Convention 2008

Fred Dobb on Tikkun Olam Panel by Rabbi Fred Dobb

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:16:14 -0500

Toba Spitzer on Tikkun Olam Panel by Rabbi Toba Spitzer

Rabbi Toba Spitzer — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:10:43 -0500

Brant Rosen on Tikkun Olam Panel by Rabbi Brant Rosen

Rabbi Brant Rosen — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:00:32 -0500

Val Kaplan from Oseh Shalom in Maryland, introduces the session.

JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by Zachary Teutsch

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:43:41 -0500

At the end of Zach's talk, JRF Executive Vice President Carl Sheingold presents some closing remarks.

JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by Sarah Liebman

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:36:24 -0500

JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by Michael Strassfeld

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:19:11 -0500

JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by David Teutsch

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:10:06 -0500

JRF Executive Vice President Carl Sheingold gives an introduction to the plenary in advance of David Teutsch's remarks.

JRF Sustainable Synagogue Honorees

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:34:08 -0500

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.

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!

1. Adat Shalom, Bethesda, MD, (http://www.adatshalom.net/)
Environmental Education, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Activism

Adat Shalom has taken on environmental issues, both within their congregation and in the larger community. They have brought in locally grown organic vegetables, via Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). They also designed and built their home, some eight years ago, with environmental and social sustainability in mind, becoming only the second synagogue in the country to be designated an “Energy Star Congregation” by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

2. Beit Tikvah, Baltimore, MD, (http://www.beittikvah.org/)
Sponsors of the Baltimore Jewish Environmental Conference and participants in the newly formed Baltimore Environmental Network of Synagogues

Though less than 100 families, they felt like something was missing and needed to be doing more. JRF’s 2007 Omer Initiative on the Environment was their challenge to work harder on environmental issues, creating new projects involving more of our congregation’s adults and children. They are partnering with “Tree Baltimore”, trying to double the tree canopy in the city; and their Tikkun Olam Committee is looking to diminish wastefulness by inviting congregants to make their own uniquely-designed, re-usable plates to bring to synagogue.

See http://jrf.org/node/906

3. Bnai Keshet, Montclair, NJ, (http://www.bnaikeshet.org/)
Synagogue Greening Initiative, Education curriculum and Honoree of Greenfaith

The Greening Synagogue Project is an exciting and timely initiative cosponsored by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Living (COJEL) and Green Faith, an interfaith environmental organization. Bnai Keshet is one of two participating synagogues, along with ten other houses of worship, who implement sustainable practices to become beacons of environmental justice. Its Tikun Olam committee is: (1) reducing synagogue waste; (2) increasing energy efficiency at Bnai Keshet; (3) studying the ways spiritual life informs and is informed by the natural world; and (4) advocating for environmental justice in the community.

4. Congregation Bet Haverim, Atlanta, GA, (http://www.congregationbethaverim.org/)
Hannukah for a Brighter Future energy initiative

This award winning Hanukkah home guide includes a nightly ritual of replacing a light bulb in your house with an energy efficient CFL bulb, short teachings about the importance of saving energy, a light bulb joke, and a blessing.

See http://jrf.org/project-new-leaves, http://ecoomer.wetpaint.com/?t=anon;
http://jrf.org/files/Rabbi%20Josh%20Lesser%20RH%20D'var%205758.doc

5. Darchei Noam, Toronto, Ontario, CAN, (http://www.darcheinoam.on.ca/)
Environmental Principles of Capital Campaign

Consonant with “the obligations of Bal Tashchit (do not waste) and Tikkun Olam (repair of the world),” Darchei Noam’s new building selected [in their own words] “heating, cooling, lighting, and water systems [which] reflect our determination to minimize our impact on the natural environment. We sought out sustainable building materials and interior finishes and implemented environmentally respectful operating practices. In the process, we have crafted a beautiful yet practical new home, one that is comfortable and inviting, nurturing and inspiring.”

http://jrf.org/files/Darchei%20Noam's%20New%20Green%20Home.pdf

6. Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, IL, (http://www.jrc-evanston.org/)
Greenest Synagogue in NA and ongoing green policy development

Rabbi Brant Rosen and the leadership and members of the JRC in Evanston, IL- for boldly going where no synagogue has gone before! JRC has received the highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program for the congregation's new building. The "platinum" rating – which is the first for a house of worship, anywhere, ever! -- is being sought for features such as using recycled concrete, sensor-controlled lighting and a parking space reserved for a hybrid car. JRC's energy costs will be nearly half those of a typical synagogue of the same size; it has created a pilgrimage site for sustainable spirituality.

