Reconstructionism emphasizes that Judaism is a full civilization, not just a religion.   We have languages, literatures, arts, music, and folkways, in addition to religious texts and practices.  It’s easy enough to see what this means in the context of secular Jewish life in Israel, and even in the context of historically isolated Jewish communities prior to Emancipation.  But what role do these secular aspects of Jewish civilization play in the lives of Diaspora Jews today?   The klezmer revival provides an interesting case-study for this question. Starting about 25 years ago in Berkeley, Eastern European Jewish European dance music was re-branded as “klezmer music” and revitalized.   Why, at this historical moment, did klezmer catch on?   What does the success of the klezmer revival say about contemporary Jewish identity, peoplehood, and our sense of belonging?

Harmoniyah is the Reconstructionist Music Network, formed at the Portland JRF Convention in 2004. This session will offer all musicians and those interested in music from around our region to get acquainted.  If you have music of your own that you'd like to share and teach, we'll do that (bring sheet music if you want to distribute it.)  If you have music, not your own, that you use in your community and think others might like to learn, you can teach it to the group.  If there's time to do more than just share music (although it's hard to imagine running out of music to share!) we can spend some time talking about any music-related topics that come up from our different communities. I look forward to singing with you all!

Harmoniyah is the Reconstructionist Music Network, formed at the Portland JRF Convention in 2004. This session will offer all musicians and those interested in music from around our region to get acquainted.  If you have music of your own that you'd like to share and teach, we'll do that (bring sheet music if you want to distribute it.)  If you have music, not your own, that you use in your community and think others might like to learn, you can teach it to the group.  If there's time to do more than just share music (although it's hard to imagine running out of music to share!) we can spend some time talking about any music-related topics that come up from our different communities. I look forward to singing with you all!

As Reconstructionists, we may be aware of our founder Mordecai Kaplan’s concept that Judaism is a “civilization.”  In this presentation, reading passages from Kaplan’s private journal, we will get a glimpse into the historical context and deep concerns that led Kaplan to choose this description of Judaism. 

Rabbi Me’irah Ilinsky graduated from RRC in 2007 after a career as a clinical social worker. She now teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area, gives guidance to congregations and individuals about traditional Jewish burial & mourning practices, and illuminates sacred texts. 

Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman is the Director of the Western Region of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, serving the twenty-four congregations and havurot west of the Rockies and Texas..  In her twenty years of experience as a rabbi, she has served Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform and Gay Outreach congregations, and is a consultant on moral education for diverse families for national Jewish institutions, the National Council of Churches and the Metropolitan Community Church. In addition to her rabbinate, she was a professor of Religion and Women's Studies at California State University at Northridge, and lectured at the University of Judaism and Loyola Marymount College. 

Rabbi Litman is highly committed to social action and interfaith work.  She chaired the board of the Clinica Msgr. Oscar Romero and the Southern California Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Economic Justice and sits on the executive committee of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. She is a Peace and Justice Commissioner for the City of Berkeley. Widely published in the fields of Jewish women's history and contemporary theology, Rabbi Litman's book, Lifecycles 2: Jewish Women on Scriptural Themes in Contemporary Life, co-edited with Rabbi Debra Orenstein, won several prestigious academic and community awards.  Rabbi Litman lives with her spouse, Stewart Schwartz, and their two children, Sophie and Asher in Berkeley, California.

Rabbi Katie Mizrahi first fell in love with the bay area studying for her BA in Philosophy and Religion at Stanford. She was ordained through the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2005.  Since then, she served rabbinically at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun and West End Synagogue in New York City, and Kehilat Kol HaNeshama in Jerusalem. In August of 2007, she became the Rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community, San Francisco’s first and only Reconstructionist Congregation.