• “Do Religious Naturalists Really Believe in God?”

    Exploring some fundamental issues at the intersection of theology and philosophy.

    Sunday, September 13 and Monday, September 14, 2020

    10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT and 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EDT each day
    (with morning and afternoon breaks)

    Using the Zoom platform

    Open to the public, but advance registration is required.  

    We are honored to dedicate this conference to the memories of two of the Kaplan Center’s esteemed Senior Fellows, Rabbi Dr. Neil Gillman (1933-2017), z”l, and Rabbi Dr. Peter Knobel (1943-2019), z”l, each of whom was an important religious thinker.

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    The Mordecai M. Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, Bet Am Shalom Synagogue, and Temple Israel Center are delighted to invite you to attend a conference titled “Do Religious Naturalists Really Believe In God? Exploring some fundamental issues at the intersection of theology and philosophy.”  The conference is intended to appeal both to professionals in the field and to interested non-professionals.

    Dr. Jerome A. Stone has written that naturalism “involves the assertion that there seems to be no ontologically distinct and superior realm … to ground, explain, or give meaning to this world. On the positive side it affirms that attention should be focused on the events and processes of this world to provide what degree of explanation and meaning are possible to this life. … There are some happenings or processes in our experience which elicit responses which can appropriately be called religious.  These experiences and responses are similar enough to those nurtured by the paradigm cases of religion that they may be called religious without stretching the word beyond recognition.”

    We will try to answer the following questions: What are the possible meanings of “faith,” “mystery,” and “transcendence” in the absence of belief in a supernatural God?  Are at least some varieties of religious naturalism a form of paganism and hence anathema to non-mystical Rabbinic Judaism?  What is the relationship of Pragmatism in philosophy, particularly in the thought and writings of William James and John Dewey, to religious naturalism?  Does accepting absolute epistemic constraints (limitations on our ability to know or discover “the truth”) necessarily preclude metaphysical speculation?

    This two-day conference will bring together a wonderful group of scholars, listed below.  Here is the current program:

    Sunday, September 13, at 10:00 a.m. EDT

    Ari Ackerman – “Kaplan and Heschel on Religious Experience”
    Arthur Green – “A Neo-Hasidic Theology: Taking Jewish Monism Out of the Closet”
    Kari Tuling – “Divergence or Convergence? Reading David Hartman in the Context of Mordecai Kaplan”

    Sunday, September 13, at 1:00 p.m. EDT

    Mel Scult – “Kaplan Seeks his God”
    Emily Filler – “The God of Liberal Democracy: Mordecai Kaplan’s Pragmatic Theopolitics”
    Nadav S. Berman – “Some Remarks on Pantheism, Gnosticism, and the Challenges
    of Religious Naturalism”
    William Plevan – “Epistemology or Poetics?: Martin Buber and Neil Gillman on Myth”

    Monday, September 14, at 10:00 a.m. EDT

    Gordon Tucker – “Kaplan, Spinoza, and the Sources of Truth”
    Sanford Goldberg – “The Varieties of Religious Naturalism”
    Ellen Umansky – “Naturalism in Jewish Feminist Theology: Reimagining Awe and Transcendence”

    Monday, September 14, at 1:00 p.m. EDT

    Michael Hogue – “Henry Nelson Wieman and American Religious Naturalism”
    Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi – “Religious Naturalism in the Reform Movement”
    Bar Guzi – “The Non-reductive Naturalism of Hans Jonas”
    Howard Wettstein – “Naturalism and God” 

    Biographical information for our speakers is available here.

    For more information about the conference, please contact Dan Cedarbaum, at dan@kaplancenter.org (preferred) or at 847-492-5200.

    We hope to see you on September 13.

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    Daniel Cedarbaum

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  • Education Colloquium: Dr. Bill Robinson

    Will The Real Mordecai Kaplan Please Stand Up?

    Monday, April 19, 2021 3:00pm EST

    Dr. Bill Robinson will reflect on how his thinking about Kaplan and Virtue Ethics has continued to evolve since our initial program on January 6, 2021.

    Dr. Eric Caplan will augment our discussion of Kaplan and Virtue Ethics by guiding us beyond Judaism as a Civilization (1934) to The Future of the American Jew (1948).

    Sue Penn, Director of Education at University Synagogue, will explore with us, “What would our ethical stance look like if it emerged out of the practice of Jewish education rather than theory?”

    To attend this free program, please contact Dr. Jeffrey Schein.

    Please enjoy this recording of our first colloquium with Dr. Robinson on January 6, 2021 program.

    For your convenience, here are notes summarizing the conversation as well as a transcript of messages posted in the chat during this program. Finally here are key questions that emerged during conversation.

