Spiritual Life

Spirituality: Reconstructionism and Spiritual Life (Pt. 1)

Lori Rubin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:23:32 -0500

Start: Apr 27 2011 - 8:00pm

End: Apr 27 2011 - 9:15pm

As our communities grow and explore a variety of approaches to compliment tradition-based egalitarian Jewish practice, many Reconstructionist communities have begun integrating a variety of Jewish religious practices, continued to reconstruct Shabbat practice, traditonal rituals and liturgy, meditation, mussar study, "Torah" yoga, healing services, chant and other forms of spiritual experience into core offerings. In these sessions, we explore some of these forms, how we make communal decisions around them and see the connection to and inspiration from Reconstructionism and Jewish spiritual life .

This year we ask participants to deepen their learning by signing up for both sessions on a given topic. The follow-up to this session is Wed. May 4th, 8pm EST. Please register separately at www.jrf.org/pearl

Listen to the audio as you view the power point below.

Spirituality: Reconstructionism and Spiritual Life II

Lori Rubin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:20:37 -0500

Start: May 4 2011 - 8:00pm

End: May 4 2011 - 9:15pm

Listen to the audio as you view the power point below.

Yom Ha’atzmaut: Exploring and Engaging Israel - Reconstructing Zionism

Lori Rubin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:31:41 -0500

Start: May 10 2011 - 12:00pm

End: May 10 2011 - 1:15pm

Celebrating Israel- Reconstructing Zionism : Mordecai Kaplan believed that nowhere else could Jews live so completely a Jewish life as in Israel. However, because not all Jews intend or even desire to emigrate to Israel - nor did Kaplan believe that there is an imperative to do so - he envisioned that Jewish communities around the world ought to be interdependent. Such a relationship to Israel and to Jewish communities around the world, maintains Israel as central to our historical self definition and affirms our identity as a nation within the global family.

One of the core principles as a Reconstructionist community is the support of Israel's right to exist as an independent nation, which includes both advocating on behalf of policies and needs in Israel, as well as challenging policies if they contradict other sacred values. Because of the emotional complexity of dealing with Israel, opportunities for real dialogue and discussion of the critical issues facing the Jewish homeland have suffered. Such discussion will also, we hope, help promote our movement's active support of a Jewish state that is secure and living at peace with its neighbors, a place where democracy and pluralism can flourish. This goal comes directly out of our movement's support and love of Israel, as well as out of our commitment to Jewish values of peace and justice.

Download the audio while you view the power point below.

Prayer Service Options: Contemplating Multiple Possibilities

Lori Rubin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:30:06 -0500

Start: Jun 3 2010 - 12:00pm

End: Jun 3 2010 - 1:15pm

Do you wonder how many different types of prayer services your congregation can effectively offer given your particular rabbinic and/or lay leadership, the physical space in which your community holds services, or the number of people who attend any or all of your services? Does your congregation struggle to balance the needs of “regular davenners” and “b’nai mitzvah guests?” Is there a Shabbat school that you try to integrate into the main congregational Shabbat service? Are there ongoing efforts to offer family services, children's services or a "junior congregation?"

Most congregations face the challenge of members with varied communal prayer service priorities. This class will explore several models that JRF congregations have adopted to balance different communal prayer needs and interests. We will delineate the challenges each service structure addresses and the values they reflect. Participants will be able to explore how different prayer service configurations might respond to challenges their congregation seeks to address.

You can download the audio recording of this call here: http://jrf.org/node/2765

Education: Youth: Innovations in Experiential Youth Education: Having Fun and Learning, Too!

Lori Rubin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:24:23 -0500

Start: May 25 2010 - 12:00pm

End: May 25 2010 - 1:15pm

New, exciting, and innovative experiential learning programs are cropping up across the Jewish world; some are happening within our own Reconstructionist movement. This class will focus on exciting experiential youth education programs that combine the best of camp experiential learning and non-traditional congregational schools.

You can download the audio recording of this call by clicking here: http://jrf.org/node/2704

Spirituality: Tikkun L'eyl Shavuot: The Many Paths to Revelation of Torah

Lori Rubin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:22:46 -0500

Start: May 18 2010 - 12:00pm

End: May 18 2010 - 1:15pm

In this preparatory session for Shavuot, we will look at the spiritual practice of studying sacred text, with emphasis on the traditional themes of revelation (both of the earth's bounty and of Torah from a Reconstructionist perspective), of faith (The Book of Ruth) and how we come "down from the mountain" of peak experiences to live ethical and spiritually conscious lives in connection with our faith communities and the world-at-large.

You can listen to the audio recording of this call here: http://jrf.org/node/2686

Spirituality: Learning Across the Lifecycle

Lori Rubin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:20:46 -0500

Start: May 13 2010 - 12:00pm

End: May 13 2010 - 1:15pm

Spiritual Development, the arch of the Soul, is a lifelong journey. How we learn across the lifecycle and how we make connections to developing greater mindfulness, educate ourselves and teach others in a spiritually dynamic way whether our constituency is children, teens, young adults, middle-age adults or elders is the focus of this call.

You can listen to the audio recording of this call by clicking here: http://jrf.org/node/2681

Spirituality: Growing Self and Community through Creativity and the Arts

Lori Rubin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:19:19 -0500

Start: May 6 2010 - 12:00pm

End: May 6 2010 - 1:15pm

"Each civilization produces its own form of art, which expresses most articulately the way that reality is structured in that culture. Over the thousands of years of the evolution of Jewish civilization, artists have written poetry and music, desigend synagogues and ritual objects, crafted clothing and stories, composed folk dance, and illuminated manuscripts. Jewish art plays an important role in the spiritual lives of Reconstructionists in several different ways." (exploring Judaism, p.86, http://stores.jrfbookstore.org/-strse-30/Exploring-Judaism-cln--A-Reconstructionist/Detail.bok)

This session will explore the various ways art and Jewish life are being expressed and developed by individuals and communities with a Reconstructionist perspective.

The audio recording of this call can be found here: http://jrf.org/node/2670

Prayer: Liturgy and Prayer Leadership

Lori Rubin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:17:57 -0500

Start: Apr 29 2010 - 12:00pm

End: Apr 29 2010 - 1:15pm

"When we worship in public we know our life is part of a larger life, a wave of an ocean of being- the first-hand experience of that larger life which is God." Mordecai Kaplan

This session will explore the dynamics of worship and the human impulse to pray (l'hitpalel, daven) in and of itself, some of the deep structures of Jewish prayer services (esp. the morning service, Shacharit), as well as the liturgy that has evolved in the Reconstructionist movement, from the revolutionary 1945 Shabbat Prayerbook to the expansive Kol Haneshamah prayer bookseries developed by the Reconstructionist movement Prayer Book Commission in the 1990's, chaired by Dr. David Teutsch.

www.jrf.org/music

You can listen to the audio recording of this session by clicking here: http://jrf.org/node/2663

Spirituality: Varieties of Spiritual practice

Lori Rubin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:15:36 -0500

Start: Apr 22 2010 - 12:00pm

End: Apr 22 2010 - 1:30pm

As our communities grow and explore a variety of approaches to compliment tradition-based egalitarian Jewish practice, many Reconstructionist communities have begun integrating ethical conduct agreements, spiritually centered decision making processes, meditation, mussar study, "Torah" yoga, healing services, chant and other forms of spiritual experience into our core offerings. This call we explore some of these forms and their connection to personal and communal growth.

The audio recording of this call can be found by clicking here: http://jrf.org/node/2620