• Celebration and Thanksgiving: A Webinar Honoring Rabbi Jeffrey Schein

    with Rabbi Mira Wasserman, Ph.D.
    Sunday, June 9, 2024

    SUPPORT Contemporary Talmud Pages
    https://vimeo.com/955740166?share=copy

    Please join us as we thank Rabbi Jeffrey Schein for his work as Executive Director of The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, introduce our new Executive Director, Rabbi Elisheva Sachs Salamo, and learn from Rabbi Mira Wasserman, Director of the Center for Jewish Ethics and Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College). 

    Wasserman’s talk, titled “Leaping Off the Page: The Talmud and the Future of Jewish Dialogue,” will provide an historical survey of how the forms of talmudic discourse have evolved over the centuries and will examine how talmudic concepts, practices, and forms are being re-imagined today. Most significantly, Wasserman asks, what do new and emerging engagements with the Talmud, like the Kaplan Center’s Talmud Pages—a project initiated by Jeffrey Schein—suggest about the Jewish future?

    Mira Beth Wasserman’s work as a rabbi and scholar bridges Talmud study, community building, and the pursuit of social justice. Wasserman is director of the Center for Jewish Ethics and Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. 

    Wasserman’s research focuses on the art of the Babylonian Talmud and on how the Talmud can be deployed to support contemporary Jewish ethics. Her book, Jews, Gentiles, and other Animals: The Talmud after the Humanities, is an exploration of what it means to be human according to the Talmud; it was awarded the Salo Baron Prize for the best first book in Jewish studies published in 2017. In connection with the Ethics Center, Wasserman engages in public scholarship on race, gender, and Jewish ethics. In 2021, she was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support new research and develop curricula on race, religion, and American Judaism.

    Wasserman is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth Shalom in Bloomington, Indiana, where she served for over a decade and where her work in education led to the publication of a children’s book, Too Much of a Good Thing.

    Her doctorate in Jewish Studies is from the University of California at Berkeley, her rabbinic ordination is from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and she is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Barnard College.

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    Sheridan

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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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  • The Transdenominational Kaplan

    An Interview with Rabbi Adam Stock Spilker on the influence of Kaplan on a Reform Rabbi

    https://vimeo.com/963324838?share=copy

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    Margie Jacobs

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

    with author Amy Schiller

    and Rabbi Mordechai Liebling

    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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  • Amphibious Jew Project

    The Amphibious Jew Project – Rabbi Jeffrey Schein

    The Amphibious Jew project builds on a friendly argument with the Talmudist Adin Steinsaltz. Steinsaltz observed that some Jews lead marine Jewish lives. They totally immerse themselves in a complete Jewish environment (Israel, camp, etc.) Other Jews are more selective and use values-based decision-making to shape their Jewish life. Like a mammal searching for water and shelter, she consciously seeks out specific Jewish environments.

    The Amphibious Jew honors both these orientations and looks for the ways full attention to the marine and mammalian aspect of Jewish life leads to richer, more meaningful Jewish living and learning. The iconic figure, then, of this alternation between immersive and more analytic modes of Jewish living, is the amphibious frog.

    I invite you to take two deeper dives into the world of the Amphibious Jew:

    – as a Jewish concept

    – as a tool of educational planning in the age of technology and groundbreaking new neuroscience

    Three projects I direct (or on which I partner) which draw inspiration from the Amphibious Jew concept are:

    Want to learn more?

    Please contact me to discuss your further interest in these learning opportunities or your organization’s educational needs.

    Learn more about Rabbi Jeffrey Schein.

    Learn about Rabbi Jeff’s upcoming appearances and workshops.

    You can also visit The Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, TextMeJudaism.com and Growing Wonder for other examples of Jeff’s work related to the Amphibious Jew Project.

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • Pirke Mordecai

    with Yovel recipients Rabbis Lee Friedlander and Arnold Rachlis

    May 4, 2025

    Join us to hear eminent Rabbis who have attained Yovel status as they reflect on the ongoing and evolving threads of Kaplanian thought that have informed their careers.

    https://vimeo.com/1081495652?share=copy#t=0

    Rabbi Lee Friedlander is a native Philadelphian who was raised by secular Jewish parents and was educated in an Orthodox day school. These contrasting experiences have informed his wide-tent approach to Jewish life. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (’75), he has served as the Reconstructionist Movement as “Readings” co-editor (along with Deborah Brin) of the Reconstructionist Prayerbook series, and as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. It was under his presidency, thanks to the work of Executive Director Bob Gluck, that the Association fully enfranchised gay, lesbian and transgender Jews in all ritual and liturgical practices including marriage – the first Jewish denominational movement to do so, and more than twenty years before it was legally sanctioned by the Supreme Court. 

