The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is once again enthusiastically joining Jewish communities, organizations and individuals from around the world in celebrating a month of social action and Jewish unity. The Hebrew month of Heshvan – which generally falls in October through November– has been again declared Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM).  read more »

Lior with Rabbi Shawn ZevitAn engrossing, wrenching and tender documentary film, Praying with Lior, is debuting around the world and receiving rave reviews and was the highest grossing independent film its first weekend in New York.

The film tells the story of Lior Liebling, a member of congregation Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, whom his community calls "the little rebbe." Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his life praying with utter abandon. As Lior approaches bar mitzvah, the movie poses difficult questions such as What is disability? And who really talks to God?

Read the New York Times story about the film and
an interview with director Ilana Trachtman on the NY Jewish Film Festival blog.

Praying with Lior show times

Ozi, the son of Rabbi Seth Goldstein, dressed as a zombie from the dream scene in Fiddler on the Roof at the 2004 sing-along. What are your shul’s Christmas-day traditions? For the past few years, the members of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington, have gathered for a fun-filled Christmas-day Jewish movie night. Their premiere event in 2004, which featured a showing of Fiddler on the Roof, included a sing-along, costume contest, and a potluck, as well as the now-traditional food and blanket drive benefitting the Olympia Food Bank and other local organizations that support the community.

JWW Backpack ProjectCongregation Bet Am Shalom in Whiteplains, NY, joins the Westchester Darfur Coalition and Jewish World Watch (JWW) in providing and education for children fleeing genocide in Darfur. JWW's Backpack Project will enable children in the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Chad to attend schools run by the International Rescue Committee. Filled with shoes, books, school supplies, soap and toothpaste (all obtained as locally as possible), the backpack allows each child to make the most of school under the most difficult of circumstances.

Each year the staff of The Forward chooses 50 individuals who are “making a difference in the way American Jews view the world and themselves” and embody “the spirit of Jewish action as it is emerging in America.” The list for 2007 includes four Reconstructionists who are making their mark in the areas of community, spiritual leadership, and ideas and activism:

Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Ruth Messinger; Executive Director of the American Jewish World Service

Rabbi Toba Spitzer, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and rabbi at JRF affiliate Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, Massachusetts

June Walker, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Read their profiles from The Forward at jrf.org/Recon_forward_50.

The latest issue of Ma Nishma - News from JRF is out in its new format.

Read it online at jrf.org/manishma_dec.

Now everyone can subscribe to receive Ma Nishma as an e-Newsletter. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

You can also download Ma Nishma for December in MS Word.

In this issue:

JRF Calls on Congress to Support Peace Talks
Reconstructionists Named to the ‘Forward 50’
Register for Camp JRF!
Camp JRF Scholarships Available
JRF Planned Giving Website Debut
Hold a Shabbaton at Camp JRF
Israel Experience Registration Now Open
No’ar Hadash Teen Events
JRF's Sustainable Synagogue Initiative
Kol HaKavod!
Upcoming Events

Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, CA, celebrated the end of its mortgage with a special weekend of celebrations in early October.

Mazel tov!

No'ar Hadash, the Reconstructionist Youth Movement, is excited to announce these upcoming events for teens:

Dec. 14 - 16, 2007
Eastern Youth Kallah
(Concurrent with the JRF Chespeake Regional Kallah)
Waynesboro, PA

Jan. 11 - 13
Western Teen Kallah
(Concurrent with the JRF Western Regional Gathering)
Irvine, CA

Jan. 18 - 20
New England Teen Kallah
Boston, MA

Feb. 1 - 3
Canada Teen Kallah
Ottawa, Ontario

Feb. 15 - 17
Midwest Youth Kallah
Ingleside, IL

Feb. 15 - 17
Pacific Northwest Teen Kallah
Olympia, WA

April 11 - 13
North American Teen Kallah
Location TBD

For more information, visit www.noarhadash.org, e-mail us at info@noarhadash.org, or call (215) 885-5601.

Make sure that your child has the summer of a lifetime at Camp JRF on the Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Campus in the Pocono Mountains.

