Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

North American Solar and Renewable Energy Campaign in the Jewish Community

The year 5769 (2008-2009) will be the little known Jewish year of “Birkhat HaHammah” the “blessing of the sun.” Every 28 years, the ancient rabbis demarked a time in the Jewish calendar that celebrates the ceremonial return of the sun to its original place in the cosmos during creation.

JRF is part of a national coalition that will use this rare event to focus on solar power and energy stewardship.

See www.blessthesun.org as it goes live!

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Ritualwell.org- managed through Kolot: The Center for Gender Studies at RRC and in coordination with JRF has also uploaded resources for Birkhat Hachamah at http://www.ritualwell.org/holidays/sitefolder.2008-09-16.5411107743/

Additional Resources on Judaism and the sustainability are available at:

http://jrf.org/omer2008-enviro

http://jrf.org/node/1264#enviro

http://jrf.org/omer/2007

A Faith Leaders’ Statement on Immigration
Supported by the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, 2008

http://www.jrf.org/external-affiliations http://www.hias.org

As the leaders of different faith groups and denominations across the country, are gravely concerned with the current political and policy environment surrounding the issue of immigration. We are troubled by signs that our nation is turning away from reforming our nation’s immigration system and is instead pursuing enforcement policies which are ineffective and inhumane.

Enforcement raids, state and local anti-immigrant ordinances, and harmful rhetoric against immigrants are just a few of the signs that our nation is moving away from civil discourse and toward discord and division. As a result, immigrant families are being separated and immigrant and ethnic groups targeted, creating a climate of fear in all of our communities.

Now is the time to restart the debate on immigration reform and develop fair, balanced, and humane solutions to immigration. We offer the following principles to help guide our country in reaffirming our identity as a nation which welcomes immigrants and believes that the best of America is shown in how we treat those who come to our shores:

Anti-immigrant rhetoric has no place in public discourse and should not be used.

Learn more at www.chkehillah.org/socialaction.htm

We are pleased to announce that the Chapel Hill Kehillah, a synagogue in Chapel Hill, NC, affiliated with the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, has received a matching grant from the national organization Jewish Funds for Justice to support our first year of congregational membership in the Orange County Organizing Committee.

The Orange County Organizing Committee (OCOC) is building a broad-based organization with the power to take collective action in the name of justice and the common good.

Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.

Shawn Zevit and Derek Rosenbaum on Greening Conference Call: Derek takes the idea of a "green" call very seriously.On In 1990 JRF passed a movement-wide resolution (see attachments below) on the environment and congregational life. Since 2006 we offered conference calls and resources on Sustainable Synagogues and Living a Jewish Life Rooted in Ecological Values.

Read the notes from the 2007 call.

With the enthusiasm around JRF's Omer Learning Initiative, as well as the solid response of JRF congregations in the Climate Change and Blessing the Sun (Solar Energy) Initiatives, JRF continues to deepen our work with member communities, other religious movements and partner organizations (JCPA, COEJL) in the area of sustainability.

Dr. Jonathan Sarna is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and Director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. Dubbed by the Forward as one of America's fifty most influential American Jews, he is a leading commentator on American Jewish history, religion, and life. Dr. Sarna has written, edited, or co-edited more than twenty books, including the acclaimed American Judaism: A History and his newly released A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew.

Read The September 5 interview with Dr. Sarna in the Forward.

Register online now: Come see what Reconstructionist community is all about! The 42nd JRF Convention will take place at the historic Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers. To request a form to register by mail or fax, call Ayelet Tours at 800-237-1517.

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is once again enthusiastically joining Jewish communities, organizations and individuals from around the world in celebrating a month of social action and Jewish unity. The Hebrew month of Heshvan – which in 2008/5769 will be from October 30-November 27, 2008 – has been declared Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM).

In the words of JSAM in Israel: "The huge amount of social action work the JRF is involved in, at a global, national and local level makes your involvement and support of great import to this initiative."