JRC awarded JTA Green Beanie Award 2009
See http://jrf.org/omer07-CCaplan, http://jrf.org/omer07-BRosen,
and http://www.jrf.org/JRC-greenest-shul;
http://jrf.org/files/JRC%20Board%20Approved%20Green%20Policy%20jan08.DOC

7. Kehillat Israel, Pacific Palisades, CA, (http://kehillatisrael.org/)
Mitzvot for Sustainable Living

Become Carbon Neutral;
Become Food Conscious;
Become Energy Efficient;
Reduce Oil Consumption and Dependency on Foreign Oil:
Be Waste Conscious

See http://jrf.org/files/KI%20Five%20Mitzvot%20for%20Sustainable%20Living.doc and http://jrf.org/files/Rabbi%20Sheryl%20Lewart%20-%20Living%20a%20Responsible%20Life.doc

8. Shir Hadash, Milwaukee, WI , http://www.cshmilw.org/ Year of the Environment

Shir Hadash of Milwaukee made this "shemita" or "Sabbatical" year a "green" one, “to explore how we as Jews can give our stressed and endangered world a rest.” Each congregational committee will be involved in some way in the exploration of environmental concerns. By Shavuot the goal is to have worked out rules of eco-kashrut and an ethical purchasing guide for the congregation with suggestions for personal use.”

See http://jrf.org/Sustainable_Synagogue_Resources#comment-330

9. RSNS, Plandome, NY, (http://www.rsns.org/)
Synagogue Greening Initiative and save-the-rain campaign

When agreeing in 2005 to purchase all its electricity from wind, small hydro and bio-energy-generated sources, RSNS became the first synagogue in the nation to become “carbon neutral,” and only the second religious institution in the entire country to qualify for the EPA Green Power Leadership Club. Then, at High Holiday services, ‘Green Choice’ applications went to every synagogue member, encouraging them to become carbon neutral as well. Last year, North Shore also became a Tuv Ha’aretz site – the first Jewish CSA, run by the environmental organization Hazon, where members buy shares in a local organic farm and receive fresh produce each week at shul.

See http://jrf.org/node/919

10. Temple Bet Hatfiloh, Olympia, WA, (http://www.bethhatfiloh.org/)
Buying local and local farm initiative

To promote buying locally, Temple Beth Hatfiloh promotes purchasing locally grown organic produce through sponsorship of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), in which participants support local farmers by buying “shares” of the farm’s yield. Bet Hatfliloh’s partner farm emphasizes tzedakah (righteous acts) too, by promoting community gardening, building gardens for low-income families, and providing jobs and leadership development for community youth.

See http://jrf.org/node/923, and http://jrf.org/node/929

11. West End Synagogue, New York, NY, Brit Adamah Congregational Covenant and Educational Environmental Program, Sarah Chandler, Ed Dir special mention

West End’s students have discussed steps the synagogue has already taken, such as recycling and fair trade organic coffee; and steps they have already taken, like vegetarianism and using compact fluorescent bulbs. Students did research, brought in their findings, and brainstormed ways to make changes, small or large, in order to have less of an impact on the earth. Then, based on a tried and true method of the Teva Learning Center, these ideas were compiled into a single document -- Brit Adamah, a contract with the earth -- introduced and distributed at West End’s Tu Bishvat/Shabbat program.

See http://jrf.org/omer-balance

12. Reconstructionist Rabbinical College- Green Committee, www.rrc.edu
Ongoing work in energy conservation and sustainable practices at RRC.

"The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC), the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) and the Green Committee of the RRC have recently committed to paying a voluntary surcharge on the RRC electric bill to offset the greenhouse gases generated by the school. The surcharge goes toward the purchasing of wind power by the local utility. There is more that can be done, but this is seen as an important first step towards being responsible for the emissions we create as a community."

See http://jrf.org/carbon-offset, http://jrf.org/omer07-Teutsch and www.rrc.edu

13. Camp JRF, www.campjrf.org ; www.noarhadash.org
Recycling, composting and food waste reduction efforts with campers

Camp JRF blends formal and informal educational approaches that promote strong connections to Judaism, Reconstructionism, and positive human values – so a strong commitment to stewardship of the beautiful property in the Poconos, and to living lightly on the Earth, comes naturally. Camp JRF integrates with No'ar Hadash, our youth movement, so that year-round congregational experiences influence the camp program, and in turn the camp program influences those congregational experiences – making a seamless whole between camp and city, inside and outside, summer and the rest of the year.

14. Rabbi Michael Cohen, for his work in Israel and the Arava Institute (http://www.arava.org/new/)

By encouraging environmental cooperation between peoples, the Arava Institute works towards peace and sustainable development on a regional and global scale. The Institute, situated on Kibbutz Ketura in Israel's Southern Arava Valley, is home to academic programs, research and public involvement. "We have begun to build using dry garbage and mud -- tying old tires together, stuffing them with dry garbage, then covering them with mud, to build chairs, walls, buildings,” and more -- just one of the many original sustainable efforts emanating from the Arava Institute.

