002, Rabbi Elliott has been the spiritual leader of Bnai Keshet in Montclair, N.J. He has worked to build a robust, inclusive and collaborative Jewish community. Under his leadership, the synagogue has created an innovative Shabbat-centered education program, with more than 150 children meeting each week and 40 to 60 adults meeting in multiple classes. Rabbi Elliott has led meditation retreats, started a weekly meditation minyan and taught multiple Mussar classes—strengthening soul-traits cohorts. He inspired and facilitated the establishment of a Hevre Kadisha—a community-centered burial society. He strengthened the synagogue’s culture of giving; worked to help the synagogue burn its mortgage; and instituted the Living Our Values (LOV) annual campaign. During his tenure, membership has increased nearly 50 percent.
- [Rabbi Barbara Penzner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-barbara-penzner/) - Since 1995, Barbara Penzner has served Temple Hillel B’nai Torah, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Boston. Barbara is currently co-chair of the New England Jewish Labor Committee and leads their annual Labor Seder in Boston. She is a past President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis.
- [Rabbi Michael Zimmerman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-michael-zimmerman/)
- [Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-steven-carr-reuben-ph-d/)
- [Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-donna-kirshbaum/) - Rabbi Kirshbaum immigrated to Israel in 2013 after serving a Reconstructionist-affiliated congregation in Princeton, N.J., for five years upon graduation from RRC in 2008. She continues to remain active on JWI’s Clergy Task Force on Gender-Based Violence but spends most of her time working for Women Wage Peace, currently as a member of the Resource Development and U.N. Resolution 1325 Implementation teams, as well as editor of the monthly update for English speakers worldwide. Two of her grandchildren are expected to enter the Israel Defense Forces in four and three years, respectively, adding even more urgency to helping end a conflict that she believes cannot be solved militarily.
- [Rabbi Alissa Wise](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-alissa-wise/)
- [David Mosenkis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/david-mosenkis/)
- [Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-abraham-joshua-heschel/)
- [John Backman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/john-backman/) - A spiritual director, speaker and monastic associate, John Backman writes about ancient spirituality and the unexpected ways it can affect modern life. This includes a book (Why Can’t We Talk? Christian Wisdom on Dialogue as a Habit of the Heart) and personal essays in such places as Tiferet Journal and Amethyst Review.
- [Sheira DIrector-Nowack, MSW, CJCS](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sheira-director-nowack/) - Sheira Director-Nowack, MSW, CJCS, is camp director of Camp Havaya. She holds degrees from The Ohio State University and Yeshiva University, is a graduate of the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Executive Leadership Institute, and is an AMSkier Partner. She pinches herself every day that her job is all about things she cares about as much as growth among young people, Judaism and community-based experiential education.
- [Rabbi Amy Eilberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-amy-eilberg/) - Rabbi Amy Eilberg is the first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She serves as a spiritual director, kindness coach, and peace and justice educator. She recently served as the Coordinator of Jewish Engagement for Faith in Action Bay Area, a multi-faith, multi-racial social justice organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to that she served as the director of the Pardes Rodef Shalom (Pursuer of Peace) Communities Program, teaching Jewish civil discourse to rabbis, synagogues and Jewish organizations. Her book, From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace, was published by Orbis Books in March 2014.
- [Steve Weinberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/steve-weinberg/)
- [Rabbi Mark Sameth](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-mark-sameth/) - Rabbi Mark Sameth (he/him/his) was the founding rabbi of Pleasantville Community Synagogue in Westchester County, N.Y., which he led for 18 years. He served as Intentional Interim Rabbi of Union Temple of Brooklyn, NY (founded, 1848). He tweets on meditation from @fourbreaths. His book on the history of the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter Name of God, is forthcoming from Wipf and Stock.
- [Rabbi Ari Witkin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-ari-witkin/)
- [Dr. Louis E. Newman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-louis-e-newman/) - Louis E. Newman is the author of Repentance: The Meaning and Practice of Teshuvah (Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights, 2010). He is the John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religious Studies, emeritus, Carleton College, and associate vice provost for undergraduate education at Stanford University. He is also the author of An Introduction to Jewish Ethics (Prentice-Hall), Past Imperatives: Studies in the History and Theory of Jewish Ethics (SUNY Press) and co-editor (with Elliot N. Dorff) of three volumes in the Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices series (JPS).
- [Cherie R. Brown](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/cherie-r-brown/) - Cherie R. Brown is executive director of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), a nonprofit leadership organization that trains campuses, K-12 schools and community activists in diversity, equity and inclusion skills. She has led hundreds of weekend workshops on antisemitism, the intersection of antisemitism and racism, and Israel-Palestine issues. For many years, Brown has also been an adjunct faculty member at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in the Philadelphia suburbs.
- [Eleni Finkelstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/eleni-finkelstein/) - Eleni Finkelstein is a student at the University of Delaware studying political science and Spanish. She is heavily involved with the University of Delaware Hillel and various organizations on campus, such as activism clubs and Greek life. She hopes to work in the nonprofit world to advocate for social justice.
- [Penina Eilberg-Schwartz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/penina-eilberg-schwartz/) - Penina Eilberg-Schwartz is a writer and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. After studying history at Oberlin College, she worked on issues of justice in Israel-Palestine with Abraham’s Vision, the Rebuilding Alliance, the New Israel Fund and IfNotNow. She is an alumnus of the Carey Institute for Global Good’s Nonfiction Fellowship and the co-author of the chapbook Everything in the Speaking of It (Alley Cat Books). Her work has also appeared in +972 Magazine, The Rumpus, All That’s Left, Reform Judaism and This Recording.
- [Sulaiman Khatib](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sulaiman-khatib/) - Souli was born in Hizmeh/Jerusalem and lives in Ramallah. He is an elected member of the Peace NGOs Forum and co-founder/former co-director of Combatants for Peace, a nonprofit Israeli/Palestinian peace-building organization in Ramallah and Tel Aviv. Its founders are former Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian prisoners who decided to join hands through joint, nonviolent means to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the age of 14, Sulaiman was sentenced to 15 years in prison and served a term of 10.5 years. During those years, he spent his time studying history and other world conflicts and peace activists, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. He acquired his entire education and worldview in jail. This is when he began to have new thoughts about the conflict and the means for resolving it. As a result, he is today a committed advocate for peace in the Middle East and an active member of various programs aiming to promote a peaceful solution to the conflict within local communities, as well as on a regional and international level. Among them: He founded and co-directed the People’s Peace Fund, 2008-2011. Before that, he was the General Director of Al-Qud’s Association for Democracy and Dialogue, which he founded with fellow Palestinian peace activists in 2005 in order to work with youth to be able to create effective and sustainable projects and programs focusing on the promotion of peace, democracy, dialogue and civic participation in the Palestinian Territories.
- [Claire McMahon Fishman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/claire-mcmahon-fishman/) - Claire McMahon Fishman writes about Jewishness and other subjects related to identity and community at bit.ly/gnashingblog. Claire graduated from Brown University in 2019 with a degree in history, writing her honors thesis on narratives about race, class and community used in the Rhode Island fair housing movement. Active in Jewish life throughout her time at Brown, she worked as Brown RISD Hillel’s Welcoming Chair and later Vice President of Social Justice and the Arts to make the community more accessible to students who hold identities commonly marginalized in Jewish spaces. She also co-led Jews of Mixed Identity, a group for students from interfaith and multiracial families. In the fall of 2019, she will begin her Avodah service year working as a case manager at Miriam’s Kitchen, an organization that seeks to end chronic homelessness in Washington, D.C.
- [Rabbi Haviva Ner-David](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-haviva-ner-david/) - Haviva Ner-David is a post-denominational interspiritual rabbi, spiritual director, writer and social activist living on Kibbutz Hannaton in the Galilee. She is the founder of Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul, the only human-built mikveh in Israel that is open to all to immerse as they choose. At Shmaya, she facilitates mikveh workshops for a wide variety of groups from across Israel and around the world, and creates and officiates both traditional and innovative immersion ceremonies. Haviva is a spiritual director both online and in person for individuals and couples, and she loves combining her mikveh work with spiritual direction when appropriate by helping mikveh clients create kavanot (holy intentions) and personalized ceremonies for their immersion experiences. Her certification in spiritual direction is from The One Spirit Interfaith-Interspiritual Seminary in NYC, where she was also ordained as an interfaith minister. Haviva did intensive trainings in dreamwork, inner child work and nature soul work. Her rabbinical ordination is from Rabbi Aryeh Strikovsky, an Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem (she was the first woman to be publicly ordained by an Orthodox rabbi), which she received while also earning her doctorate from Bar Ilan University on the subject of mikveh and menstrual purity. Haviva is the author of three spiritual journey memoirs. The first, Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination, was a runner up for the National Jewish Book Award, and the second, Chanah’s Voice: A Rabbi Wrestles with Gender, Commandment and the Women’s Rituals of Baking, Bathing and Brightening, was hailed as an even more important book than her first. Both are published by Ben Yehudah Press, who is also publishing her forthcoming Getting (and Staying) Married Jewishly: Preparing for your Life Together with Ancient and Modern Wisdom. The third spiritual journey memoir, Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi’s Soul Journey, came out in December 2021 and is about her journey into interspirituality and dreamwork. Her debut novel, Hope Valley, came out in April 2021, and is about an unexpected friendship between two Israeli women, one Palestinian and one Jewish.