Whether you call it Tikkun Olam, social action, chesed - Join thousands of Jewish organizations and individuals around the world of all backgrounds and affiliations for a month of unity through social action. Volunteer with children, rally for Darfur, clean up a river, feed the homeless, raise money for Sderot, paint a mural – or do whatever you are passionate about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFsWZgGmo4E

Second North American Conference on Judaism and Human Rights Conference 2008

The conference is for Rabbis, Cantors, Rabbinic Students and all who are committed to human rights. Sunday, Dec. 7 - Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008 Adas Israel Congregation 2850 Quebec Street, NW Washington, DC www.adasisrael.org. Mark your calendars for December 7th and register now for a conference that will inspire and reinvigorate you!

For conference details and registration go to:
http://www.rhr-na.org/story/registration-is-now-open-for-the-second-north-american-conf

Among the highlights of the conference are the following plenaries:

"Zionism, Israel and Human Rights" with Avram Burg, author and former Speaker of the Knesset, Paula Hyman, Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History, Yale University, and Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al Quds University. This panel will be moderated by Kathleen Peratis, Board Member Emerita of Human Rights Watch.

(Sunday night)
"The Abrahamic Religions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" with Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. David Gushee, founder of Evangelicals for Human Rights, and Imam Yahya Hendi, founder of Imams for Human Rights and Dialogue, moderated by Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Director, Religious Studies Program, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

(Monday)

Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.

Visit the Tents of Hope Project: www.tentsofhope.org
The mission of the Tents of Hope project is to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan.
The tents are not answers in themselves. Rather, they are points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.

One.org web site.

About ONE

ONE is Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life - united as ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign of over 2.4 million people and growing from all 50 states and over 100 of America's most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries. As ONE, we are asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

JRF’s resources are now part of the toolkit available through ONE to organize a ONE Sabbath event at your house of worship.

http://www.one.org/faith/jewishgroups.html and http://www.one.org/onesabbath/jewish.html

Also watch the new international multi-faith video ONE has produced with religious leaders speaking on this issue, including the Reconstructionist movement:
http://www.one.org/joinonesabbath/ and
http://www.one.org/documents/faith/multifaith/index.html

This article is reprinted with permission from the New Jersey Jewish News.

Donna Kirshbaum led several lives before becoming a rabbi. (Photo by Marilyn Silverstein)
by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Bureau Chief/PMB

September 9, 2008

The scene is crystal clear in Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum’s memory. She was eight years old and had just finished reading a child’s biography of George Fox, founder of the society of Quakers.

“I remember leaning against the fridge and telling my mother, ‘I’m going to lead my people the way George Fox led his people,’” she recalled.

This summer, close to half a century later, that childhood dream became a reality as Kirshbaum took her place as religious leader and educational director of Princeton’s only Reconstructionist congregation, String of Pearls.

More Jews attend services during the High Holiday season than any other time during the year, but in many instances, only synagogue members can purchase High Holiday tickets. In response to this perceived need, 13 congregations in the New York/New Jersey region are setting aside seats for non-members who wish to attend High Holiday services at those synagogues.

Called Open Seats, the campaign is aimed at opening doors to Jewish participation and inclusion, a strong theme in Reconstructionist synagogues.

This article is reprinted with permission from The Jewish Week, Westchester edition. To learn about the JRF NY/NJ “Open Seats” program, visit www.highholidayopenseats.com.

Reconstructionist synagogues, like Bet Am Shalom Synagogue in White Plains, above, hope to fill empty seats with the unaffiliated who are curious about and open to their brand of Judaism.by Merri Rosenberg
Special To The Jewish Week

For many Jews, synagogue membership translates simply to knowing they have somewhere to go for the High Holy Days of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.

Yet the steep price of congregational membership — and the often-prohibitive cost of individual tickets for High Holy Day services — may have meant in the past that the unaffiliated stayed home.

But this year, unaffiliated Jews in the New York area, including here in Westchester, will have a new option for free High Holy Day services.