As the JRF and the RRC continue to restructure our movement for a better future, JRF has created a timeless Legacy Tribute Book in honor of our congregations. This keepsake memento will walk our members through the years of Reconstructionist history and highlight each of our communities in story and pictures. We are looking for your help to make this once-in-a-lifetime tribute book a reality. Would you consider making a gift to the JRF to support our lasting legacy?
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Between 1863 and 1935, five families of different ethnic backgrounds lived at 97 Orchard St., now the homs of the famed Tenement Museum. In the widely acclaimed 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, author Jane Ziegelman explores the ways in which food shaped the lives of the German, Irish, Italian, and Jewish families who lived at this residence.

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Has Or Hadash always been welcoming to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people? Yes! Has Or Hadash been officially listed as a welcoming congregation so that people searching for a synagogue will know that? Not until now!  read more »

Students Run Philly Style runners competing in the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon.Congregation Beth Israel of Media, PA, today announced that Students Run Philly Style has won its 2009 “Friend of the Community Award.” Students Run Philly Style is the only program in Philadelphia that sets up mentored training programs for students to try running as an outlet for their energy. Many students who have participated have enjoyed better health and more focus in school. The award will be given to program director Heather McDanel, following 8PM Shabbat services at Beth Israel on Friday, May 8.  read more »

Based on a similar initiative in Los Angeles, Students Run Philly Style connects students with adult mentors who help them imagine and accomplish goals beyond their dreams, including the completion of a marathon. The program has been credited with delivering powerful results for youth, including increasing high school graduation rates, improving health, providing safe choices after school and developing positive relationships with caring adults.

Rabbi Joshua Waxman displays Or Hadash's new megillah case.At Erev Purim services, members of Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington, PA, were treated to the first public showing of the custom made case which was designed to hold their internationally recognized Megillat Esther.

The birch wood case was designed and built by craftsman David Hale of Vermont. The calligraphy which wraps around the case was written by Rabbi Kevin Hale, the Sofer whose artistry is reflected in the layout and writing of the scroll itself.

Read the fascinating story of Rabbi Hale's creative partnership with Or Hadash members to craft their own Megillat Esther.

Submitted by Gail Morrison-Hall

Dr. Rumee Ahmed and Dr. Ayesha ChaudhryThe 2009 Or Hadash Dickstein Scholar in Residence Shabbat was held on Friday February 20 and Saturday February 21. The congregation was pleased to welcome Dr. Rumee Ahmed and Dr. Ayesha Chaudhry, Assistant Professors of Religion and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Colgate University. Drs. Ahmed and Chaudrhy participated in three lively, engaging and enlightening sessions.  read more »

The first session on Friday evening focused on modern Muslim conceptions of Islam and its place in the world in the context of the last 3oo years. Saturday morning’s expanded Torah study focused on the week’s Torah portion and analogous passages from the Qur'an, asking how we might make spiritual meaning of difficult sacred texts.

This article is reprinted with permission from the New Jersey Jewish News.

Donna Kirshbaum led several lives before becoming a rabbi. (Photo by Marilyn Silverstein)
by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Bureau Chief/PMB

September 9, 2008

The scene is crystal clear in Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum’s memory. She was eight years old and had just finished reading a child’s biography of George Fox, founder of the society of Quakers.

“I remember leaning against the fridge and telling my mother, ‘I’m going to lead my people the way George Fox led his people,’” she recalled.  read more »

This summer, close to half a century later, that childhood dream became a reality as Kirshbaum took her place as religious leader and educational director of Princeton’s only Reconstructionist congregation, String of Pearls.

Rabbi Kevin Hale laying out the Megillat Esther scroll

An Unusual Megillah
By Marissa Brostoff

This article originally appeared in The Forward and is reprinted with permission.

The Scroll of Esther is getting a makeover from several kids in Pennsylvania, a Reconstructionist scribe and a computer graphics program.  read more »

Congregation Or Hadash, a small Reconstructionist synagogue located in the Philadelphia suburb of Fort Washington, has commissioned a sofer to create a megillah that incorporates drawings by students in its religious school.

Harmoniyah Steering Committee(L-R, rear) Barry Brian (Or Hadash), Elaine Moise (Kedem), Cantor Rachel Epstein (Adat Shalom), Doris Dyen (RRC, Dor Hadash), Rabbi Shawn Zevit (JRF), (L-R, Front) Barbara Nordstrom-Loeb (Mayim Rabim), Lauren Resnick (Dor Hadash)  read more »

Music is flowing in the Reconstructionist movement! Voices raised with kavanah, moving renditions of favorite classics, and brilliant interpretations of liturgy seamlessly intermingle with fresh explorations of the meaning of God, Torah and Israel in their broadest sense.