We are pleased to announce that Daniel Cedarbaum has dramatically changed his relationship to the JRF this fall – stepping down from his volunteer leadership positions and assuming an important role as a full-time member of the professional staff of the JRF. Dan is now the JRF’s Director of Movement Growth Initiatives and Special Projects.  read more »

The recent tragic events in Mumbai are a reminder that Jewish institutions are regarded as attractive targets by terrorist groups. It is also known that during times of political transition there is a need for heightened national security. In light of this unfortunate reality, Dr. Carl Sheingold, JRF’s Executive Vice President, attended a high-level security briefing organized by the Secure Community Network (SCN) in New York, and scheduled an exclusive conference call for JRF congregations with Paul Goldenberg, Executive Director of SCN.  read more »

Listen online or download the audios from this Forum. Download Rabbi Fred Scherlinder-Dobb's notes!  read more »

Also, listen to audio of the Convention’s opening plenary, Jewish Identity, Community and Leadership: A Dialogue Between the Generations.

Rabbi Amy Small with Dr. Sayyid Syeed, National Director of the Islamic Society of North AmericaIn December 2008, Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, including heads of more than 25 national organizations issued a consensus statement, "A Window of Hope for the Peace of Jerusalem," calling for urgent U.S. leadership for peace in the Middle East. The statement and a letter to President-Elect Obama were drafted by the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI).

Among the endorsers of the consensus statement were Dr. Carl A. Sheingold, JRF Executive Vice President, Rabbi Toba Spitzer, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Immediate Past President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and Rabbi Amy Small, Past President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. These Reconstructionist leaders signed on to this initiative personally, not as officially representing their organizations.

In the letter to President-Elect Obama, the religious leaders urged him to make Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace an urgent priority of U.S. policy from the start of his Presidency. They assured him that substantial majorities in synagogues, churches and mosques across the country would support active U.S. leadership for peace.

JRF Midwest Region Family Journey to Israel - June 23 - July 7, 2009
Led by Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow and and Dawn Weiner-Kaplow of Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue, Northbrook, Illinois

Come to Israel to discover your Jewish historical and spiritual roots in the land and its people. Starting and ending in Jerusalem, we will track Jewish civilization from Biblical days to the bustling and exciting modern State of Israel. Our tour will explore Israeli society, culture, art, technology, spirituality, politics and more.  read more »

Read more to see all the details and download the attached flyer. To register or receive more information, contact Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue at 847- 498-8218 or info@shir-hadash.org.

In response to the terror attacks in Mumbai, India, Robert Barkin, President of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and Carl A. Sheingold, JRF’s Executive Vice President, issued the following statement:

We join communities around the world in mourning along with the people of India following the senseless terror attacks in Mumbai this week. We stand in solidarity with them and our hearts go out to the families and friends of all those killed and wounded.  read more »

Rabbi Jane Rachel LitmanRabbi Jane Rachel Litman has been hired to serve as the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation's Western Region Director. She is the first rabbi to hold the position since 1996. Rabbi Litman was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1989. During her student years, she was an intern in Los Angeles organizing Reconstructionist havurot in the San Fernando Valley. One of those havurot recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Since graduation, Rabbi Litman has served four California synagogues ranging in size from eighty to two thousand families. She also taught at California State University Northridge and Loyola Marymount.

The Tikkun Olam committee of Congregation Bet Haverim in Atlanta, Georgia, asks the question "How little could you live on?" At the Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday, December 5 will be a special program on the Living Wage Campaign. This interfaith alliance, of which Bet Haverim is a member, hopes to raise the salaries of the lowest-paid workers in Georgia, many of whom are not covered by the federal minimum wage law. To help understand the significance of the choices workers must make, congregants have been invited to jot down ahead of time their own “subsistence” budget for a month, including just the necessities they must pay for and to bring it to the December 5 service. How little could YOU live on? Read more!

In 1990, JRF passed a movement-wide resolution on the environment and congregational life. Since 2006 we offered conference calls and resources on Sustainable Synagogues and Living a Jewish Life Rooted in Ecological Values.  read more »

• http://jrf.org/Sustainable_Synagogue_Resources
• http://jrf.org/sz-2007-omer-intro
• http://jrf.org/omer/2007

As part of the Sustainable Synagogue Initiative and the 2008 JRF Biennial convention, we honored 15 of the individuals and communities leading the way in our movement in integrating Jewish values and religious life, and sustainable communal policies and practices. Read more to see the full list!

This is the first of what will be many reports sharing highlights of the 42nd JRF Convention that took place in Boston November 13-16, 2008.

Panelists at our opening plenary, from left, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, Rabbi David Teutsch, Sarah Liebman and Zachary Teutsch As the Jewish Reconstructionist movement enters its sixth decade as a major force in Jewish life, JRF dedicated its 2008 biennial convention in Boston to exploring the theme "Transformative Judaism for the 21st Century."

Listen online or download the audio to this session.  read more »

Following a two-year strategic planning process launched at the JRF biennial in 2006, the JRF board ratified a plan whose strategic priorities were reflected at this year’s Convention. The “next generation” took center stage and was explored in a variety of ways throughout the four-day event and included the many college students and young adults in attendance. Participants engaged in dialogue with a diverse group of experts about the important role the Reconstructionist movement is playing through its innovations in Jewish education, Jewish camp, and all aspects of Jewish communal life.

The work of Jewish Reconstructionist composers will be performed at "No Rock Like You: Songs for the Jewish Soul." This Shalshelet concert will be at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13 at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in downtown Washington, or at workshops the day after. The concert will feature inspiring new works — pop and classical to Latin and klezmer — performed by gifted soloists, a full choir, drums and more. Free creative workshops for music lovers, musicians, and composers will take place on Sunday, Dec. 14, also at Sixth & I. Visit www.shalshelet.org for details and tickets.

Participants include Manel Frau-Cortes, Cantor Marcelo Gindlin, Mark Glicksman, Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, and Rabbi Shawn Zevit. Read more to learn about these talented Reconstructionists.  read more »

Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. 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.  read more »

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.

The following joint statement from the three arms of the Reconstructionist movement was passed as a resolution by the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation’s national board and presented at a public session at the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation’s biennial convention in Boston this week.

For more information on JRF’s work in the area of social justice, visit www.jrf.org/inclusion.

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College deplore the passage of Proposition 8 in California and similar discriminatory initiatives recently passed in Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas. We are saddened and deeply disturbed by the denial of fundamental human rights—to marry, to adopt and care for foster children—to thousands of gay and lesbian citizens across the United States. We are particularly dismayed by the passage of initiatives that have reversed previously recognized equality for same-sex unions.  read more »

Learn more at www.chkehillah.org/socialaction.htm

2009 Updates: http://www.jspot.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=2090

We are pleased to announce that the Chapel Hill Kehillah, a synagogue in Chapel Hill, NC, affiliated with the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, has received a matching grant from the national organization Jewish Funds for Justice to support our first year of congregational membership in the Orange County Organizing Committee.

The Orange County Organizing Committee (OCOC) is building a broad-based organization with the power to take collective action in the name of justice and the common good.  read more »

Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. 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.  read more »

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.