Israel: Culture
Hosted on Facebook, the Israeli-Jewish Renaissance project of RRC brings the ideas of the Israeli-Jewish renaissance to progressive North American Jews. We create bridges for understanding and collaboration.
Topics: Israel: Culture
Type: Web Site
Promised Land
Rabbi Jacob Staub describes his attachment to Israel and the Jewish people in this essay.
Type: Essay
Prayers and Songs for Israel
A collection of poems, prayers and songs for Israel, many by Reconstructionist rabbis and congregants.
Topics: Jewish Life, Israel: Culture
Type: Text Compilation
Israeli Independence Day Ceremony
This Yom Ha'atzma'ut ceremony was designed by Rabbi Rebecca Lillian. It includes poetry, readings and song.
Topics: Education, Holiday Resources, Teaching Israel, Synagogue Programs, Israel: Culture, Reconstructionist Judaism
Type: Ritual
Israeli Women's Social Change Organizations
This is a list of diverse Israeli organizations that protect women's rights. The study questions encourage students to learn more about women's organizations in their own area.
Type: Class Activity
Adjusting to New Narratives
This dvar-Torah looks at the idea of the role of changing narrative in human experience. "There arose a Pharoah who knew not Joseph" is compared to the demise of the kibbutz movement as we know it and how we make meaning of this change. It's looked at through the personal experience and a recent trip of the author.
Type: Dvar Torah
Examining Justifications for the State of Israel
In this dvar-Torah for Parashat Shoftim, Syd Nestel using Deuteronomy's description of an idealized Israelite society as a jumping point for examining modern justifications for the State of Israel.
Type: Dvar Torah
A Version of Israel's Secular Shabbat -- Via a Song
A Shabbat song that is secular? By studying Tirtzah Atar's "Shabbat Baboker" students of all ages learn about the experience of Shabbat by non-Orthodox Israelis with the help of a popular Israeli children's song.
Topics: Art and Music, Israel: Culture
Type: Lesson Plan
The Balcony
Throughout 2005, in honor of the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in America, Israeli-American Ruth Calderon shared her observations about the complexity of American Jewish identity. Moving acrostically through the alphabet, Calderon examines Jewish-American experiences through an Israeli prism. The following excerpts on "America," "Flag," "Jerusalem," and "Zionism," are reprinted with the permission of Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility.
Topics: Jewish Life, Israel: Culture
Type: Article