• Beneath the Surface: Mordecai Kaplan’s Philosophical Commitments Explored

    with Dr. Nadav S. Berman and Dr. Rabbi Vered Sakal

    How does Mordecai Kaplan arrive at his understandings of truth and religious experience?  Join Drs. Berman and Sakal as they explore Kaplan through the lens of the non-Jewish theologian Jon Hick. Dialogue with them as they extrapolate from Kaplan’s philosophical commitments to the critical issues of a 21st Zionism and the presence of evil in the world. 

    Sunday, February 11, 2024

    https://vimeo.com/912097639?share=copy

    Dr. Nadav Shifman Berman recently completed a Kreitman postdoctoral fellowship at the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, during which he explored Jewish Thought vis-à-vis the Christian Agape. Prior to that, Nadav was a postdoctoral associate at Yale University’s Jewish Studies Program, and adjunct lecturer at the JTS. He is currently a research fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa, where he co-leads (with Prof. Tal Zarsky) an interdisciplinary research project on Jewish Thought, Law, and Technology. Nadav’s doctoral work investigated, inter alia, the role of pragmatism in Mordecai Kaplan’s thought.

    Dr. Rabbi Vered Sakal is the Bertram and Gladys Aaron Professor of Jewish Studies at Christopher Newport University. During 2021-2023 she was the Melanie and Andrew Goodman visiting fellow for the Olamot Center for Scholarly and Cultural Exchange with Israel, at Indiana University, Bloomington. Sakal holds a PhD in Jewish thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was a fellow at the Tikva Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at NYU, the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Minerva Humanities Center at Tel Aviv University, and the Bloomington 

    Symposia, IU Institute for Advanced Study. Her fields of research are religious studies, modern Jewish thought, liberal theory and subaltern studies.

    This webinar is dedicated to the memory of Leah Kamionkowski, a dedicated student of Kaplan’s philosophies, a leader in her own community of Kol Halev in Cleveland, and a national board member for the Reconstructionist movement. Leah died at age 90. She led her last Torah study at age 90!

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  • Revaluating the Unetanah Tokef: What Kind of Tzedaka Softens the Harsh Degree?

    with author Amy Schiller

    and Rabbi Mordechai Liebling

    Tuesday, September 17, 2024

    https://vimeo.com/1010466610?share=copy#t=0

    The High Holidays are a time associated with reflection, repentance, and renewal.

    The Unetanah Tokef prayer, recited on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur morning,  suggests that one of the ways to improve our return to community in the reality of our mistakes is through tzedakah. While the act of sharing is good for an individual, how can we give tzedakah that creates the most impact for others?

    Is all charity equal in its aims of social improvement?  Is there a genuine way to bridge the wealth gap through philanthropy, or is it merely a symbolic ritual devoid? Join author Amy Schiller and Rabbi Mordechai Liebling as they explore ways to improve the ethics of American charity practices.

    Amy Schiller is a writer and political philosopher. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. She has held additional fellowships at Stanford University, Bard College and City University of New York, where she received her Ph.D.

    Schiller’s debut book, The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong and How to Fix It, is forthcoming from Melville House in December 2023. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Daily Beast, and has been quoted in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, and Slate. She has also had a 15-year career in major gift fundraising consulting in a wide range of settings, from a major New York City dance company to international humanitarian nonprofits.

    Rabbi Mordechai Liebling is the Director of the Reflection and Renewal Process at POWER, the largest faith-based community organizing group in Pennsylvania, and is part of the Faith in Action Network (PICO).  He came to POWER from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where he founded and directed the Social Justice Organizing Program for 10 years for the purpose of training the next generation of social justice rabbis.

    He previously served as the Executive Vice-President of Jewish Funds for Justice and the Executive Director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. He has published articles in Tikkun, Evolve, Jewish Currents and The Reconstructionist.

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    Sheridan

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  • Kaplan’s Understanding of Naturalistic Prayer

    Video of Dr. Mel Scult’s talk at West End Synagogue

    https://vimeo.com/851762718?share=copy

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • Standing with Israel, Pursuing Peace

    https://vimeo.com/876569532?share=copy

    The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood stands by the State of Israel during this time of war. We mourn the loss of over 1200 Israelis and the serious injury to many more and pray for the return of 240 hostages. We also regret the loss of life of Palestinian innocents. 

