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

From left: Michael Rothblat of New Hope, Brett Ackerman of Doylestown and Nell Sweeney of PenningtonKehilat HaNahar of New Hope, PA, held a successful Mitzvah Day on Oct. 21. That day, the community:
• Packed 500 lunches for a Trenton-area soup kitchen
• Cooked 65 meals for the Aid for Friends organization
• Sent care packages to 61 members of the New Jersey Air National Guard 108th Air Refueling Wing, stationed in the Middle East
• Signed people up to assist with HOPE (Helping People Every Day) and NOVA (Network of Victims Assistance)
• Enrolled people in the CROP walk in Lambertville

The activities were funded through a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

For additional resources on hunger and poverty see: http://www.jrf.org/hunger

Educators at November, 2007 RENA ConferenceSome say I just was looking to see some beautiful fall foliage. Others know that I have a soft spot in my heart for carved wood synagogue sanctuaries. Yet others might suppose that as a shul-hopper, I decided to take a few days to check out Congregation Or Hadash in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. In fact, I went to Fort Washington on a mission: to learn from and connect with other education directors of Reconstructionist Congregations.  read more »

The theme of the RENA conference was “Experiential Learning” with a focus on how to incorporate the style of programming from Camp JRF into our schools and congregational education models.

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.