- [Rabbi Linda Holtzman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-linda-holtzman/)
- [Jayme Epstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jayme-epstein/) - Fran and Jayme are active members of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md., and Jews United for Justice (JUFJ). They work together to raise awareness of racial inequities in our society by facilitating programs at Adat Shalom and JUFJ, including this discussion group, workshops and movies, followed by panel discussions.
- [Fran Zamore](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/fran-zamore/) - Fran and Jayme are active members of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md., and Jews United for Justice (JUFJ). They work together to raise awareness of racial inequities in our society by facilitating programs at Adat Shalom and JUFJ, including this discussion group, workshops and movies, followed by panel discussions.
- [Amit S.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/amit-s/)
- [Rabbi Zusha Wiener](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-zusha-wiener/)
- [Rabbi Meryl Crean](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-meryl-crean/)
- [Dr. Ameet Ravital](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ameet-ravital/) - Ameet Ravital, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice in Philadelphia. He specializes in working with people with trauma, using a skill-building, strengths-based approach. He is currently learning about the use of plant-based medicines to help individuals develop a holistic, spiritually oriented perspective on their life. He can be reached at: http://www.ravitalhome.com.
- [The Parents Circle-Families Forum](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/the-parents-circle-families-forum/)
- [Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-avram-israel-reisner/)
- [Rabbi Lester Bronstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-lester-bronstein/) - Lester Bronstein has served as rabbi of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains, N.Y., since 1989. He is a past board member of the RRA and was a member of the Commission on the Role of the Rabbi for the Reconstructionist movement. Currently, he is president of the New York Board of Rabbis, as well as a board member of T’ruah and the UJA-Federation of New York.
- [Rabbi Adina Allen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-adina-allen/) - Rabbi Adina Allen is a spiritual leader, writer and educator who believes in the power of creativity to revitalize our lives and transform Jewish tradition. Adina is co-founder and creative director of Jewish Studio Project (JSP). Integrating a lifetime of experience in the expressive arts with her rabbinic training, Adina brings the work of JSP to clergy, educators and lay leaders at Jewish communal institutions across the country. Adina’s writing is widely published, and her original research on using creative process to generate contemporary midrash was published in the CCAR Journal in 2013. She is a recipient of the Covenant Foundation’s 2018 Pomegranate Prize for emerging Jewish educators and is a fellow of the Open Dor Project for spiritual entrepreneurs. Adina was ordained in Hebrew College’s pluralistic training program in Boston in 2014, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow.
- [Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jonathan-k-crane/)
- [Rabbi Jonathan Brumberg Kraus](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jonathan-brumberg-kraus/) - Rabbi Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, a Professor of Religion at Wheaton College (MA), is the author of Gastronomic Judaism as Culinary Midrash (Lexington, 2018) and has published numerous articles on Jewish food and has translated Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher’s fourteenth-century Hebrew mystical manual on food, Shulhan Shel Arba (Table of Four) available on-line on Sefaria.
- [Tal Frieden](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/tal-frieden/) - Tal is a student at Brown University and a founding member of Friday Night Jews, a radically inclusive, non-hierarchical and non-denominational Jewish community at Brown. Tal also helped found Railroad, a student organization building a world beyond prisons. Tal loves bike rides, beach days and homemade challah.
- [Harry Webne-Behrman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/harry-webne-behrman/) - Harry Webne-Behrman lives in Ottawa, Ontario, after moving there from Madison, Wis., in 2017. Harry has served as a facilitator, consultant, educator and mediator for more than 40 years. Along with his partner, Lisa Webne-Behrman, he served as senior partner of Collaborative Initiative, Inc., a private consulting and mediation firm based in Madison, where he worked with hundreds of businesses, educational institutions, community groups and public agencies, helping to address entrenched organizational and social issues. Through his extensive work, Harry has earned a reputation as a valued resource and guide. In 2006, he received the Wisconsin Association of Mediators Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his extensive contributions to the field. He maintains tremendous enthusiasm about the importance of learning to work collaboratively to build positive work and community environments. His recently published book, What Matters at Work (2020), is offered in that spirit. In addition, Harry is the author of The Practice of Facilitation (1998) and Guardian of the Process (1994), and co-author of the Working It Out Series (1991-96) in peer mediation and conflict-resolution education in schools, and has authored numerous articles on mediation, and conflict resolution and facilitation. While in Madison, Harry was an active member of Congregation Sh’aarei Sh’mayim and sang with the Madison Yiddish Choir. He and Lisa are currently members of Congregation Or Haneshamah in Ottawa.
- [Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sarah-brammer-shlay/) - Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in May 2022. She will begin as the Rabbi and Associate Chaplain at Grinnell College in August 2022. She created The God Cafe Project with the goal of creating space for people to explore moments in their lives of Divine connection and grappling. At the core of her identity as a Jewish leader and community organizer is the desire for people to get out of isolation and into connection. She has more than 14 years of community organizing experience in a variety of fields, including, but not limited to, Israel/Palestine, labor, feminism, workers’ rights and health care. Sarah was a co-founder of IfNotNow and has served in various leadership roles with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence as well.
- [Dr. Tamar Kamionkowski](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-tamar-kamionkowski/) - Tamar Kamionkowski is professor of Biblical Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she served as dean and academic vice president of the college for nine years. She earned a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. She is the author of Leviticus: A Wisdom Commentary; Gender Reversal and Cosmic Chaos: A Study on the Book of Ezekiel; and editor of Bodies, Embodiment and Theology of the Hebrew Bible.
- [Rabbi Danielle Parmenter](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-danielle-parmenter/)
- [Rabbi Elliot Kukla](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-elliot-kukla/) - Elliot Kukla is a rabbi at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in San Francisco, where since 2008 he has provided spiritual care to those who are dying, ill or bereaved. His articles on spiritual care, illness and healing are published widely in magazines and anthologies, including in The New York Times, The Forward, Shm’a Now and Tikkun. In 2006, he was the first openly transgender rabbi to be ordained by a mainstream movement in Judaism (Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles). In 2007, he co-founded www.transtorah.org to help people of all genders access Jewish tradition. His prayers and ideas on gender diversity in Judaism have received international media coverage, including in Haaretz and The Washington Post, and he is featured in the 2017 National Geographic special “Gender Revolution.” His prayers for new gender and sexual milestones are included in numerous prayer books and rabbi’s manuals, and used in progressive synagogues across North America. He is also chronically ill and disabled. He writes and paints about the intersections among disability, justice and spirituality, and is a visual artist with Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility. In recent years, he has increasingly been focused on offering spiritual care to frontline disabled and sick communities struggling with the impacts of climate chaos. He was named one of the 50 intriguing and influential Jews of 2019 by The Forward.
- [Rabbi Benjamin Barnett](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-benjamin-barnett/) - Benjamin Barnett was ordained at RRC in 2006 and is currently the rabbi of Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon. In that role, he strives to listen deeply and serve as a loving presence, supporting growth, healing and connection in the lives of individuals and within the community. He is passionate about building relationships across religious and cultural lines. As a devoted practitioner and teacher of contemplative Jewish prayer and meditation, he works to inform his pursuit of justice alongside others with the wisdom and compassion born of spiritual practice. Prior to becoming a rabbi, Benjamin worked with mentally ill adults and led wilderness expeditions for teenagers. He lives in Portland with his wife, Rachel, and their children, Lev, Arava and Judah. He teaches on various contemplative retreats in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. For information about them, he can be reached through the Havurah Shalom website
- [Rabbi Arthur Waskow](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-arthur-waskow/) - Rabbi Arthur Waskow has been one of the creators and leaders of Jewish renewal since writing the original Freedom Seder in 1969. From 1982 to 1989, and again in 2018, he taught at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. In 2017, RRC bestowed on him its honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters for his lifetime of work in the pursuit of peace and social justice. In 1983, he co-founded The Shalom Center (www.shalomctr.org) with RRC President Ira Silverman and has since been its director, shaping its work as a prophetic voice in Jewish, multi-religious and American life. Among his seminal works have been Seasons of Our Joy; Godwrestling — Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths; Down-to-Earth Judaism; and, as editor, Torah of the Earth. He co-founded the National Havurah Institute in 1980; ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal in 1993; and Rabbis for Human Rights/North America (now T’ruah) in 2002. His most recent books are Dancing in God’s Earthquake : The Coming Transformation of Religion (Orbis, 2020), which he calls “the harvest of my life-work: sown in the past, intended to feed the future” and and Liberating Your Passover Seder: An Anthology Beyond the Freedom Seder, more than thirty essays by a multireligious rainbow of Creators/ Liberators co-edited and partly written by Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis Ocean Berman.
