Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

As the JRF and the RRC continue to restructure our movement for a better future, JRF has created a timeless Legacy Tribute Book in honor of our congregations. This keepsake memento will walk our members through the years of Reconstructionist history and highlight each of our communities in story and pictures. We are looking for your help to make this once-in-a-lifetime tribute book a reality. Would you consider making a gift to the JRF to support our lasting legacy?
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JRF, RRC and the RRA are sponsoring organizations of The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL's) 2012 Jewish Environmental and Energy Imperative Declaration. Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, the Director of the social justice rabbinic training program at RRC was there signing on our movement’s behalf as were numerous other Jewish leaders from among the 50 signing leaders. Among the singers are Bob Barkin, interim EVP of JRF and Rabbi Richard Hirsh, Exec-Dir of the RRA (see http://coejl.org/jecc/signatories/).  read more »

This February, the Reconstructionist Community of the Bay Area welcomes the Women’s Torah, the first Torah in history to be created and embellished by an international community of women and the first to be sewn together in community.

The Torah is the handwritten parchment scroll of the first five books of the bible. All over the world, Jews read and study from the Torah during religious services and other times. The Hebrew letters must be hand-written by a trained scribe on special parchment using special ink and quills. Learning to become a Torah scribe requires painstaking training that takes many years. Until the Women’s Torah Project (WTP), only men scribed Torahs.  read more »

  Join a unified effort to raise disability awareness and  support efforts to foster inclusion in Jewish communities worldwide

The mission of Jewish Disability Awareness Month is to unite Jewish communities and organizations for the purpose of raising awareness and supporting meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in every aspect of Jewish life. JRF is also a member religious organization of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC: http://jfactivist.typepad.com/jfactivist/interfaith-disability-advocacy/).  read more »

Hydrofracking is a new form of drilling for natural gas and oil that is on the brink of a huge expansion.  Jews Against Hydrofracking is encouraging every Jewish community to learn about this issue by screening Gasland, a documentary that asks the question, is fracking safe?  Plan a screening in your living room, synagogue, JCC, or youth group as part of the 100 Jewish Communities Wake Up to Hydrofracking Campaign. More Information
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PEARL, the distance-learning classes offered by JRF, provides meaningful information and strategies beneficial to congregational leaders, members, clergy, educators and staff. Expert speakers partner with JRF professional staff and lay leaders to support the strengthening of congregations and havurot, grow leadership, deepen Jewish spiritual life and continue critical tikkun olam/social justice work. Based on results from a survey of JRF congregational leadership, a variety of PEARL topics are selected each year.

With 50 programs now available as well as other congregational resources, and based on feedback from those of you who participated last year, consultation with movement leadership and staff across regions and our analysis of needs based on consultations, we are working on a plan to use the rich resources we have developed in affinity working groups by communal size appropriate to our movement (small 20-99hh, medium 100-199hh, large 200hh up).

These sessions are in addition to calls offered by RENA for educators, CEDAR for executive directors, Harmoniyah (for music/liturgy leaders) and Tikkun Olam/Social Justice organizers and program staff/lay leaders. These calls will take place between February and June 2012 under topic headings with staff or expert volunteer backing using the resources we have developed to deepen the work of growing and sustaining healthy and vibrant sacred communities.

Each PEARL class meets for one to one and a half hour by telephone conference call. Classes are often supported by downloadable resources, webinars and select audio files. Some classes, are a follow up or expansion on previously presented topics.

Since our launch of PEARL in 2008, annual participation has increased from 40% to nearly 70% of our member communities. As of 2010 year, the PEARL series was integrated with JRF's annual Omer Initiative (begun in 2005, seven weeks of learning between Passover and Shavuot with session focusing on "tikkun hanefesh v'olam", the well-being and active repair of self, community and the world. Please see http://jrf.org/omer/home.), which itself has a listerve of over 700 participants from the Reconstructionist movement and beyond.

PEARLS FROM PEARL

The 2011 PEARL series took PEARL to the next level by providing curriculum culled from existing materials in audio and print for both PEARL and OMER along with new material and best practices from our communities and the larger world. The ongoing goal is to deepen the learning in key areas of congregational life as identified by JRF and our member communities' clergy, staff and lay leadership.

We offered 18 sessions many of 2 sessions each throughout the February-June, 2011. Topics were drawn from the areas of: Leadership, Education, Reconstructionism in action, Growth, Finances, Sustainability, Community Organizing, Spiritual Life. There was a requirement of registering in advance for participants to listen to and read selected PEARL and other resources ahead of and during each class. Sessions were offered under the direction of a course facilitator and guest teachers representing the best Reconstructionist communal practices from around the movement and beyond.

Stay tuned for more details.

L'Shalom,

Rabbi Shawn Zevit

Director of Congregational Services, Tikkun Olam and Outreach

SZevit@jrf.org

See an alphabetical listing of all PEARL sessions since 2008http://jrf.org/pearl/archive

JRF joins East Africa Relief

https://www.jdc.org/jcdr_main.html
Countries in the Horn of Africa including, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti are experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. As a result, millions of people are in desperate need of food and water. Livestock and crops are deteriorating due to the lack of access to water and malnutrition is on the rise. A famine has been declared in a number of regions of Somalia and elsewhere, causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee to neighboring countries.  read more »

The JRF-GreenFaith Partnership

GreenFaith and the JRF through the Department of Congregational Services and Tikkun Olam are pleased to announce a three-year partnership to promote a deepening of JRF’s existing environmental initiatives. GreenFaith is a leading national interfaith environmental coalition whose mission is to help diverse religious communities become environmental leaders.  GreenFaith is a leading interfaith environmental coalition whose mission is to educate, equip and empower diverse religious communities for environmental leadership.  Founded in 1992, GreenFaith offers a range of programs that help faith-based groups nationwide put their beliefs into action for the earth.  The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation has had a long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and the role of the Jewish people in building sustainable communities (http://jrf.org/Sustainable_Synagogue_Resources).  read more »