Believing
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This diary entry from Kaplan illustrates the spiritual doubts of a number of rabbinical students from the early forties. The entry is significant on many levels not the least of which is the fact that Jack Cohen and Sidney Morgenbesser were in the group. Kaplan’s response is significant in that it illustrates that though he…
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This webinar, “The Natural and Supernatural, The Human and Divine: A Dialogue about the Golem, Artificial Intelligence and Purim”, featuring Dr. Jeffrey Schein, Dr. Henry Morris, and Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker, took place on February 27, 2022. Webinar Documents: Chat Log
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Why I Have Always Hated the Aleynu, and Why I Changed My Mind on Feb 26: A Kaplanian Struggle Jeffrey Schein I have a very vivid picture in my mind. My Bubbie is davening in Suwalki, Poland around 1890. As the Aleynu builds resonance and the phrase, “God has not made us like the other…
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by Sarah Brammer-Shlay One of the aspects of Reconstructionist Judaism that drew me into this movement was the way its vision centers on trusting the Jewish people, our people. Mordecai Kaplan stated, “There are dead cultures or civilizations. What renders them alive is an indigenous leadership which actively relates the culture or civilization to the…
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This webinar on Reconstructionist liturgy took place on January 9, 2022 Webinar Documents: Speaker Bios and Notes Chat Log
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This webinar on Reconstructionist liturgy took place on December 12, 2021. Webinar Documents: Chat Log Prayerbook Pages Quotations
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Kaplan has been accused of a naive optimism that belongs to a previous era. But the truth is that we desperately need his faith in our ability to overcome the difficulties that life presents to us. We will not survive much less achieve salvation [sheleymut] if we succumb to despair, self-pity and doubt. We must…