A rabbi confronts cancer during the High Holy Days
Type: RT Article
Holidays
This is a hands-on, team activity for the week before Sukkot that allows students to build sukkot according to instructions given in the Mishnah.
Type: Lesson Plan
This Rosh Hashanah program is appropriate for primary and secondary school students. It uses multiple learning stations, which creates a diversity of activities and allows for many students to participate at once. Themes such as tashlich and creation are included.
Type: Lesson Plan
Miraculous Lights
Rabbi Jacob Staub reflects on his coming out experiences in this essay on Hanukkah.
How Much Is Enough?
In 2013-14, the Tikkun Olam Commission of the Reconstructionist movement is initiating actions and conversations about wealth and income inequality and the related question: How much is enough? This letter, written by Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, ’85, was originally sent to college students. However, it’s a useful text for any family, study group or individual who wants to bring contemporary meaning and challenging questions to bear on an ancient holiday.
Type: Community Discussion Guide
The Faith and Gratitude of Enough
As we gather to celebrate the holidays of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving we pause to acknowledge the abundance in our lives and reflect upon our gratitude and the question of what is enough.
Type: Poem
Rating the "High Holidays"
"I'd give it a 7... It had a good beat, and you could davven to it"
Topics: Jewish Life, Reconstructionism Today, Holidays, Congregational and Organizational Life, Holy Days and Rituals
Type: RT Article
Shavuot: The Harvest Festival of Torah
The meaning of Torah for Reconstructionist Jews
Type: RT Article
How to Light the Hanukkah Menora and Sing the Blessings
Listen and watch Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat as he demonstrates lighting the Hanukkah menorah. He's also thrown in "O' Hanukkah, O' Hanukkah" whose famous English words were written by Mordecai Kaplan's daughter, Judith Eisenstein.
Type: How to
Challenging Distinctions: The Purim Enigma
A article exploring the deeper meaning of the seemingly frivolous holiday of Purim. Why is Yom Kippur sometimes compared to Purim? What's behind the Talmudic suggestion of drinking to the point of being unable to distinguish between Haman and Mordechai?
Type: Dvar Torah