- [Rabbi Faryn Borella](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/faryn-borella/) - Faryn Borella is a Jewish educator, ritual leader and community organizer who works with people ages 2 to 72 to uncover and rediscover the radical, liberatory praxes within our inherited Jewish tradition(s) and enact them for collectively liberatory purposes in our times. She is currently a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the rabbinic intern with The Shalom Center.
- [Rabbi Steve Gutow](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-steve-gutow/) - Rabbi Steve Gutow is a visiting scholar at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He received rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2003. As president and CEO of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs (JCPA) from 2005 until 2015, he initiated a campaign to address poverty in the United States that implemented several efforts leading to an increased national commitment to reduce poverty, such as the “food stamp challenge” and Fighting Poverty with Faith. Under Gutow’s leadership, the JCPA undertook in 2013 an “Immigration Nation” campaign to demonstrate Jewish community support for comprehensive immigration reform and a campaign to end gun violence, inspired by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Also under his auspices, the JCPA initiated a civility in the public square campaign that serves as a model for faith communities around the world. Equally important, as a part of the JCPA, Gutow served as a leader of the principal environmental advocacy organization in the Jewish community, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL). In 2015, Gutow was appointed to the President’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and was accepted as a New York member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In addition, he serves as chair of the board of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, which is a partnership of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Council of Churches and the JCPA. Gutow was recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s most influential rabbis in 2009, 2010 and 2012. He has also been recognized as one of the nation’s top Jewish leaders by The Forward.
- [Richard Zimler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/richard-zimler/)
- [Edmund Case](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/edmund-case/) - Edmund Case, the retired founder of InterfaithFamily (now 18Doors) is the president of the Center for Radically Inclusive Judaism, publisher of his book Radical Inclusion: Engaging Interfaith Families for a Thriving Jewish Future.
- [Rabbi Jon Sommer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jon-sommer/) - Rabbi Jon Sommer served in the United States Air Force, and began his professional training and work at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and later in Washington, D.C., and at Air Force Space Command. He received the distinguished Air Force Achievement Medal. Sommer is a graduate of both Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the University of California. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and a master’s degree in Hebrew Letters. He serves on the board of a Reform Movement think-tank that addresses critical and timely issues facing modern Jewish thought and practice.
- [Rabbi Hannah Spiro](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-hannah-spiro/) - Hannah Spiro, the rabbi of Hill Havurah, is a Washington, D.C.-area native and a 2017 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College graduate. She has served Reconstructionist, Reform and Conservative synagogues from Boston to Florida. Hannah is also an accomplished singer/songwriter. She lives in northeast D.C. with her husband and toddler.
- [Virginia Avniel Spatz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/virginia-avniel-spatz/) - Virginia Avniel Spatz is a writer who lives and works in Washington, D.C. She helps manage the Charnice Milton Community Bookstore (weluvbooks.org) in Historic Anacostia. She and her husband have lived in the District of Columbia for more than 30 years, raising two children, now adults. She is active in several Jewish congregations and the Cross River (Black-Jewish) Dialogue. She is an original and returning member of Hill Havurah.
- [Rabbi Adam Lavitt](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-adam-lavitt/) - Rabbi Adam Lavitt is the rabbi and chaplain at Orchard Cove, a campus of Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston. He also serves as a spiritual director in Boston and Providence, R.I. Graduating from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2012, he has since served as assistant rabbi at Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in West Newton, Mass., and campus rabbi at Swarthmore College outside of Philadelphia. He is an alumnus of CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship, the JOIN for Justice Clergy Fellowship and the Boston Bridges Fellowship. Adam lives in Providence with his husband, Alex
- [Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nancy-fuchs-kreimer/) - Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Ph.D. is associate professor emeritus of religious studies and the founding director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. A 1982 graduate of RRC, she also holds a master’s degree from Yale Divinity School and a doctorate from Temple University in religion. With support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Kreimer has pioneered innovative community-based learning opportunities for rabbinical students from across the denominations and their peers of other faiths. Her projects include Dialogue Retreats for Emerging Muslim and Jewish Leaders; Cultivating Character: A Conversation Across Communities; and Campus Chaplaincy for a Multifaith World. Kreimer is a past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and served on its Ethics Committee. She is a founding board member of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia; Shoulder-to-Shoulder, an initiative of the Islamic Society of North America; and the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom. She co-edited Chapters of the Heart: Jewish Women Sharing the Torah of Our Lives (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and co-authored Strangers, Neighbors, Friends: Muslim-Christian-Jewish Reflections on Compassion and Peace (Wipf and Stock, 2018). Her most recent book chapter, “Interreligious Education at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: A View From the Jewish Edge,” appeared in 2020 in Experiments in Empathy (Brill). She is currently teaching Deep Ecumenism in the Aleph Ordination Program.
- [Rabbi Ellen Lippman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-ellen-lippman/) - Rabbi Ellen Lippmann founded Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, a thriving independent congregation, in 1993, and has been delighted to see it grow under the leadership of Rabbi Miriam Grossman and Cantor Lisa B. Segal. Lippmann was East Coast Director of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and director of the Jewish Women’s Program at the new 14th Street Y in Manhattan. Rabbi Lippmann was co-chair and sits on the board of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights (her term ends June 2020). She served as the first social-justice chair for the Women’s Rabbinic Network, and has served on numerous boards and advisory councils. Currently, she is on the board of JFREJ: Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and Integrate NYC: Integration is Not Assimilation, and is an advisor to JAWN: Jews Against White Nationalism. She was the founder of the Soup Kitchen at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and co-founder of the Children of Abraham Peace Walk: Jews, Christians and Muslims Walking Together in Brooklyn in Peace, which took place annually for 15 years.
- [Rachel McCullough](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rachel-mccullough/)
- [Jennifer Peace, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jennifer-peace-ph-d/) - Jennifer Howe Peace, Ph.D., has been an interfaith organizer and scholar since the 1990s. Peace was the first associate professor of Interfaith Studies at Andover Newton Theological School, where she Interreligious/Interfaith Studies: Defining a New Field (Beacon: 2018), and My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation (Orbis: 2012). From 2019-20, she served as the Tufts University Chaplain, ad interim. She currently serves on the advisory board for the Pluralism Project at Harvard University. co-founded and co-directed the Center for Interreligious and Communal Leadership Education (CIRCLE). The founding co-chair of the Interreligious/Interfaith Studies program unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR), she launched the AAR-affiliated Association for Interreligious/Interfaith Studies in 2017. Peace has written numerous articles, essays and chapters on interfaith cooperation.
- [Dr. Celine Ibrahim](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-celine-ibrahim/)
- [Dr. Carol Ascher](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/carol-ascher/) - Carol Ascher is a writer and spiritual director (Bekhol Levavkha, Hebrew Union College). She is the author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction, and spent many years as an anthropologist (Ph.D., Columbia University) studying equality in public education.
- [Rabbi Janine Jankovitz Pastor](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-janine-jankovitz-pastor/) - Rabbi Janine Jankovitz Pastor is a writer and the rabbi of Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid in Broomall, PA. She is passionate about Jewish tradition, Yehuda Amichai’s poetry and the Torah of Johnny Cash.
- [Rabbi George Stern](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-george-stern/) - For much of his career, George Stern served as rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Upper Nyack, N.Y., where he established strong social justice and interfaith programs; taught Jewish-studies courses at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, N.Y.; served as president of the Nyack Interfaith Clergy Association; spearheaded the establishment of a Pastoral Care Department and Clinical Pastoral Education program at Nyack Hospital; organized interfaith support of Black churches during a spate of church burnings in 1995-96; assisted in clergy training around issues of domestic violence; and represented the faith community on the Multicultural Task Force of the Nyack Public Schools. A Philadelphian by birth, George returned in 2002 and became the executive director of Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM), followed by part-time stints as coordinator of a support program for older adults in Center City and director of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network, a progressive social-justice organization. George was ordained in 1974 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Currently, George is on the Tikkun Olam Coordinating Team of Germantown Jewish Centre and the Steering Committee of Indivisible NW Philly, dedicated to ensuring the election of progressive candidates in Pennsylvania and nationally.