Here's how to register: Go to www.campjrf.org and either register online or print the application and mail to our camp office.

In just a few weeks the Summer 2008 Camp JRF brochure will be in the mail and will also be included in the next issue of Reconstructionism Today.

Register by November 15th and take advantage of the Early Registration discount!

For more information, please contact the Camp JRF office at 877-CAMP-JRF (877-226-7573).

RENA (Reconstructionist Educators of North America), the educational arm of the Reconstructionist movement, is preparing for its next conference on Nov. 11-13 near Philadelphia.

There's still time to register! Visit: jrf.org/rena

Where: Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation, 190 Camp Hill Road, Fort Washington, PA 19034

When: Sunday night through Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 11-13

Why: To give Reconstructionist education directors a chance to share ideas, interact with each other, and learn about infusing informal and formal education into our religious schools.

Assistance with transportation and home hospitality are available. There will be conference calls for those who are interested in attending but cannot do so. Please contact Lori Rubin at 215-283-0276 or e-mail school@orhadash.com.

Or Hadash in Fort Washington, PA
Twenty five years isn't very long for a religion that just started the year 5768. But Fort Washington, PA, synagogue Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation is proud of all it has accomplished in those 25 years. From its start in 1983 by six families as a laboratory to train student rabbis at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the congregation has committed itself to being a warm and participatory place catering to the needs of modern Jews eager to honor their religion's past while creating their own place in its future.

No'ar Hadash, the Reconstructionist Youth Movement, is proud to introduce the 2007 - 2008 North American Va'ad Teen Leadership Council!

David Blechman (JRC - Evanston, IL)
Sara Chernov (RSNS, Plandome, NY)
Joshua Davidson (Kol Halev, Cleveland, OH)
Hayley Raetz (Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR)
Becca Richman (Adat Shalom, Bethesda, MD)
Jocelyn Schrager (Temple Beth Hatfiloh, Olympia, WA)
Brianna Spatz (Kol Ami, Boca Raton, FL)

These seven high school juniors and seniors will work together to plan and implement regional programs, brainstorm about the future of No'ar Hadash, recruit for the No'ar Hadash Israel Experience, and continue to build our wonderful youth programming across North America.

For more information on No'ar Hadash visit www.noarhadash.org.

Shir Hadash of Milwaukee is slating the upcoming "shemita" or "Sabbatical" year as a "green" year for its congregation. The central theme of the year will be to explore how we as Jews can give our stressed and endangered world a rest. An ad hoc committee chaired by two Shir Hadash members will oversee and coordinate events, classes, educational and ritual opportunities all tied to the yearly round of holidays and holy days of the Jewish calendar.  read more »

The September, 2007 issue is out. In this issue:

• Teens Return from Israel
• Camp JRF Book Shelf
• Special Offers from JRF’s Reconstructionist Press
• Now Read RT Online!
• Make a Difference with Your IRA
• Action in Darfur
• Kol HaKavod!
• Upcoming Events

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, at a meeting of its national board June 2-4, enthusiastically welcomed news of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)'s decision on June 4 to include JRF as a partner organization, making the Reconstructionist organization the first national agency to be added to the JCPA in decades. The JRF represents more than 100 Reconstructionist congregations and havurot across the United States and Canada.

Here's an MS Word version of Ma Nishma: News from the JRF for July '07.

In This Issue:

JCPA Welcomes JRF
Synagogue Greening Initiative
Camp JRF Needs Administrator
Help a Child Go to Camp
Omer Initiative a Great Success
Camp JRF Needs Siddurim
RT Seeks Artists
June Walker Assumes Leadership
Action in Darfur
Hunger Rally Held June 11
Kol HaKavod!
Upcoming Events

See the file attachment for a listing of news around the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. It is in Word format, intended for newsletter editors to cut and post into their newsletters.

It's also available here for our web site readers. Enjoy.

See the file attachment for a listing of news around the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. It is in Word format, intended for newsletter editors to cut and post into their newsletters.

It's also available here for our web site readers. Enjoy.