    We know that a true and lasting peace will not be achieved until there is a just, negotiated political solution that protects the human rights of everyone. We urge that enlightened leadership on each side bring this about.

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • The Great Kaplanian Report Card: Valley Beth Shalom of California as a Kaplanian Playground

    with Rabbis Amy Bernstein, Ed Feinstein and Jeffrey Schein on the successes and challenges of implementing the Judaism as a Civilization program.

    Sunday, January 7, 2024 – 3pm Eastern

    Our third and final session of a three part series in honor of the 40th Yahzeit of Mordecai Kaplan and the 90th anniversary of Judaism as a Civilization!

    https://vimeo.com/900642548?share=copy
    * This recording begins with the first presenter, Rabbi Feinstein. Introductions were not recorded.

    Rabbi Amy Bernstein is Senior Rabbi of Kehillat Israel. Prior to serving at KI she was the Rabbi of Temple Israel in Duluth, Minnesota. She graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College which awarded her an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, last year, for her 25 years of rabbinic service.

    An Atlanta native, Rabbi Bernstein holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Cultural Anthropology from Northwestern University, where she also earned a certificate in Women’s Studies. She is an alumna of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality two year rabbinic intensive, is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and is Past President of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.

    Rabbi Ed Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California and lecturer in the Ziegler

    Rabbinical School of the American Jewish University. Raised in the back of his parents’ bakery on the frontiers of the West San Fernando Valley, he graduated with honors from the UC Santa Cruz, Columbia University Teachers College, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained a rabbi and earned his doctorate in Jewish education.

    Rabbi Feinstein is the author of five (good!) books. His latest, In Pursuit of Godliness and a Living Judaism, an intellectual biography of his mentor, Rabbi Harold Schulweis. He shares three (married and employed!) adult children and one small dog with his wife, Rabbi Nina Bieber Feinstein. And every Friday afternoon, he bakes brownies from a recipe revealed to his ancestors at Mount Sinai.

    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 has authored a dozen volumes and several dozen articles about contemporary Jewish and religious education. He and his wife Deborah moved to Minneapolis in 2015 so that they could continue their work in closer proximity to their grandchildren. In 2022, he became the Executive Director of The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood.

    Thank you to our sponsors!
    The Jewish Publication Society, Sherwood and Barbara Malamud, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Jane and Harvey Susswein

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  • November 9 Conference Presenters

    Dr. Miriam Heller Stern is Vice Provost for Educational Strategy, National Director of the School of Education and Associate Professor at HUC-JIR.  She is passionate about empowering Jewish educational leaders and teachers to engage in their work intentionally, skillfully and creatively. She is the founder of Beit HaYotzer/the Creativity Braintrust, an initiative based at HUC-JIR designed to catalyze creative thinking and artistic expression through Jewish education and leadership, funded by the Covenant Foundation. Stern is a member of the inaugural cohort of the Mandel Senior Leadership Fellowship at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. She earned her MA in history and PhD in Social Sciences, Policy and Educational Practice at Stanford University.

    Rabbi Bec Richman (Cedarbaum Prize Winner) is a mama, soferet (scribe), Hebrew calligrapher, and potter who serves on the faculty of the Jewish Studio Project. Bec facilitates scribal arts workshops, community writing projects, and participatory Torah repairs in communities and schools around the country. Her pottery integrates hand-carved Hebrew lettering, and she creates custom ketubot with handwritten calligraphy. Bec is a co-founder of B’Yadeinu, a Jewish community art studio that integrates Torah, visual art, and music. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Bec lives in Cleveland Heights, OH with her partner and two kiddos. Bec’s artwork can be found at kotevetstudios.com.

    Dvir Cahana (Jewish Artist of the Week) is enrolled at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary. He founded the Moishe House in Montreal and sat on their regional advisory board. Dvir received Jewish Week’s 36 under 36 recognition for launching The Amen Institute, where artists and rabbis come together to inspire the creation of sermons and art work.

    Jeffrey Gold (Stolen Beam) is a (mostly) retired clinical psychologist who worked throughout his professional career with traumatized children, adolescents and their families. Along with Devorah Jacobson, he is co-chair of the Reparations Committee of the Jewish Community of Amherst (JCA) in Amherst, MA.