    In advance of that program, participants were asked to read a draft of Dr. Robinson’s upcoming chapter about Kaplan’ educational vision. The chapter is referenced throughout the conversation. Please contact Dr. Jeffrey Schein if you wish to review that preliminary document.

     

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    Daniel Cedarbaum

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  • Workshop Descriptions: Educational Innovation Conference

    12:10 – 12:50 PM 

    Jewish Artist of the Week – Dvir Cahana: 

    Judaism was fabricated from an inclination of creative reads. Once we give ourselves permission to try things that have never been done, the porential is boundless. In my workshop, I will describe an innovative methodology of using the language of art and parshanut to allow for rich discussions to emerge from intentional chevruta study.

    Stolen Beam – Jeffrey Gold/ Devorah Jacobson: 

    The Stolen Beam course – devoted to understanding the concept of reparations for descendants of enslaved African Americans and the Jewish case for Reparations – was an outgrowth of both study and dialogue of members of the Jewish Community of Amherst (JCA). The Stolen Beam has been used by Jewish, Christian and secular groups to further the understanding of the history racism in the United States and the need to address it. In this workshop, we share with you the Stolen Beam’s history, the process within the JCA and its governing body regarding reparations, and some ways the Stolen Beam and its accompanying manual have been utilized in the wider community.

    MishMash – Sarra Lev:

    Our workshop will guide you through using an application that can be used for teaching Talmud to anyone from beginner to advanced. We will start by demonstrating the features of the app and then teach a short sugya using the app.

    The Deep Dive – Eliana Light: 

    The Deep Dive: A New Way Into Liturgy and Prayer

    Join Eliana Light, founder of the Light Lab, for a taste of their signature offering, the deep dive. Using the Light Lab methodology, we’ll explore one piece of siddur text and attempt to alchemize liturgy into prayer. Along the way we’ll talk “T’fillahsophy,” podcasts, and the Light Lab’s mission to make Jewish liturgy and prayer practice accessible and meaningful to all seekers. No prayerbook experience necessary- we are all experts and we are all beginners.

    3:05 – 3:45 PM

    Repair & Remedy – Caryn Aviv: 

    Repair & Remedy is a 7 week exploration of Jewish and Black American texts about harm and repair.  This workshop will introduce the touchstones of the course, and ask questions about how we might apply Jewish concepts of teshuvah to addressing America’s unhealed wounds from slavery and racism.   

    Jewish World History Through the Arts – Liora Ostroff: 

    This project explores the questions, “How do Jewish content learning standards map onto antiracist learning standards?” and “How do we teach Jewish history and world culture in hands-on, creative, and student-led ways?” In the first iteration of this project, students explored menorahs from around the world, learning about how Jewish life and culture have been influenced by the places Jews have lived and the surrounding cultures Jews have interacted with.

    Mural of Jewish Living Values – Eric Schulmiller: 

    Cantor Eric’s presentation will explore RSNS’ approach to engaging youth with Jewish values through the lens of art and the meaning of communal space. Participants will learn how the values-based decision making process was essential in the artist-student partnership which lead to the creation of a Mural of Living Values.

    3:50 – 4:30 PM 

    Shabbat School Family Cooperative and Curriculum Treasury – Deborah Eisenbach-Budner: 

    What Happens When Parents are THE Teachers? Havurah Shalom Shabbat School in Portland is a Family Cooperative Jewish Education program with 130 students in Grades K-6, and parents from 90 families who work in 28 teams. Come hear how this amazing model works (for 40 years, now!); strengths and challenges of implementation. Consider whether there is a piece of this that might inspire your community. We have also developed  a rich online Curriculum Treasury  for 7 grades – with 28 curricular frameworks, 1003 activities, 261 sample lesson plans created by parent-teachers, and 653 additional curriculum resources – that contains a myriad of tools for hired teachers, too. We would like to share the model and Curriculum Treasury in a comprehensive and helpful way, including learning about the potential settings and needs of interested communities. 

    The Deep Dive – Eliana Light: 

    The Deep Dive: A New Way Into Liturgy and Prayer

    Join Eliana Light, founder of the Light Lab, for a taste of their signature offering, the deep dive. Using the Light Lab methodology, we’ll explore one piece of siddur text and attempt to alchemize liturgy into prayer. Along the way we’ll talk “T’fillahsophy,” podcasts, and the Light Lab’s mission to make Jewish liturgy and prayer practice accessible and meaningful to all seekers. No prayerbook experience necessary- we are all experts and we are all beginners.