- [Carmen Amalia Corrales](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/carmen-amalia-corrales/) - Carmen Amalia Corrales is a retired partner of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (2016), where she built an impressive career, starting in 1990, focusing on Latin American transactional work, including sovereign debt restructuring and capital markets issuances. Her work was recognized internationally by publications like Chambers Global, The Best Lawyers in America, and the Legal 500 Latin America, among others. In 2013, she was chosen by Latin Lawyer’s “Women in Law” issue as one of the most inspiring women practicing in Latin American matters. In 2015, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Commission on White House Fellowships. She currently serves as a Trustee at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and at Bloomfield College, a historically Black college in New Jersey. Ms. Corrales dedicated a portion of her practice to pro bono activities and service, including to advance diversity in the legal profession and in classical music, and she has continued to do so after retirement from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. She is a member of Reconstructionist Congregation Bnai Keshet in Montclair, N.J. She chairs Reconstructing Judaism’s Jews of Color and Allies Advisory Board.
- [Rabbi Nora Woods](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nora-woods/) - Rabbi Nora Woods serves as the Interfaith Chaplain of Bryn Mawr College, where she provides spiritual care for the campus community, supports religious life on campus and helps facilitate interfaith community-building. She was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in June 2020. She graduated with a B.A. in religion from Earlham College and received a certificate in Leading Spiritual Diversity in Higher Education from New York University’s Of Many Institute for Multifaith Leadership. From 2016-19, she served as the rabbinic intern and Jewish adviser for Bryn Mawr College Hillel. Prior to coming to Bryn Mawr, she served as the rabbinic intern at Georgetown University. She has also been a T’ruah Fellow, working with survivors of human trafficking in New York City; and as a chaplain for seniors at the Abrahamson Center for Jewish Life in North Wales, Pa., and at Hebrew Senior Life in Boston. Aside from issues of faith and identity, Rabbi Nora loves to talk about farming, musical theater and food. When not at work, she can often be found supporting the work of community organizers, watching sports and playing outside.
- [Bette Birnbaum](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/bette-birnbaum/) - Bette Birnbaum is an incoming first-year student at RRC. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Reform Movement, which she credits with seeding her strong Jewish identity. She holds a master’s degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Bette has worked as a teacher of children and adults, editor of children’s trade books and textbooks, supplementary religious-school director, and for the last six years, as a spiritual care counselor for several hospices. She has migrated between membership in Reform and Conservative communities all her adult life but identifies theologically with Reconstructing Judaism. She has served as a board member of NECHAMA: Jewish Response to Disaster and was recently sworn in as a CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocate for children) in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she resides.
- [Rabbi Aryeh Cohen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-aryeh-cohen/) - Aryeh Cohen is professor of rabbinic studies at American Jewish University, Kogod Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, rabbi in residence at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Southern California, and immediate past co-chair of the board of directors of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice). His latest book is Justice in the City: An Argument From the Sources of Rabbinic Judaism (Academic Studies Press). Cohen has a weekly Talmud podcast called Daf Shvu’i/Weekly Daf: Give me 40 minutes or so and I’ll give you a daf or so, which is available anywhere podcasts can be downloaded.
- [Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-aryeh-bernstein/) - Aryeh Bernstein is a fifth-generation Chicago South Sider with extensive experience in Torah education, especially in progressive Jewish communities. Aryeh works as a national Jewish educator for Avodah; an educational consultant for the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs; a staff educator for the Jewish Initiative for Animals; is a T’ruah Jewish Law and Ethics COVID-19 Hackathon research fellow; and has previously taught and directed programs at Hadar Institute, Mishkan Chicago, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, as well as campuses, communities and organizations around the United States and Israel. A former editor-translator for the Koren English edition of the Steinsaltz Talmud and a senior editor of Jewschool.com, Aryeh studied at Yeshivat Ma’ale Gilboa, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and has rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes’s Yashrut Institute.
- [Rabbi Bec Richman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-bec-richman/) - Rabbi Rebecca (Bec) Richman (she/her) is the Assistant Rabbi and Beit Midrash Director at Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia and the Founding Director of the West Philadelphia Art Beit Midrash. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Bec trained as a campus rabbi at Brandeis University completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and participated in T’ruah’s Year in Israel Fellowship. As a Jewish Studio Project Fellow, Bec integrates Jewish learning and creative practice. In addition to her rabbinic work, Bec is a soferet (scribe), Hebrew calligrapher, ceramicist and mikveh shomeret. Bec lives with her partner and their sweet kiddo in sunny West Philadelphia.
- [Rabbi Koach Baruch Frazier](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-koach-baruch-frazier/)
- [Susan Levine](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/susan-levine/)
- [Dr. Lila Corwin Berman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-lila-corwin-berman/) - Lila Corwin Berman is professor of history at Temple University, where she directs the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History, and is a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania for the 2020-21 academic year. This essay draws on her most recent book, The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution. Her articles have appeared in scholarly and popular publications, including the American Historical Review and The Washington Post.
- [Lazora Jordan](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/lazora-jordan/) - Lazora Jordan is a proud social worker dedicated to anti-oppression and the accessibility of mental health care. Recently having joined Reconstructing Judaism’s Tikkun Olam Commission and Jews of Color and Allies Advisory Group, Lazora is excited to continue working towards building Jewish communities where all Jews are embraced
- [Rabbi Armin Langer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/armin-langer/) - Armin Langer is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He is the author of the book Ein Jude in Neukölln: Mein Weg zum Miteinander der Religionen(A Jew in Neukölln: My Path to the Coexistence of Religions) and the editor of the anthology Fremdgemacht and Reorientiert: Jüdisch-Muslimische Verflechtungen (Foreign and Reoriented: Jewish-Muslim Entanglements). He is currently completing his Ph.D. in sociology at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.
- [Kohenet Sarah Chandler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sarah-chandler/) - Sarah Chandler, aka Kohenet Shamirah, is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Jewish educator, ritualist, artist, activist and poet. Currently, she serves as the program director of Romemu Yeshiva and a garden educator with Grow Torah. A trainer with Ta’amod, she supports Jewish nonprofits in harassment prevention through designing and maintaining respectful workplaces. She teaches, writes and consults on issues related to Jewish earth-based spiritual practice, farming and mindfulness. Ordained as a Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess) in 2015, she is studying as a shamanic healer apprentice at the Wisdom School of S.O.P.H.I.A., in addition to Kabbalistic imaginal dream work at the School of Images.
- [Rabbi Aya Baron](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/aya-baron/) - Aya Baron is a scholar, wilderness guide and ritualist pursuing rabbinic ordination at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College after recently completing her master’s degree in Jewish studies from the Graduate Theological Union. Her studies build on six years of leadership at Wilderness Torah, an organization committed to reconnecting Judaism to its natural cycles. There, she established herself as a pioneer in earth-based Jewish practice by developing outdoor rites of passage experiences for b’nai mitzvah-age youth, as well as by training local and international teams of educators. Aya has served several additional JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming and Environmental Education) organizations — most recently, Hazon — as a JOFEE fellowship mentor.
- [Rabbi Irwin Keller](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-irwin-keller/) - Rabbi Irwin Keller has served Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, Calif., since 2008. He is a founder and steward of the Taproot Program, supporting activists and artists to be community ritualists. He is an LGBTQ rights activist and authored Chicago’s first gay rights law, in effect since 1989. He is also a founder of the Kinsey Sicks, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, but hung up his heels in 2014 to work for his rabbinical ordination through ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal. He blogs at irwinkeller.com.
- [Barbara E. Breitman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/barbara-e-breitman/) - Barbara “Bobbi” Breitman has served as assistant professor of pastoral counseling at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She co-created RRC’s Program in Jewish Spiritual Direction and directs the training and supervision of its spiritual directors. Stemming from her work at RRC, Bobbi was instrumental in creating Spiritual Direction programs at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and at Hebrew College. She founded Lev Shomea, the first training institute of Jewish spiritual directors and co-edited the book Jewish Spiritual Direction. She is a licensed clinical social worker and trauma-trained psychotherapist with a mind-body orientation. She taught Advanced Practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Social Work. As an avid yoga practitioner and activist, Bobbi has ongoing interest in how contemplative practices can ground and deepen social-justice work.
- [Rabbi Gary Ellison](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-gary-ellison/)
- [Rabbi May Ye](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/may-ye/) - May Ye is a Chinese-American Jew and rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is the founder of the Person of Color Havurah at Kol Tzedek Synagogue in Philadelphia and of Min Hameitzar: A National Network of Jews of Color Havurot. She organizes with Jewish Voice for Peace. She has worked for Aurora Levins Morales on new liturgy that centers the voices of indigenous Jews and Jews of Color. She has also worked as a rabbinic intern at Tzedek Chicago and is currently a Climate Justice Fellow for POWER in Philadelphia.