    After serving as a Hillel Director for almost 2 decades,  Devorah Jacobson (Stolen Beam) has served for over 20  years as  the rabbi and chaplain at  JGS Lifecare in Longmeadow MA,  a  continuum of care campus including long-term care and hospice services. In addition, she enjoys volunteering in various pursuits and is an active member of the Jewish Community of Amherst where she serves  on the Cemetery Committee, the Tikkun Olam Committee,  and is the co-chair (with Jeff Gold) of the Reparations Committee. She lives with her wife, Margaret Mastrangelo, in Hadley, and they both are avid travellers, hikers and cyclists, and ride annually for the Pan Mass Challenge to raise funds for cancer research and treatment. Their son, Jacob, lives in Tel Aviv.

    Sarra Lev (MishMash) teaches Talmud and Midrash at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She has taught adult education in many contexts including synagogues, Jewish Alive & American, the Feminist Center of the American Jewish Congress, Me’ah, and Bat Kol: A Feminist House of Study, which she co-founded. She participated in a national project exploring Talmud and Pedagogy, and her book on intersex in early rabbinic texts is due to come out next year. She specializes in gender in rabbinic texts, and delights in teaching. 

    Eliana Light (The Deep Dive) envisions a joyful, vibrant, heart-centered Judaism that speaks to the soul and moves the spirit, reminding us that we all are One. She offers professional development to educators, clergy, and lay leaders to elevate and deepen their prayer gatherings, allowing them to offer more meaningful experiences to more people. She is also a sought-after songwriter and performer of catchy, content-rich tunes for all ages, has put out three albums of original music, and is the founder and co-host of the Light Lab Podcast. Eliana received her Master’s in Jewish Education from the Davidson school at JTS in 2016 and is based in Durham, North Carolina.

    Rabbi Michelle Greenfield (Cedarbaum Prize Winner) is Rabbi and Torah School Director at Kol Tzedek Synagogue in Philadelphia. She is a 2012 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  Rabbi Michelle believes in Jewish education that honors each child, inviting them to bring their whole selves to our communities and classrooms.  She has a background in special education and has worked with agencies and synagogues to create programs for children with disabilities and their families. In her 15 years of work in the Philadelphia Jewish Community, she has worked for Jewish Learning Venture, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, and many local synagogues.  

    Rabbi Caryn Aviv (Repair & Remedy) is Rabbinic and Program Director at Judaism Your Way.  She loves to create and facilitate transformative Jewish experiences that spark joy and meaning for Jews and loved ones.  Caryn earned a PhD in sociology, and taught Jewish Studies and sociology before transitioning to the rabbinate.   

    Liora Ostroff (Jewish World History Through the Arts) launched the K-6th grade education program, Kollel, at New Synagogue Project (NSP) in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2021. She prioritizes building community, finding joy in Judaism, and encouraging enthusiastic inquiry into our traditions. In addition to running NSP Kollel, she is the Curator-in-Residence at the Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore, where she developed a contemporary art exhibition, A Fence Around the Torah: Safety and Unsafety in Jewish Life, and is now working on an exhibition of paintings by Yefim Ladyzhensky (1911-1982), focusing on memories and impressions from his youth in early 20th-century Odessa.

    Cantor Eric Schulmiller (Mural of Jewish Living Values) was ordained in 1999 with a master’s degree in Sacred Music from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion.  His commissioned musical settings of liturgical music have been performed at synagogues throughout New York including Temple Emanuel and Temple Rodef Sholom of Manhattan. He has served joyfully as cantor at The Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore since 1999, where he also oversees the synagogue’s social action and youth programming. Cantor Eric is a regular contributor to the Jewish Daily Forward, where he writes about the intersection of Judaism and pop culture. He has also written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, and humor pieces for The New Yorker. 

    Deborah Eisenbach-Budner (Havurah Shalom Family Cooperative Jewish Education Model) is the Education Director of Havurah Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue, Portland. Previously, she was the Education Director of Temple Israel, Boston, and Shir Tikva, Wayland, MA. She holds an M.A. in Jewish Studies and Jewish Education, a B.A. in Religion, and has studied at the Pardes Institute and with the Wexner Fellowship in Leadership Development.