    Tikkun Ha’ir – Pam Sommers: 

    Tikkun Ha’Ir (Repairing the City) has immersed close to one hundred middle and high school participants in a study of hunger, homelessness, and racial inequity in Washington DC.  Living and working in a church in a gentrifying neighborhood of Washington, DC. for several days and nights, participants prepare and serve meals for those in need, work in a family shelter, assist senior residents of a low-income apartment building, and participate in workshops and simulations on shelter life, homelessness, eviction and hunger with folks from area non-profits. They also grapple with historical and ethical issues through a Jewish prism.

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • “Judaism as a Civilization”, The Hanukkah Gift to the Jewish People and World that Keeps on Giving

    Lecture by Dr. Deborah Waxman of Reconstructing Judaism and response from Dr. Elias Sacks of Jewish Publication Society. Moderated by Dr. Jeffrey Schein.

    Sunday, December 10, 2023

    Our second 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/893583850?share=copy

    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.

    Read Dr. Waxman’s article:

    On Civilization and Culture: Reading Mordecai Kaplan Through the Lens of Eliezer SchweidDownload

    Dr. Elias Sacks is the Director of The Jewish Publication Society. Previously, he served as Director of the Program in Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author of Moses Mendelssohn’s Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism (2017), as well as articles on medieval and modern thinkers including Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Jacob Taubes.

    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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    Sheridan

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  • Reminisce with Ira & Judith

    Rabbi Ira Eisenstein and Dr. Judith Eisenstein spoke to congregant Ruby Kohn, (daughter of Eugene Kohn, one of Kaplan’s students):

    • Looking back at their twelve years of living in the creative and vibrant Jewish community of Woodstock, New York;
    • Judith’s retelling of how and why she became North American Jewry’s first Bat Mitzvah;
    • Ira providing a capsule summary of the history of Reconstructionist Judaism as a philosophy and movement
    https://vimeo.com/882680895/e8027069de?share=copy
    https://vimeo.com/882736067?share=copy
    https://vimeo.com/882682382?share=copy

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • Happy Birthday, Mel!

    Sheridan sings an innovative tune to wish Mel a Happy Birthday

    Eric’s invitation to December 8 celebration of Mel

    https://vimeo.com/950950014?share=copy

    Jeffrey Sings Mel’s Praises

    https://vimeo.com/947105949/e6c59c38fc?share=copy

    Jane sings Mel’s praises

    https://vimeo.com/950526201/69fa68a945?share=copy

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • Kaplan, Musar, Mindfulness and Morals

    Preparation for the High Holidays with Drs. Eric Caplan and Mel Scult, Rabbi Marc Margolius, and Elizabeth Caplun, moderated by Rabbi Les Bronstein

    https://vimeo.com/863252424?share=copy

    Dr. Eric Caplan, Vice President and Academic Advisor of the Kaplan Center, is an associate professor of contemporary Judaism and Jewish education at McGill University. He is currently assembling an anthology of Jewish social activist thought in North America, 1860-2021 (Jewish Publication Society) and preparing for publication the final volume of excerpts from the diaries of Mordecai Kaplan, 1951-1978 (Wayne State University Press). Eric’s book, From Ideology to Liturgy: Reconstructionist Worship and American Liberal Judaism (Hebrew Union College Press, 2002), was reissued with an extensive new preface in 2022. He is a co-founder of the Kaplan Center.

    Dr. Mel Scult is a retired professor of Judaic Studies who has taught at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Vassar College, Brandeis University and the New School. His publications include a biography of Mordecai Kaplan, a volume analyzing Kaplan’s thought, three volumes of excerpts from the twenty-seven volume Kaplan diary and a volume dealing with the origin of the missions to convert the Jews. He has also published essays on Solomon Schechter, Mathilde Schechter and Henrietta Szold.

    Rabbi Marc Margolius is Vice President for Faculty and Program for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.  He directs the faculty and overall programming for IJS, and oversees programming for lay leaders and alumni of the alumni of our Clergy Leadership Program, hosts IJS’s online daily mindfulness meditation sessions, and teaches Awareness in Action: Cultivating Character through Mindfulness and Middot, IJS’s online program in tikkun middot practice, integrating Jewish mindfulness with attention to core middot, character traits. He is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and of Yale Law School, and lives in New York City.

    Elizabeth Caplun immigrated to California from Belgium in her 30’s. She holds a BS in Journalism and a MS in Environmental Sciences from Brussels Free University. Her career in the US took place in academic environments, with the last 20 years in executive positions at Stanford University. While in the Bay Area, she became acquainted with reconstructionist Judaism and joined Keddem Congregation in Palo Alto. She retired a couple of years ago to Bishop, a rural community in Eastern California. She spends her time practicing and teaching Mussar, writing poetry and exploring her gorgeous surroundings. 

    Rabbi Les Bronstein has served as rabbi of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains NY since 1989.  He is past president of the New York Board of Rabbis and the Westchester Board of Rabbis, past chair of the JFNA Rabbinic Cabinet, and past co-chair of T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. He served on the RRA board and its commissions on the Guide to Jewish Practice and the Role of the Rabbi.