- [Francesca Rubinson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/francesca-rubinson/) - Francesca Rubinson (she/her) is a member of the 2020-2021 Avodah Jewish Service Corps, and works at an immigrant justice non-profit in the DC area. A proud graduate of Tufts University, she hopes to continue writing about Edith Stein as she pursues a masters degree at Harvard Divinity School.
- [Carin Mrotz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/carin-mrotz/) - Carin Mrotz is the executive director of Jewish Community Action, a 25-year-old nonprofit organizing Minnesota’s Jewish community for racial and economic justice. On staff since 2004, she has worked on campaigns for immigrant and workers’ rights, and played a key role in leading JCA’s work to organize with interfaith partners in support of marriage equality in 2012. Since becoming executive director in 2017, she has grown the organization, built on ongoing campaigns for affordable housing and criminal justice reform, and launched a new program to work statewide with other progressives to build a shared analysis of antisemitism and white nationalism. Carin holds a bachelor’s degree in religion and a master’s degree in public administration. She has worked as a trainer, curriculum designer and college instructor, and she has served as a consultant to nonprofit organizations, providing support in fundraising, program evaluation and organizational development. Carin is an active voice in progressive politics nationally and in Minnesota, providing analysis and commentary for Minnesota Public Radio and TPT Public Television. She has written about religion, parenting and politics for The Forward, NBC News, and other local and national publications. In 2019, she was recognized on the “Forward 50” list of influential American Jews. Carin grew up in South Florida before moving to Minnesota on a dare in 1997. She lives in North Minneapolis with her family and can’t wait to be able to see live music again.
- [Rabbi Adam Strater](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/adam-strater/) - Adam Strater is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and a PhD candidate in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of the Hebrew Bible, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Jewish Ethics. As an academic and future rabbi, Adam hopes to integrate his scholarship within a justice-based, communal, and radically inclusive Jewish context.
- [Dr. Elsie Stern](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/elsie-stern/) - Elsie Stern is the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Bible at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she has the privilege of teaching Biblical Civilization to first-year students. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, and her Master of Arts and doctorate from the University of Chicago. She is the author of From Rebuke to Consolation: Bible, Exegesis and Ritual in the Literature of the Tisha b’Av Season (Brown Judaic Series, 2004), and is a contributor to the Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press, 2004, 2014), The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (Women of Reform Judaism, 2008), as well as author of several contributions to scholarly journals and volumes of essays. Most recently, she served as co-editor of the Dictionary of the Bible and Ancient Media (T and T Clark, 2017). Her current research focuses on the transmission and reception of biblical texts in early Jewish settings. She is particularly interested in the relationship between the texts of Torah and their performance and transmission in lived contexts.
- [Rabbi David Jaffe](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/david-jaffe/) - Rabbi David Jaffe is the founder and executive director of the Kirva Institute-Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project. He is the author of Changing the World From the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change, winner of the National Jewish Book Award. David wrote the curriculum and was the lead educator on the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Tikkun Middot Project.
- [Rabbi Avruhm Addison](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/avruhm-addison/) - Rabbi Howard Avruhm Addison, Ph.D., is an associate professor for instruction in Temple University’s Intellectual Heritage Program, where he teaches an undergraduate seminar titled “Dreams, Visions and the Good Life.” He also serves as director of Jewish spirituality doctoral programs at the Graduate Theological Foundation, where he offers a graduate tutorial called “Spirituality and Dreams.” His books include The Enneagram and Kabbalah: Reading Your Soul and Jewish Spiritual Direction: An Innovative Guide From Traditional and Contemporary Sources. He can be reached at Rabbia363@gmail.com or through his website: www.NightlyRevelations.com.
- [Mark A. Pinsky](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mark-a-pinsky/) - Mark A. Pinsky is a member of Germantown Jewish Centre, a Community of Communities in Philadelphia. He davens there with Minyan Dorshei Derekh, which he has served as a member of the Mazkirut. In October 2020, he joined the Board of Trustees of Reconstructing Judaism, and as a board member, he is collaborating with Reconstructing Judaism’s Tikkun Olam Commission to initiate a process to explore the best way to bring a recommendation about reparations before the Board of Trustees for consideration. He is also a member of the board of the Rabbis and Cantors Retirement Plan. Pinsky is the author of Organized Money: How Progressives Can Leverage the Financial System to Work for Them, Not Against Them (with Keith Mestrich; The New Press, October 2019). In his career, he has filled several leadership roles in the community development financial institution (CDFI) industry, which is working to align capital with social, economic and political justice. He is a partner in CDFI Friendly America (cdfifriendlyamerica.com), which is leading a campaign to bring the $220 billion CDFI industry to thousands of underserved communities. He can be contacted at: markpinsky@gmail.com.
- [Minna Scherlinder Morse](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/minna-scherlinder-morse/) - Minna Scherlinder Morse is a freelance editor and project manager who has devoted professional and volunteer energy in recent years to educating fellow Jews and others about racism, Jewish diversity and the complexity of adoption. She serves on the Jews of Color and Allies Advisory Committee of Reconstructing Judaism and facilitates an interdenominational support group, sponsored by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, for clergy and spouses in transracial adoption. She is also currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Jewish Ethics and Social Justice at the Jewish Theological Seminary, with a personal focus on adoption ethics. She is married to Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb (RRC ’97), mom to two great kids and part of a wonderful community at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md.
- [Shoshana Fershtman, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/shoshana-fershtman/) - Shoshana Fershtman, J.D., Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist. She is a member analyst and teaches at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and served as core faculty at Sonoma State University’s graduate program in Depth Psychology. She has lectured and offered workshops on Jewish mysticism, transgenerational trauma and the Divine Feminine. She studied Jewish mysticism for several decades with teachers from Reconstructing Judaism and Jewish Renewal, and is part of both the spiritual leadership team and Tzedek, the social justice arm of Congregation Ner Shalom in Cotati. She worked for decades as an attorney for environmental, social justice and indigenous rights. More information can be found at: www.shoshanafershtman.com
- [Nancy Weissmann](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/nancy-weissmann/) - Nancy Weissmann joined Jewish Interest-Free Loans of Atlanta (JIFLA) as the Executive Director in March 2016. Nancy manages operations, including borrower, donor and community relations. She works with the board and committee volunteers to continually raise awareness of JIFLA’s important work, and identify opportunities for organizational partnerships throughout the Atlanta area.
- [Lisa Braun Glazer, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/lisa-braun-glazer-ph-d/) - Lisa deeply believes that our lives and our world can be infinitely enriched by the wisdom and beauty contained in Jewish ritual and thought. Her Jewish education began at a Conservadox synagogue in the Midwest and then picked up again when she was 40. She studied Hebrew for two years at UCSD, participated in the Union for Reform Judaism summer program at UC Santa Cruz for 10 years and completed the intensive 18-month Kivvun program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. At her synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego, Lisa started Tashlikh; was a founder of the lay-led Shabbat morning minyan service; and started three-generation participatory family High Holy Day services, editing its mahzor. Lisa served on the North American Board of the URJ for eight years, including co-chairing a tri-partite commission on rabbinic burnout. Lisa is a licensed clinical psychologist. Now retired, she practiced in La Jolla California for more than 30 years and taught at the UCSD School of Medicine. She lives in La Jolla with her husband of 40 years, and has two married daughters and six adorable little grandchildren. She has been actively engaged as an artist for most of her adult life. Lisa enjoys doing Hebrew calligraphy and works primarily in the medium of clay. She loves to swim, ski and travel. She currently serves as a trustee of the Institute for Shipboard Education, which runs the “Semester at Sea” program, and devotes her volunteer efforts and philanthropy to saving the big mikvah — the ocean, which sustains all life.
- [Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-david-mevorach-seidenberg/) - Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg is the creator of neohasid.org and the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge). He teaches around the world on issues relating Judaism and Jewish thought to ecology, spirituality, social justice, human rights, animal rights, dance, music, and astronomy. He is also the Shmitah scholar-in-residence at Abundance Farm in Northampton MA. David completed his doctorate and rabbinical training at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and received a second ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of the Jewish Renewal movement. He has been studying and writing about Shmitah for close to 40 years.
- [Rabbi Deborah Glanzberg-Krainin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/deborah-glanzberg-krainin/) - Rabbi Deborah Glanzberg-Krainin has served as Chief Program and Strategy Officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and as Vice President for Community Engagement at Reconstructing Judaism. She was ordained at RRC.