See http://jrf.org/node/967, and http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/

15. Special Honor: Rabbi Fred Dobb, Adat Shalom, MD; COEJL Board; lifelong activist in ecological consciousness and Jewish life.

See http://jrf.org/node/976,
and http://www.coejl.org/~coejlor/greensyn/gstoc.php

Reconstructionist Movement Tackles 21st Century Judaism at JRF's 42nd Convention

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:03:07 -0500

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.

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 convention’s opening plenary, entitled Jewish Identity, Community and Leadership: A Dialogue Between the Generations, looked at similarities and differences between the Havurah movement of the 1960s and ‘70s and a recent phenomenon of small, independent minyanim and Jewish programming collectives currently on the rise, and explored why the younger generation is choosing, by and large, not to affiliate with traditional synagogues and how the organized movements can respond to current trends. Two of the four panelists, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld and Rabbi David Teutsch, were early shapers of the Havurah movement now serving as leaders of the Reconstructionist movement and two, Sarah Liebman and Zachary Teutsch, are Jewish leaders in their 20s involved today in creating and participating in these "emerging communities." Contemporary Judaism owes much to the Havurah movement and its “do-it-yourself” spirit, evident in the new wave of independent minyanim. The creative approaches witnessed in both of these trends, and exemplified by the Havurah movement’s broadly popular guide A Jewish Catalog, have much in common with Reconstructionism, where Judaism is seen as belonging in the hands of the people.

Rabbi Strassfeld, who was a co-author of A Jewish Catalog, now serves as rabbi of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in Manhattan. Rabbi Teutsch, who has served as chief executive of JRF and as president and dean at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, directs the college’s Center for Jewish Ethics. The two shared observations that earlier generations committed to institutions, whereas the younger generation commits to programs—seeing this as both an American and Jewish trend – and that movements have much to offer the unaffiliated, lending “pungency and choice” into Jewish life.

Sarah Liebman is founder of both Machar, a nondenominational group that gives “difficult-to-reach and under-served” 20- and 30-something Jews a chance to increase their leadership skills and engage their peers in Jewish activities, and Urban Jews PDX, a burgeoning social network for Portland’s young Jews. Zachary Teutsch is active with the Washington, DC based minyan Tikkun Le’il Shabbat, a serious davvening community that integrates social action, and with Jews in the Woods, a grass roots community of college and immediate post-college Jews who come together across denominational and ideological lines for a deep experience of Shabbat. In order to integrate young adults, the two said, synagogues and organizations have to understand how to make them feel comfortable and to apply the lessons we learn from young leaders to reaching the 60% of Jews who are unaffiliated and to share the blessings of community with them. Rather than expecting them to join our synagogues, movements should build relationships and offer support to these groups, which themselves will likely evolve as their members marry and have children.

JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by David Teutsch

Artist: David Teutsch
Album: JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary
Track: 1
Year: 2008
Length: 27:45 minutes (15.89 MB)
Format: Stereo 44kHz 80Kbps (CBR)

JRF Executive Vice President Carl Sheingold gives an introduction to the plenary in advance of David Teutsch's remarks.

Convention 2008

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JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by Michael Strassfeld

Artist: Michael Strassfeld
Album: JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary
Year: 2008
Length: 17:46 minutes (10.17 MB)
Format: Stereo 44kHz 80Kbps (CBR)

Convention 2008

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JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by Sarah Liebman

Artist: Sarah Liebman
Album: JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary
Year: 2008
Length: 14:43 minutes (8.43 MB)
Format: Stereo 44kHz 80Kbps (CBR)

Convention 2008

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JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary by Zachary Teutsch

Artist: Zachary Teutsch
Album: JRF 2008 Convention Opening Plenary
Year: 2008
Length: 22:31 minutes (12.89 MB)
Format: Stereo 44kHz 80Kbps (CBR)

At the end of Zach's talk, JRF Executive Vice President Carl Sheingold presents some closing remarks.

Convention 2008

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Meet Jonathan Sarna at the 42nd JRF Convention - November 13-16, Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers

Lisa Tuttle — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:54:29 -0400

Jonathan Sarna

is considered the premier American-Jewish historian of our age. We invite you to meet him and hear his talk
American Judaism at a Crossroads:
A Perspective on Reconstructionism from a Jewish Historian

Thursday, November 13th at the

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 2008 Biennial Convention

Dr. Jonathan Sarna is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and Director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. Dubbed by the Forward as one of America's fifty most influential American Jews, he is a leading commentator on American Jewish history, religion, and life. Dr. Sarna has written, edited, or co-edited more than twenty books, including the acclaimed American Judaism: A History and his newly released A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew.

Read The September 5 interview with Dr. Sarna in the Forward.

Register online now: Come see what Reconstructionist community is all about! The 42nd JRF Convention will take place at the historic Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers. To request a form to register by mail or fax, call Ayelet Tours at 800-237-1517.