Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Lior with Rabbi Shawn ZevitAn engrossing, wrenching and tender documentary film, Praying with Lior, is debuting around the world and receiving rave reviews and was the highest grossing independent film its first weekend in New York.

The film tells the story of Lior Liebling, a member of congregation Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, whom his community calls "the little rebbe." Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his life praying with utter abandon. As Lior approaches bar mitzvah, the movie poses difficult questions such as What is disability? And who really talks to God?

Read the New York Times story about the film and
an interview with director Ilana Trachtman on the NY Jewish Film Festival blog.

Praying with Lior show times

Shawn Zevit and Derek Rosenbaum on Greening Conference Call: Derek takes the idea of a "green" call very seriously.On June 6th, 2007, JRF convened a North American conference call on Greening Synagogues and Living a Sustainable Life Rooted in Jewish Values. More than 60 people from 42 JRF congregations participated! Convening the call was a response to calls from lay and professional leaders at our congregations.

Read the notes from the call.

With the enthusiasm around JRF's Omer Learning Initiative, as well as the solid response of JRF congregations in the Climate Change Initiative, JRF is deepening its work with member communities and partner organizations (JCPA, COEJL) in the area of sustainability.

JRF has created a fund to respond to the needs of any of our affiliated congregations that have been impacted by the Southern California wildfires, as well as to organizations that are providing relief to victims. No administrative expenses are taken on these tax-deductible donations

To donate to JRF's Wildfires Emergency Fund, please send checks only, made out to JRF with "Wildfires" in the memo line, and mail to JRF's national headquarters at Beit Devora, 101 Greenwood Avenue, Suite 430, Jenkintown, PA 19046.

Columbia AbuzzWhen I heard that Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs had invited President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—a notoriously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel figurehead—to speak on campus, my first instinct was to oppose the event vehemently.

I reasoned that, if Columbia hosted an anti-Semitic figure on campus, Ahmadinjead’s could attempt legitimize his terrifying and historically incorrect viewpoints. Why should one of the most prestigious universities in the nation provide a platform from which a dangerous leader such as Ahmadinejad could deny the Holocaust and spew his advocacy for the destruction of Israel?

This year, the Muslim holiday of Ramadan began on the first night of Rosh Hashana.
The Detroit News reported how Jews and Muslims in the Detroit area are using this rare occurrence to build bridges between their communities.

Read the attached report of a Muslim-Jewish Friday night dinner hosted by members of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah.

RRA Executive Director Rabbi Richard HirshReconstructionist Rabbinical Association Executive Director Rabbi Richard Hirsh just published an op-ed piece in the Jewish Forward in which he criticizes tendencies among those attending high holy day services to rate the experience. The article is titled, I’d Give It a 7… It Had a Good Beat, and You Can Daven to It. Here is an excerpt:

What we frequently refer to as the High Holy Days are more accurately described by their Hebrew appellation: Yamim Noraim, the “Days of Awe.” Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are supposed to be significant because of the weighty confrontation with ultimate issues that they embody, especially issues of morality and mortality.

The September, 2007 issue is out. In this issue:

• Teens Return from Israel
• Camp JRF Book Shelf
• Special Offers from JRF’s Reconstructionist Press
• Now Read RT Online!
• Make a Difference with Your IRA
• Action in Darfur
• Kol HaKavod!
• Upcoming Events

Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat in the Shabbat Havdalah Garden at Camp JRFOur medurah (campfire) embers have just been extinguished but the memories and the friendships for session aleph will continue to burn brightly into the weeks, months and years ahead.

What a thrilling session we have just completed. Imagine 225 campers and staff in a huge spiral around the havdallah candle and our souls woven together with this final Shabbat and the experiences we have all just shared.

President George Bush and JRF President Bob BarkinSitting in a large conference room, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. This was an opportunity too good to pass. It was my 16-year-old daughter, undoubtedly calling for a ride home from a sleepover.

“I can’t talk,” I said quietly into the phone. “I’m waiting for the President to come in.” As in George W. Bush.

It was mid-afternoon on Thursday, June 14 this past week and I was making small talk in a large conference room in the Executive Office Building with 47 other presidents of major Jewish organizations. We were on a daylong discussion-a-thon with the leaders of the House, culminating with a briefing with the president. The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations had been invited to present our views and hear our leaders' thoughts on foreign policy issues, primarily relating to the Middle East.

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, at a meeting of its national board June 2-4, enthusiastically welcomed news of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)'s decision on June 4 to include JRF as a partner organization, making the Reconstructionist organization the first national agency to be added to the JCPA in decades. The JRF represents more than 100 Reconstructionist congregations and havurot across the United States and Canada.