BBC Highlights Sharon Kleinbaum, Pioneering Reconstructionist Rabbi
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, RRC ‘90, was named to the BBC’s list of the world’s 100 most influential women. The recently retired spiritual leader of New York’s LGBTQ-oriented synagogue, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), was one of seven American women on the list.
Reconstructionist Rabbi Serving Israeli Families During Wartime
Originally from Kansas, Rabbi Burnstein has lived in Israel since 1996, except for the years he spent in Philadelphia studying at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He’s a member of Kibbutz Gezer — halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem — and since 2018 has been the spiritual leader of Kehilat Birkat Shalom. Affiliated with the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, Birkat Shalom is based on the kibbutz but serves families throughout central Israel.
Processing the RRC Faculty Study Tour to Israel and Palestine
Returning from a week of learning and conversation as part of the RRC Faculty Study Tour, Rabbi Alex Weissman reflects and processes his time in Israel and Palestine.
Reconstructionist Rabbi Featured in Netflix Moses Docudrama Series
When Rabbi Maurice Harris set out to write a book about Moses, he never could have imagined where that work would lead.
Now, more than a decade later, Harris is heavily featured in the new Netflix docudrama, Testament: The Story of Moses. The show, which dropped on March 27, is among the streaming platform’s first forays into religion programing. The three-part hybrid-documentary series explores Moses’ story from Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspectives. It intersperses dramatic scenes with actors and interviews with scholars, academics and theologians.
Songs for the Jewish Climate Movement
Several Reconstructionist Rabbinical College graduates and others affiliated with the movement are featured in “Rising Tides, Riding Voices: Songs for the Jewish Climate Movement.”
RRC Graduate Wins Covenant Award
Rabbi Tamara R. Cohen, ‘14 has received a prestigious 2023 Covenant Award which honors groundbreaking and influential Jewish educators. According to the Covenant Foundation’s announcement, this year’s recipients are “meeting a complex moment in Jewish communal history with a powerful blend of courage, commitment, and compassion.”
Feeling anxious about wildfire smoke? Here’s advice from a climate change chaplain
Feeling anxious about wildfire smoke? Here’s advice from a climate change chaplain
RRC Graduation 2023/5783: The Rabbis’ Response
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s graduating class of 2023/5783 marked the profound moment of transition by creating a beautiful ritual that incorporates the birkat kohanim, the priestly blessing. It is one of the oldest and most powerful blessings of the Jewish tradition.
Rabbi Barbara Penzner steps down after 28 years at Temple Hillel B’nai Torah
As Rabbi Barbara Penzner reviews her 28 years as senior solo rabbi of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah, a small, urban Reconstructionist congregation in West Roxbury, she told JewishBoston that she feels much gratitude for the community she and her congregation have built over the decades.