- [Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-lynn-gottlieb/) - Lynn Gottlieb, she/her, is one of the first women to become a rabbi in Jewish history. She is a pioneer Jewish feminist, as well as a writer, visual artist, ceremonialist, community educator, reparationist and master storyteller. Lynn has served as a community rabbi since the fall of 1973, founding Mishkan A Shul in New York City in 1975, and Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1980. She recently created BackYard Mishkan on Ohlone land in Berkeley, Calif., in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year is her jubilee as a working rabbi. She currently serves as board chair of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity; an Organizing Team member of Grassroots Reparations Campaign; member of the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace; and member of the Elder’s Advisory Council to Back to Earth. Rabbi Lynn is a practitioner of the Torah of nonviolence and is a shomeret shalom. She is author of She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of Renewed Judaism (1995); Trail Guide to the Torah of Nonviolence (2012); Peace Primer II (2017); and World Beyond Borders Passover Hagaddah (2017). She is also very funny. Visit her website at: www.rabbilynngottlieb.com.
- [Rabbi Kevin Bernstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-kevin-bernstein/) - Rabbi Kevin Bernstein, DVM, began a veterinary career in a small clinical practice for animals, followed by 12 years as a research veterinarian, including six years in Israel as a citizen, becoming both a diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians and an אישור תואר מומחה (certified expert) in poultry medicine. Following graduation from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2007, he has served as director of education in synagogues, school rabbi and teacher in day schools, and as a mohel in the Greater Philadelphia area. His mohel practice has been hallmarked by the inclusion of both interfaith, and gay and lesbian parents and converts, and more recently, has been deeply enriched in assisting transitioning individuals to engage in conversion-related rituals.
- [Rabbi Daniel Swartz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-daniel-swartz/) - Rabbi Daniel Swartz is the executive director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), a Jewish Council for Public Affairs program that has engaged Jewish organizations and individuals in environmental advocacy and programs for more than 25 years. He has also held leadership positions with Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, the Children’s Environmental Health Network and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He was recently one of 40 faith leaders from around the world who took part in a Vatican-led effort to promote Climate Justice, “Faith and Science: Toward COP 26.” Under the leadership of Pope Francis, this group met at the Vatican on Oct. 4, 2021, and issued an interfaith Appeal to the countries that were to gather at COP26 for climate negotiations. Rabbi Swartz has explored connections between faith and environmental values in a variety of publications. He is the author of numerous environmental op-eds in media ranging from CNN to The Hill to The Washington Post. He authored To Till and to Tend: A Guide for Jewish Environmental Study and Action, distributed to every synagogue in America. He wrote “Faith Communities and Environmental Health: From Global to Local,” which won the 2005 Award for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing from the Association of American Publishers. Rabbi Swartz was ordained by Hebrew Union College and earned bachelor degrees from Brown University in geological sciences and in environmental policy. He is the recipient of numerous academic and civic honors. He is married to Rabbi Marjorie Berman and father to Alana Swartz.
- [Jonah Scott Mendelsohn](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jonah-scott-mendelsohn/) - Raised in Albuquerque, N.M., and educated at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Jonah Scott Mendelsohn is an actor, singer and writer based in New York City. His stage work spans new plays in New York City and lead roles in regional theaters. Favorite roles include Pete (a pregnant man) in “Tumor” by Sheila Callaghan; Paul in “Company” by Sondheim and Furth; and the killers in Shakespeare’s “Richard II” (Mowbray, Exton and the Welsh Captain). His writing includes a variety of poetry, and two pieces for the stage: “Jonah—A Choreopoem,” based on the biblical story, first presented at West End Synagogue; and “A Mostly Perfect Education: Things They Don’t Talk About at Commencement,” a one-man show about his experiences as a women’s study minor at Vassar, which began development in Martin Moran’s personal narrative workshop at the Barrow Group. Jonah is currently raising funds for a full production of “Love Alone: Elegies for Rog,” a play for World AIDS Day, adapted from the poetry of Paul Monette. To donate or get more information, visit the production website: Love Alone: Elegies for Rog (https://www.lovealone-play.org/)
- [David Alon Friedman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/david-friedman/) - David Alon Friedman is both a composer and a musician (piano, accordion, percussion and violin). During the 1980s and 1990s, he collaborated extensively with modern dance choreographers, spending several summers as a musician at Jacob’s Pillow and the American Dance Festival in North Carolina, including one summer as composer-in-residence. For 10 years, he played with the Balinese Gamelan ensemble Dharma Swara in New York City, and was a member of the band “You and What Army,” whose CD “Kinda Wanna” appeared in 1996 and disappeared shortly thereafter (unjustly so). Since the 1980s, he has been a member of the “Mad Coyote” ensemble under the direction of Jerome Kitzke. He has performed full evenings of his work in New York City (at La MaMa, the Public Theater, Roulette and Dance Theater Workshop), and in Europe. In recent years, he has focused on composing Jewish liturgical music, creating settings of Psalms and prayers for both soloists and choirs. His liturgical settings have been featured at the Shalshelet Festival for New Jewish Liturgical Music, and have been performed by several choirs, including Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia. His home congregation is West End Synagogue, a Reconstructionist Congregation, in New York City.
- [Max Buckler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/max-buckler/) - Max Buckler is an expat and member of the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong. He currently serves as director of strategic initiatives for Bruchim.
- [Joel Shapiro](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/joel-shapiro/) - Joel Shapiro has been a member of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ) in New York for 43 years. He served as treasurer, controller and board member of the SAJ for more years than he can remember. He also served as chair of the Ritual Committee for a number of years. In addition, Joel served on the Board of the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot, FRCH, for many years and was the treasurer of FRCH for most of them. He also served on the Board of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, RRC. Joel is the grandfather of Camp Havaya camper, Reeva Alster.
- [Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rev-wil-gafney/) - Womanist biblical scholar, the Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D., is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah; The Throne, a commentary on Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah in the Wisdom series; Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel; and co-editor of The Peoples’ Bible and The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible. She is also the author of a Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church and translator of its biblical selections. She is currently writing a second volume of Womanist Midrash focusing on women in the Prophets. She is an Episcopal priest canonically resident in the Diocese of Pennsylvania and licensed in the Diocese of North Texas, as well as a former Army chaplain and congregational pastor in the AME Zion Church. A former member of the Dorshei Derekh Reconstructionist Minyan of the Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia, she has co-taught courses with and for the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pa.
- [Rabbi Georgette Kennebrae](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-georgette-kennebrae/) - Rabbi Georgette Kennebrae has served as rabbi of the West End Synagogue in New York and Mikve Israel-Emmanuel Synagogue in Willemstad, Curacao. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2017.
- [Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/chanda-prescod-weinstein/) - Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. The author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, she is also a columnist for New Scientist and Physics World. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Reconstructing Judaism and the chair of its Jews of Color and Allies Advisory Group. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, neutron stars and dark matter. She also does research in Black feminist science, technology and society studies. Nature recognized her as one of 10 people who shaped science in 2020, and Essence magazine has recognized her as one of “Fifteen Black Women Who Are Paving the Way in STEM and Breaking Barriers.” A co-founder of Particles for Justice, she received the 2017 LGBT+ Physicists Acknowledgement of Excellence Award for her contributions to improving conditions for marginalized people in physics and the 2021 American Physical Society Edward A. Bouchet Award for her contributions to particle cosmology. Originally from East Los Angeles, she divides her time between the New Hampshire Seacoast and Cambridge, Mass.
- [Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/eliyahu-ungar-sargon/) - Eliyahu grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Brookline, Mass. At the age of 13, he and his family moved to Israel. Eliyahu decided not to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, choosing instead to study medicine in the United Kingdom. Three years into his degree, he left medicine to pursue a career in film. After earning two degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Eliyahu completed his first feature-length documentary, “Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision.” He has since released his second feature-length documentary, “A People Without a Land,” and is co-host of the podcast “Four Cubits.”
- [Rabbi Ellen Bernstein ז״ל](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-ellen-bernstein/) - Rabbi Ellen Bernstein is a pioneer in the field of religion and ecology. She is an eco-theologian, spiritual leader, writer and creative. She founded Shomrei Adamah, “Keepers of the Earth,” the first national Jewish environmental organization in 1988. Ellen’s books include Let the Earth Teach You Torah, Ecology and the Jewish Spirit, The Splendor of Creation, and most recently, The Promise of the Land, A Passover Haggadah. Ellen continues to write and teach on the ecology of the Hebrew Bible, and serves on the advisory board of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, the steering committee of Third Act/Faith and the advisory board of the Green Sabbath project. To learn more, visit: www.ellenbernstein.org and thepromiseoftheland.com.