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    Margie Jacobs

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  • Praying in a Kaplanian Mode at Sukkot

    by Sue Penn, Director of Innovation

     

    Responsive Reading after Avodah:

     

    We Cannot Merely Pray

     

    We cannot merely pray to God to end war;

    For the world was made in such a way

    That we must find our own path of peace

    Within ourselves and with our neighbor.

    We cannot merely pray to God to root out prejudice; For we already have eyes

    With which to see the good in all people

    If we would only use them rightly.

    We cannot merely pray to God to end starvation; For we already have the resources

    With which to feed the entire world

    If we would only use them wisely.

    We cannot merely pray to God to end despair; For we already have the power

    To clear away slums and give hope

    If we would only use our power justly.

    We cannot merely pray to God to end disease; For we already have great minds

    With which to search out cures and healings

    If we would only use them constructively. Therefore we pray instead

    For strength, determination, and will power.

    To do instead of merely pray

    To become instead of merely to wish;

    That our world may be safe,

    And that our lives may be blessed.

    Responsive Reading after Hoda’ah

    For the expanding grandeur of Creation,

    Worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies, Filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations.

    (Jack Riemer, adapted) childrensdefense.org

    Sitting here in this temporary dwelling, built to remind us of traveling through the dessert for 40 years, we cannot help but think of a world struggling to cope with an international pandemic.  

     

    Adults:

    Discussion:

    * What lessons can we take from this poem?

    • What does mitzvah of sitting in a Sukkah mean to us in 2021?
    • Why is fulfilling this mitzvah so different this year than in previous years?

    Experiential:

    • Cook a multi course meal where each course is a recipe from a different culture or tradition.
    • Hold a virtual or physical gathering in your Sukkah and invite people who grew up in different countries.  Invite each person to share one of the traditions that they celebrate that began in the country they came from.

    Inspirational:

    • Commit to doing something that will enhance your life this year. This commitment does not need to be shared allowed. Write it down and hold yourself accountable.
    • Remembering that nothing is permanent, make a plan to share an important life lesson you’ve learned, with someone who can benefit from it in the future.

    Children:

    Discussion:

    • Why do think the poem is important?
    • Is anything in life permanent? What is the lesson of the Sukkah?

    Experiential:

    • Make a paper chain to decorate the Sukkah that reflects the people around you.
    • Make a basket of food, inspired by Sukkot, to share with an elderly neighbor.

    Inspirational:

    • How can you improve life for the people in your world?

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    Eric Caplan

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  • Education Corner

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    Jeffrey Schein

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  • Rabbi Alan Miller

    Come and learn why you should know more about this fascinating rabbi than you probably do.

    On Sunday afternoon, December 3, 2017, we gathered at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in Manhattan for a conversation about Rabbi Miller with Ms. Ruth Messinger, Rabbi Philip Pohl, Dr. John Ruskay, and Rabbi Dr. Deborah Waxman, moderated by Dan Cedarbaum.  To see more about the panelists, click here.  For a video recording of that program, click here.

    To hear one of the greatest pulpit orators of the 20th century, click here.

    We will be adding other materials about Rabbi Miller to this page from time to time.

    God of Daniel S.: In Search of the American Jew (1969)

    In this remarkably current book, Rabbi Dr. Alan Miller, z”l, the rabbi at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York for more than 30 years (from 1961 to 1992), elucidates the principles of Reconstructionism and, via the device of a seeker estranged from his Judaism, walks him through what belonging to a Reconstructionist community would entail.

    Perhaps most interesting is the central section of the book, where Rabbi Miller makes a quick run through Jewish history with a psychological approach.  In the same way that a child can only make sense of her personal history once she achieves a stage of self-consciousness, so the Jewish people, Rabbi Miller claims, could only make sense of its history when it achieved self-consciousness during the period of the Prophets.  The early stories of creation were myths (analogous to scientific theories today), and the stories of Abraham and his progeny were legends, refashioned over generations to suit the time of the telling.  The Prophets reconstructed the theology of the Torah in light of the destruction of the Temple so that it was meaningful for a people in diaspora, and envisioned a God who embodies righteousness.  The calamities that had befallen the Jewish people were interpreted as retribution for transgressions.

    Miller divides Jewish history into four sections: Biblical, Rabbinic, modern, and democratic, and sees Kaplan as an archetype of the democratic Jew.  We at the Kaplan Center were privileged to count Rabbi Miller among our esteemed Senior Fellows.

    The SAJ sanctuary as it looked during Rabbi Miller’s tenure:

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    Hirsch Fishman

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