    Pam Sommers (Tikkun Ha’Ir) grew up in Chicago and attended Anshe Emet Day School. She attributes her love of Torah, Haftarah and, especially, cantillation to her teachers there. Their inspiration led to her tutoring her sons, and eventually to her work as an accomplished B’nai Mitzvah tutor of well over one hundred young men and women at Adat Shalom and elsewhere.

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  • Innovation Garden

    Tikkun Olam/ Spirituality

    Tikun Ha’Ir (Repairing the City)

    Repair & Remedy

    The Stolen Beam

    The Deep Dive

    Jewish Studio Process

    Jewish Arts

    Chutzpod Podcast

    Mural of Jewish Living Values

    Jewish Artist of the Week

    Jewish Creative Sensibilities Project

    Jewish World History through Art

    Jewish Texts & Civilization

    MishMash

    Introduction to Peoplehood

    Shabbat School Family Cooperative and Curriculum Treasury

    Israel Now Curriculum

    Review of Garden Tour:
    Daniel Resnik, Dor Hadash, Pittsburgh

    The Kaplan Center, with Rabbi Jeffrey Schein as its Executive Director, has a mission. It is to share the vision of Mordecai Kaplan for a contemporary Judaism that celebrates language, literature, history, ethics, the arts, and community as central to Jewish identity and peoplehood. Kaplan, a long-time faculty member at the Jewish Theological Seminary, was a key figure in the foundation of a movement now known as Reconstructing Judaism.

    Celebrating Judaism as a multi-dimensional civilization, the Kaplan Center has created the website (https://kaplancenter.org/innovation-garden) for an Innovation Garden that links to more than 30 sites that showcase webinars, educational materials, texts and commentary, lectures, bibliography, artworks, and performances. Tours of the Garden can be self-directed or undertaken in small groups with the guidance of staff from the Center.

    I have spent an hour touring the site and lots more time delving into the links.

    The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood is excited to announce the two recipients of the Dan Cedarbaum Prize in Jewish Education: Rabbi Michelle Greenfield and Rabbi Bec Richman.

    Rabbi Michelle Greenfield from Kol Tzedek Synagogue in Philadelphia, Kol Tzedek Hebrew and Tefillah Curriculum, a project engaging children in producing liturgy that reflects the pluralism and diversity of the Jewish community

    Rabbi Bec Richman, whose B’Yadeinu Monthly Makers project establishes a new center for Jewish growth  in Cleveland Heights, Ohio incorporating meditation, music, and art

    A Dialogue with Rabbis Michelle Greenfield and Bec Richman, Cedarbaum Prize Winners

    https://vimeo.com/790890798

    In addition to our two recipients of the Dan Cedarbaum Prize, we have placed thirteen other projects in our 21st-century Kaplanian Innovation Garden. We found the work suggested in each of these projects to be creative and worthy of further support. We have thus given them a $250 Kaplan Center innovation award.

    The Kaplan Center’s Educational Innovation Conference was November 9, 2022. Watch recordings from our innovative presenters here.

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • Judaism and Democracy Webinar

    Entering the Heichal (sanctuary) of the Voting Booth: Reflections on Judaism and Democracy 

    with Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Sarah Hurwitz, Rabbi Sid Schwarz, Lauren Grabelle Herrmann
    October 30, 2022

    https://vimeo.com/766153829

    Print Flyer

    Question: What do you get when you bring together….

    One of the foremost Jewish philosopher thinkers on our contemporary scene (Rabbi Elliot Dorff)

    A practitioner-philosopher of a Jewish future that demands an amplified voice for Tikkun Olam (Rabbi Sid Schwarz)

    …and a distinguished author and former speechwriter for Barack Obama (Sarah Hurwitz)?

    Plus a d’var by SAJ’s Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann!

    Answer:A dialogue about Judaism and Democracy you will not want to miss!

    Elliot Dorff, Rabbi, Ph.D., is Rector and Distinguished Service Professor of
    Philosophy at American Jewish University and Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law. He has chaired the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards for fifteen years and has served on three federal government commissions — on health care, on diminishing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and on the protocols for research on human subjects. His books relevant to today’s session are these: To Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach to Modern Social Ethics, and For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law, especially Chapter One in both books.