    Connecting people to one another and to the culture and history, and to the folkways and customs of the Jewish People has been the guiding directive of Lee’s rabbinate. For him, belonging is Judaism’s first principle. He understands that despite vast differences in observance and belief, what has kept Jews together throughout the millennia is a sense of fellowship and responsibility for one another. Lee fosters that spirit of community and obligation in all his work while bringing the fulness of Jewish expression – art, music, food, poetry – to every service and seminar.  He feels fortunate to have brought so many people together in these ways at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore on Long Island since the beginning of his tenure in 1981. 

    Lee is father of daughters Sara and Ruthie, father-in-law of Matthew and Steven, and grandfather of Helaina, Isaac and Tallulah.  He is a man who is truly happy with his lot.

    Rabbi Arnold Rachlis is the Rabbi Emeritus of University Synagogue in Irvine, California. Born in Philadelphia, Rabbi Rachlis received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from Temple University and Ordination and a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. 

    Rabbi Rachlis has taught at Temple University and Spertus College and has published scholarly articles, opinion pieces and poetry in a variety of publications, including Judaism, Reconstructionist, National Jewish Monthly, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Jewish Journal, Maj’shavot Pensamientos and A Psychology – Judaism Reader. 

    Rabbi Rachlis has served in Washington, D.C. as a White House Fellow, an honor annually accorded to only a dozen national leaders, and as a Senior Foreign Affairs advisor in the State Department. He was appointed a regional panelist for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships in both Democratic and Republican administrations, and was also selected as a Fellow in Leadership Greater Chicago. Rabbi Rachlis was chosen by the White House to give the invocation for President Obama’s Town Hall meeting and he was also selected as one of the 25 most influential leaders in Orange County. 

    Rabbi Rachlis has served as Chair of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, a coalition of over a thousand synagogues and Jewish organizations across the country. 

    The former rabbi of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois, Rabbi Rachlis was the youngest rabbi ever elected president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis. His service to the community includes the boards or advisory boards of Jewish Fund for Justice, U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, Americans for Peace Now, China Judaic Studies Association of Nanjing University, University of Illinois Fund for Gerontology Research, National B’nai Brith Hillel Commission, the American Jewish Committee, New Israel Fund, Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, of which he was a past president. He has also served on the executive committee of the Southern California Board of Rabbis and as a member of the Orange County Board of Rabbis. 

    For nine years, Rabbi Rachlis hosted Of Cabbages and Kings on ABC-TV, as well as a syndicated cable television show on contemporary Jewish issues, Hayom. He has appeared as a guest on National Public Radio, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and PBS, and has been interviewed frequently by such publications as the New York Times. He was profiled in the award-winning documentary film, The Legacy, and has served as a Judaica consultant for Compton’s Encyclopedia. 

    Thank you to our sponsors!
    Judith Ludwig, Jane and Harvey Susswein, Barbara Towbin

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    Sheridan

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  • Democracy and Judaism: Does One Need the Other to Thrive?

    with Aaron Dorfman, Amy Spitalnick, Rabbis Amy Klein and Bill Plevan, and moderated by Rabbi Elyse Wechterman

    Wednesday, March 20, 2024

    https://vimeo.com/941732542?share=copy

    Over 50 years ago, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, posited that Democracy was essential for a vibrant and thriving Jewish people/community.  Our question is:  was he right?  Do Jews and Judaism need democracy?  In the United States?  In Israel?  Kaplan posited that Democracy is the religion of America: is this still true, and what does it mean for those of us who also have another religious tradition?  Is there a Jewish commitment to democracy in either the US or Israel, and what do we need to do to strengthen it?

    *Cosponsored by The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, A More Perfect Union: The Jewish Partnership for Democracy, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs

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    Sheridan

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  • 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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    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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  • 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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    Sheridan

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