- [Rabbi Nathan Martin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nathan-martin/) - Rabbi Nathan Martin serves as associate rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of Media and also currently heads the Board of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light, an Interfaith Organization supporting faith communities to take bold action on climate change.
- [Miriam Steinberg-Egeth](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/miriam-steinberg-egeth/) - Miriam Steinberg-Egeth has been a leader in the Philadelphia Jewish community since 2006, providing interdenominational and intergenerational opportunities for Jews of all backgrounds to connect with communal experiences that work for them. During that time, she has served as the sole staff person for multiple Jewish organizations: the Center City Kehillah, the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia and Hillel of Greater Philadelphia’s Jewish Graduate Student Network. In all of these roles, she has focused on the importance of relationship-building, resource-sharing and creating meaningful connections. She is the creator of “Miriam’s Advice Well,” the Jewish Exponent’s advice column, which she has been writing since 2011, fielding questions on parenting, dating, Jewish rituals and the little issues of daily life. Miriam’s writing has also been featured by 18Doors, Kveller.com and the Horn Book. She holds degrees from Goucher College and Lesley University. Miriam currently serves as the strategic manager at Hadar.
- [Dr. Warren Hoffman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-warren-hoffman/) - Warren Hoffman currently serves as the executive director for the Association for Jewish Studies in New York, where he leads the largest membership organization of Jewish studies scholars, teachers and students in the world. Warren has more than 15 years of experience in the Jewish, arts, academic and nonprofit sectors. In Philadelphia, he was the associate director of community programming for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and also served as the senior director of programming for the Gershman Y in Philadelphia. He was the literary manager and dramaturg for Philadelphia Theatre Company and the associate artistic director of Jewish Repertory Theatre. Warren holds a Ph.D. in American literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz and has taught at multiple universities. He earned rave reviews for his book The Passing Game: Queering Jewish American Culture. The second edition of his critically acclaimed book, The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical, was published in 2020.
- [Reb Simcha Paull Raphael, PhD](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/reb-simcha-raphael/) - Reb Simcha Raphael, Ph.D. is Founding Director of the DA’AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training. Currently, Simcha works as a psychotherapist and spiritual director in Philadelphia and has served as Adjunct Professor in Religion at LaSalle University and Temple University, and as a Spiritual Director at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Ordained as a Rabbinic Pastor by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he is author of numerous publications on death and afterlife, including the groundbreaking book Jewish Views of the Afterlife and the recently-published Jewish End-of-Life Care in a Virtual Age: Our Traditions Reimagined. His website is www.daatinstitute.net.
- [Alexandra Corwin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/alexandra-corwin/) - Alexandra Corwin (she/hers) double majored in women’s and gender studies, and African Black Diaspora studies, at DePaul University. She received her master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a certificate in Restorative Justice at the Intersections of Indigeneity, Spirituality and Race from the Harvard Divinity School. In 2020, Alexandra had the joy of creating and instructing RRC’s Teaching and Learning course. She spent several years at Worker’s Circle leading children’s education programs and community organizing. Alexandra is passionate about values-based leadership and formally held the role of director of leadership at Teach for America. She is the executive director of Ammud: Jews of Color Torah Academy. In her free time, she spends time with her family, creates vegan versions of her family’s Peruvian recipes and writes poetry. Keep in touch with her by signing up for her newsletter at: alexandracorwin.com.
- [Rabbi Jill Hammer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jill-hammer/) - Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD is the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion and the co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. She is the author of Undertorah: An Earth-Based Kabbalah of Dreams, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah, The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership, The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, and other works.
- [Miriam Eisenstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/miriam-eisenstein/) - Miriam R. Eisenstein, 83, is the elder daughter of Rabbi Ira and Judith (Kaplan) Eisenstein. As an attorney, she served from 1969 to 1999 in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She also holds degrees in secondary education and special education, and she taught for a number of years before and after her legal career. Miriam (aka “Mim”) was brought up at the SAJ (Society for the Advancement of Judaism), where both her father and grandfather sat on the bimah, and she celebrated becoming bat mitzvah there in 1951, chanting the sidra and the haftarah. She repeated that on Zoom on the 70th anniversary in 2021. Mim lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with her spouse of 30 years, Carol Stern. Both are active members of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda.
- [Rabbi Geoff Basik](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-geoff-basik/) - Geoff Basik (RRC, ’07) was the founding (and now emeritus) rabbi of the Kol HaLev synagogue community in Baltimore. He has been called a variety of names and titles in his life, and is currently enjoying the best one: “Saba sababa.”
- [Rabbi Chloe Zelkha](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/chloe-zelkha/) - Chloe Zelkha is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Previously, she worked as an educator, community organizer and fellowship director at organizations like JOIN for Justice, The Food Project and Urban Adamah. Chloe trained as a chaplain in UCSF Mission Bay Hospital’s residency program, where she primarily served the NICU and adult oncology units. She is a co-founder of the COVID Grief Network, an organization supporting young adults who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. She holds a bachelor’s degree in religion from Carleton College and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.
- [Rabbi Lonnie Kleinman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-lonnie-kleinman/) - Originally from Tohomo O’odham land (aka Tucson, Ariz.), Lonnie is a queer, fat femme. Before moving to Philadelphia, on Lenape Land, where she received the title rabbi from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2022, Lonnie organized Jewish communities throughout the Southern United States in their journeys to build power and equity for all peoples. She is passionate about relational organizing and pastoral care in dreaming a future together. She loves gathering inspiration for dreaming and living out this world through Talmud study, especially as exemplified in the holy connections of hevruta study. She’s an avid plant mom, rock climber and embroidery maker.
- [Rabbi Rebecca T. Alpert](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rebecca-t-alpert/) - Rebecca T. Alpert, professor of religion at Temple University, was among the first women in America ordained as a rabbi at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1976. Her primary field of study is American Judaism in the 20th century, focusing on sports, race and sexuality. Her best-known works include Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition; Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism; Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball; and with Jacob Staub, Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach. She is a recipient of Temple University’s highest honor, The Great Teacher Award; a member of the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace; and a commissioner on the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. She will be retiring from Temple in June and is looking forward to being faculty emerita.
- [Rabbi Nick Renner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nick-renner/) - Rabbi Nick Renner is the senior Jewish educator at Hillel at the University of Delaware. A native of Chapel Hill, N.C., Rabbi Renner earned his master’s degree along with the title of rabbi from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2014. Before coming to UD Hillel, Rabbi Renner served as assistant rabbi at Congregation Kehillat Israel (KI) in Pacific Palisades, Calif., where he served at the range of funerals, weddings, b’nai mitzvah and baby namings/brit milah. He was heavily involved in education for adults and teens, with a focus on Talmudic stories and contemporary Israel. Rabbi Renner earned his bachelor’s degree in international comparative studies (ICS) from Duke University, focusing on the Middle East. During his time at Duke, Rabbi Renner played in the university’s jazz program. For more than 15 years, Rabbi Renner has played guitar and bass in a range of musical groups, in styles including rock, funk, blues, hip-hop, jazz and folk. He has played both live and in studios in North Carolina, the Israeli city of Netanya, Philadelphia and West LA. Rabbi Renner lives in Wilmington, Del., with his wife, Kimmy, and their son, Isaac.
- [Rabbi Birgit E. Klein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-birgit-e-klein/)
- [Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-moshe-rosenberg/) - Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg is the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chaim of Kew Garden Hills in Queens, N.Y., and a Judaic-studies educator at SAR Academy in Riverdale, N.Y. His Unofficial Hogwarts Haggadah reached No. 10 overall on Amazon, and the Harry Potter Club at SAR was featured in The New York Times. He is also the author of Morality for Muggles: Ethics in the Bible and the World of Harry Potter.
- [Rabbi Mira Beth Wasserman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-mira-beth-wasserman/) - Mira Beth Wasserman’s work as a rabbi and scholar bridges Talmud study, community building and the pursuit of social justice. She is director of the Center for Jewish Ethics and assistant professor of rabbinic literature at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Her teaching and research focuses on how Talmud study can serve contemporary ethical deliberation. Her book, Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals: The Talmud After the Humanities, was awarded the Salo Baron prize for the best first book in Jewish studies published in 2017.
