The rabbi in training at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote just felt “anxious around Torah,” she said. Like the people at synagogue who are afraid to volunteer to lift the Torah during services, she was worried she would drop it and offend God … or something like that.
On the cusp of Black History Month, and as the nation continues to mourn for Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who died after a severe beating by five Black now-former police officers, one small Jewish movement is taking a stand.
Rabbi Alex Weissman remembers walking into the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote for the first time. It was November 2010, and he was a 27-year-old Tufts University graduate who had held a few jobs with community and service-minded organizations, like the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies & Training in New York City.
Legal scholar, philosopher and policy analyst Nathalie Smuha spends a lot of time thinking, writing and advising about artificial intelligence. Namely, Smuha believes that society’s increasing reliance on algorithms presents pressing legal and moral questions — and governments, corporations and citizens are not paying enough attention.
This article was originally published in the Jewish Exponent on June 8, 2022.
Reconstructionist Judaism offers a spiritual and communal home to all who seek connection and meaning. And the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College trains diverse and dynamic rabbis who make Jewish experiences accessible to all.Take, for example, Rabbi Adam Cerino Jones. Growing up in an interfaith home, he did not see a place for himself in any Jewish community until a Hillel rabbi convinced him that not only could he lead an authentically Jewish life, but he could also be a rabbi.
Rabbis Donna Cephas, Sandra Lawson and Michael Hess Webber each took very different paths to becoming Reconstructionist rabbis. Despite disparate journeys, the three religious leaders have continuously demonstrated dedication, creativity and an ability to inspire others. Their stories share an additional element: their paths to the rabbinate were once blocked because their partners are not Jewish.
Armin Langer, a rabbinical student in his final year at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, has been selected to participate in J Street’s Seminary Student Fellowship for the 2021-22 academic year.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who has led New York City’s Congregation Beth Simchat Torah since 1992, is one of President Joe Biden’s choices to join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
I’m grateful to be a tech native since that has vastly improved my ability to do my work via Zoom and phone this year, but in some ways it feels like this first year will have been the warm up to my proper entry into the West End community.
