Rabbinical voices are needed in progressive movements everywhere. Students from the College take action on a variety of issues both within and beyond the Jewish world.
As a rabbi, you will have have an important role to play in the fight for local, national and global justice, and we’ll help you get ready. For more than a decade our Social Justice Organizing Program has trained rabbis to marry the voice of Jewish tradition and the best practices of successful organizing to become successful change makers. Founded by Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, ‘85, this program offers courses that focus on rabbinic activism and social justice and also provides internships with social justice organizations such as Bend the Arc and T’ruah.
Uniting with partners from other faith traditions is a sacred component of a rabbi’s work. RRC’s Multifaith Studies and Initiatives program and Social Justice Organizing program work in tandem to offer courses, service-learning experiences and professional internships in multifaith settings.
Read an account of Reconstructionist student activism in Forward.
Spotlight on Social Justice: Rabbi Rebecca Hornstein, ‘21
Rabbi Rebecca Hornstein, ‘21, finds deep meaning in organizing the Jewish community to take bold, powerful action for social justice and brings experience with a variety of social movements and styles of organizing. She has worked for racial justice with ISAIAH, a faith-based organization in her home state of Minnesota, and for housing justice with a direct -action based group called Occupy Homes. She has been a leader in the student-labor movement with United Students Against Sweatshops, and has worked with Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, a community-labor coalition challenging corporate power. Rebecca is an alum of JOIN’s Jewish Organizing Fellowship. She worked in the Massachusetts labor movement for three years as the organizer for the North Shore Labor Council (AFL-CIO), a coalition of labor unions based in Lynn, Mass. In 2018, Rebecca connected the College with UNITE HERE, the union of hotel and restaurant workers. Now, RRC has committed to using union hotels whenever possible in solidarity with workers organizing for better wages and working conditions across the industry. Rebecca is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. When she is not finding new ways to connect her passions for Judaism and social change, she enjoys making art, cooking and starting spontaneous dance parties.