- [Libby Lenkinski](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/libby-lenkinski/)
- [Mary Meyerson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mary-meyerson/)
- [Rabbi Micah Geurin Weiss](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-micah-geurin-weiss/)
- [Ben Pagliaro](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ben-pagliaro/)
- [Rabbi Xava De Cordova](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/xava-de-cordova/)
- [Rabbi John Rosove](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-john-rosove/)
- [Rev. Katie Day](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/katie-day/)
- [Rabbi Jay Michaelson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jay-michaelson/)
- [Ari Brochin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ari-brochin/)
- [Marc Overbeck](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/marc-overbeck/)
- [Jen Greene](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jen-greene/)
- [Barb Richman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/barb-richman/)
- [James Mayor](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/james-mayor/)
- [Kendra Watkins](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/kendra-watkins/)
- [Professor Gila Stopler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/gila-stopler/)
- [Rabbi Julie Greenberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-julie-greenberg/)
- [Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/lauren-grabelle-herrmann/)
- [Rachel Forth Pipitone](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rachel-forth/)
- [Steph Breitsman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/steph-breitsman/)
- [Nicole Fix](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/nicole-fix/)
- [Professor Joel Hecker](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/joel-hecker/)
- [Dr. Roslyn G. Weiner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/roslyn-g-weiner/)
- [Ariel Collis](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ariel-collis/)
- [Rabbi Brian Walt](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-brian-walt/)
- [Reb Ezra Weinberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/reb-ezra-weinberg/)
- [Dr. Anna Beresin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-anna-beresin/)
- [Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ruhi-sophia/)
- [Nimrod Flaschenberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/nimrod-flaschenberg/)
- [Mike Shore](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mike-shore/)
- [Sallie E. Gratch](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sallie-gratch/)
- [Samantha Tieger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/samantha-tieger/)
- [Dr. Mitch Marcus](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mitch-marcus/)
- [Dr. Joel Beinin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/joel-beinin/)
- [Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/buffie-longmire-avital/)
- [Yasmin Eran-Verdi](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/yasmin-eran-verdi/)
- [Laynie Soloman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/laynie-soloman/)
- [Rabbi Carl Choper](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-carl-choper/)
- [Rabbi Josh Feigelson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-josh-feigelson/)
- [Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dan-ehrenkrantz/)
- [Rabbi Nicole Fix](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nicole-fix/)
- [Dr. Ilan Peleg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ilan-peleg/)
- [Rabbi Lewis John Eron, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-lewis-john-eron-ph-d/)
- [Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-ora-nitkin-kaner/)
- [Oren Jay Sofer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/oren-jay-sofer/)
- [Shea Watts](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/shea-watts/)
- [Kameelah Mu'min Oseguera](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/kameelah-mumin-oseguera/)
- [Rabbi Robert Tabak](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-robert-tabak/)
- [Yaela Wiser](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/yaela-wiser/)
- [Simone Zelitch](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/simone-zelitch/)
- [Rabbi Amy Klein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/amy-klein/)
- [Rabbi Jason Bonder](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jason-bonder/)
- [Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-yohanna-kinberg/)
- [Dr. Hasia R. Diner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/hasia-diner/)
- [Rabbi Mónica Gomery](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-monica-gomery/)
- [Rabbi Isabel de Koninck](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/isabel-de-koninck/)
- [Rabbi Erica Steelman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-erica-steelman/)
- [Rabbi Boris Dolin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/boris-dolin/)
- [Rabbi Michael Rothbaum](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-michael-rothbaum/)
- [Ben Lorber](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ben-lorber/)
- [Rabbi Elisheva Salamo](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-elisheva-salamo/)
- [Rabbi Josh Snyder](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-josh-snyder/)
- [Rabbi Rebecca Lillian](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rebecca-lillian/)
- [Rabbi Bill Plevan PhD](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-bill-plevan-phd/)
- [Rabbi Katie Mizrahi](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-katie-mizrahi/)
- [Rabbi Victor Reinstein](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/victor-reinstein/)
- [Sefi Kraut](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sefi-kraut/)
- [erica riddick](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/erica-riddick/)
- [Rabbi Mychal Copeland](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mychal-copeland/)
- [Rabbi Margie Jacobs](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/margie-jacobs/)
- [Nathan Thrall](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/nathan-thrall/)
- [Scott A. Buckler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/scott-a-buckler/)
- [Rabbi Bronwen Mullin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-bronwen-mullin/)
- [Maria Pulzetti](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/maria-pulzetti/)
- [Shane Burley](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/shane-burley/)
- [Rabbi David Brusin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-david-brusin/)
- [Rabbi Jonathan Kligler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jonathan-kligler/)
- [Dr. Marc Dollinger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-marc-dollinger/)
- [Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/tareq-abu-hamed/)
- [Rabbi Michael M. Cohen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-michael-m-cohen/)
- [Rabbi Joshua Boettiger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/joshua-boettiger/)
- [Dr. Nurete Brenner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-nurette-brenner/)
- [Lynn Levin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/lynn-levin/)
- [Noelle Damico](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/noelle-damico/)
- [Andy Levin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/andy-levin/)
- [Rabbi Bonnie Koppell](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-bonnie-koppell/)
- [Jon Cutler](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jon-cutler/)
- [Rabbi Michael Pollack](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-michael-pollack-1/)
- [Rabbi Nate DeGroot](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/nate-degroot/)
- [Noa Levy](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/noa-levy/)
- [Zach Teutsch](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/zach-teutsch/)
- [Sabrina Sojourner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sabrina-sojourner/)
- [Betsy Teutsch](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/betsy-teutsch/)
- [Ruth Messinger](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ruth-messinger/)
- [Nathan Long](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/nathan-long/)
- [Rabbi Jacob Siegel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jacob-siegel/)
- [Rabbi Jess Belasco](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-jess-belasco/)
- [Rabbi Nadya Gross](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nadya-gross/)
- [Rabbi Nina Mandel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-nina-mandel-1/)
- [Jon Argaman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jon-argaman/)
- [Jennifer Paget](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/jennifer-paget/)
- [Myra Sack](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/myra-sack-1/)
- [Razi Hecker](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/razi-hecker/)
- [Ilana Kaufman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ilana-kaufman/)
- [Roan Boucher](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/roan-boucher/)
- [Rabbi Adina Lewittes](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-adina-lewittes/)
- [Yehudah Webster](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/yehudah-webster/)
- [Dr. Ali Michael](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ali-michael/)
- [Rabbi Marjorie Berman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-marjorie-berman/)
- [Dr. Maynard Seider](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-maynard-seider/)
- [ember wilson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/ember-wilson/)
- [Emma Fischer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/emma-fischer/)
- [Adina Ikeman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/adina-ikeman/)
- [Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/gabrielle-ariella-kaplan-mayer/)
- [Rabbi Megan Doherty](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-megan-doherty/)
- [Dr. Deitra Reiser](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/deitra-reiser/)
- [Dr. Matthew Boxer](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/matthew-boxer/)
- [Rabbi Josh Lesser](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-josh-lesser/)
- [Raphael Morris](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/raphael-morris/)
- [Joelle Novey](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/joelle-novey/)
- [Rabbi Marc Katz](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-marc-katz/)
- [Dan Woods](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dan-woods/)
- [Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-amichai-lau-lavie/)
- [Professor Martha Ackelsberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/professor-martha-ackelsberg/)
- [Professor Yofi Tirosh](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/professor-yofi-tirosh/)
- [Mat Wilson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/mat-wilson/)
- [Rabbi Solomon Hoffman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-solomon-hoffman/)
- [Yiscah Smith](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/yiscah-smith/)
- [Dane Menkin](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dane-menkin/)
- [Cantor Michael Zoosman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/cantor-michael-zoosman/)
- [Professor Daphna Joel](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/professor-daphna-joel/)
- [Professor Daphna Hacker](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/professor-daphna-hacker/)
- [Deborah Dash Moore, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/deborah-dash-moore-ph-d/)
- [Roger Price](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/roger-price/)
- [Robin Goldberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/robin-goldberg/)
- [Arnold Eisen](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/arnold-eisen/)
- [Menachem Kellner](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/menachem-kellner/)
- [Rabbi Rami Shapiro](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-rami-shapiro/)
- [Rabbi Richard A. Hirsh](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-richard-a-hirsh/)
- [Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/amanda-beckenstein-mbuvi-ph-d/)
- [Clare Kinberg](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/clare-kinberg/)
- [Kara A Wilson](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/kara-a-wilson/)
- [Rabbi Scott Perlo](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-scott-perlo/)
- [Dr Susan Nakley](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-susan-nakley/)
- [Dr Mirele B. Goldsmith](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/dr-mirele-b-goldsmith/)
- [Sam Sherman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/sam-sherman/)
- [Seth Lieberman](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/seth-lieberman/)
- [Simeon Birnbaum](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/simeon-birnbaum/)
- [Rabbi Caryn Aviv](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/rabbi-caryn-aviv/)
- [Benjamin Carter Hett, Ph.D.](https://evolve-dev.reconstructingjudaism.org/author/benjamin-carter-hett-ph-d/)