    Rabbi Sid Schwarz is a social entrepreneur, author and teacher. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Hazon, a national organization based in New York.

    Rabbi Sid founded and led PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values for 21 years; its work centered on integrating Jewish learning, Jewish values and social responsibility. He is also the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD where he continues to teach and lead services.  Dr. Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in Jewish history and is the author of two groundbreaking books–Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue (Jewish Lights, 2000) and Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World (Jewish Lights, 2006). 

    Rabbi Sid 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.

    Sid was awarded the prestigious Covenant Award for his pioneering work in the field of Jewish education and was named by Newsweek as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in North America. Sid’s most recent book is Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future (Jewish Lights, 2013).

    From 2009 to 2017, Sarah Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. Prior to serving in the Obama Administration, Sarah was chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton on her 2008 presidential campaign. Sarah is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law school, and she is the author of Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life – in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There).

    Lauren Grabelle Herrmann serves as the rabbi to SAJ (Society for the Advancement of Judaism), the first Reconstructionist synagogue in the United States, founded by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. SAJ is a congregation dedicated to joyous spirituality, intellectual exploration, community, and social justice. Before coming to the SAJ, Rabbi Lauren was the founding rabbi of Kol Tzedek, a dynamic and diverse spiritual community in West Philadelphia. She founded the congregation during her student years at The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which she graduated from in 2006. Among Rabbi Lauren’s passions are ritual and social justice. She has been a leader in interfaith work in Philadelphia and is involved with T’ruah and interfaith organizing in NYC. She is the co-chair of the rabbinic council of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ).

    Many thanks to the sponsors of this webinar: Jacobs-Cedarbaum Family, Joe Kanfer – Director of the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, Sam Kelman Family Foundation, Josh and Debra Levin, Sherwood and Barbara Malamud, Karol and Daniel Musher, and Rabbi Arnie Rachlis

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  • Jewish Artist of the Week

    Primary Contact: Dvir Cahana
    theameninstitute@gmail.com
    jewishcreativity.org

    Creativity is a Jewish value. Viewing ancient ideas through new perspectives is a crucial aspect of the Jewish experience. As Jews, when we enter the millennia-long discourse on the Jewish tradition, we gain a sense of ownership over our identities.

    Historically, however, the people who have been given the power to make meaning from Jewish texts have been a small, privileged group. This is especially unfortunate because we stand to gain so much when bringing more voices into the conversation. What we aim to do is to empower a broader group of creative souls to investigate texts and interpret them. We want to give these individuals permission to enter the creative conversation and trailblaze new ways of reading our scriptures.

    We offer a wide variety of programming geared toward several different audiences. For working artists, we have the J.A.W. and Ore’ach Fellowship, a paired-study fellowship between practitioners and rabbis over two months. The fellowship results in presentations of work inspired by this paired study experience. For the general art-making public, we offer a growing network of weekly art nights, retreats, and other programming.

    We are not just a group of artists. We are a community. That’s why we started the Amen Network, an affiliation of many different partner institutions that work with us to share the art we make as widely as possible. We also underwrite Amen Productions, our in-house musical and artistic content hub.

    Art, for us, is a bridge. It connects career artists with their Jewish heritage, and it connects the broader Jewish community to its Judaism as well. Making art shouldn’t be intimidating; it should be healing. It is our mission to harness the connective, healing properties of art-making as we continue to build on the Amen Institute’s mission.

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    Back to the Innovation Garden

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    Sheridan

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  • Hanukkah and a Friendly Critique of the Notion of Living in Two Civilizations

    with Rabbis James Greene, Jessica Lott, Jeffrey Schein, and Dr. Eric Caplan
    December 11, 2022

    https://vimeo.com/780224255

    Rabbi James Greene is a 2008 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and currently serves as the President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. His career has included posts in synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, as well as in Jewish camping. James lives with his family on their small homestead in Stafford, CT. 

    Rabbi Jessica Lott is the Campus Rabbi at Northwestern Hillel. She has worked in the Hillel world for over a decade, both on campus and at Hillel International’s headquarters, specializing in education, student engagement, professional development and curriculum development. Jessica graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and serves on the board of Reconstructing Judaism.

    Many thanks to Jane and Harvey Susswein for sponsoring this webinar!

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