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Reconstructionist Movement

Shir Hadash is affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement, one of the four major Jewish denominations, albeit the smallest and the most recently founded. 

Many people may join Shir Hadash because it is a warm, caring, open and participatory congregation, but do not have a clear idea of Reconstructionist thinking, or how our congregation relates to the movement. But just as the old joke goes about a man who is startled to learn that he has been speaking prose all his life, many Jews are surprised – and delighted -- to discover that the way they relate to Judaism has a name. 

Here is a brief overview of Reconstructionism: 

Judaism as the Culture of the Jewish People 

For Reconstructionists, Judaism is more than Jewish religion; Judaism is the entire cultural legacy of the Jewish people. Religion is central; Jewish spiritual insights and religious teachings give meaning and purpose to our lives. Yet our creativity, as expressed through art, music and drama, languages and literature, and our relationship with the land of Israel itself, are also integral parts of Jewish culture. Each of these aspects provides a gateway into the Jewish experience that can enrich and inspire us.

Community as Cornerstone

While deeply connected to the historical experience of the Jewish people, we find a profound sense of belonging in our communities as well. This connection often leads to increased ritual observance. We find meaning in rediscovering the richness of traditional ritual and creating new observances which respond to contemporary communal and personal cycles.

Reconstructionist communities are characterized by their respect for such core values as democratic process, pluralism, and accessibility. In this way, they create participatory, inclusive, egalitarian communities committed to exploring Jewish life with dedication, warmth and enthusiasm. 

Patterns of Practice

"Torah" means "teaching." In Jewish tradition, talmud Torah, the study of Torah, is a lifelong obligation and opportunity. Reconstructionists are committed to a serious engagement with the texts and teachings, as well as the art, literature and music of tradition. But we are not passive recipients; we are instead challenged to enter the conversation of the generations and to hear voices other than our own, but to add our own voices as well.

Reconstructionist Judaism is respectful of traditional Jewish observances but also open to new interpretations and forms of religious expression. As Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983), the founder of Reconstructionism, taught, tradition has "a vote, but not a veto." Reconstructionists share a commitment to making Judaism their own by finding in it joy, meaning, and ideas they can believe.

Unlike Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionism does not view inherited Jewish law (halahah) as binding. We do continue to turn to Jewish law for guidance, if not always for governance. We recognize that in the contemporary world, individuals and communities make their own choices with regard to religious practice and ritual observance.

But where Reform Judaism emphasizes individual autonomy, Reconstructionism emphasizes the importance of religious community in shaping individual patterns of observance. Belonging to a community leads us to take the patterns of observance within that community seriously; our choices do not exist independently, but are made in response to our community as part of our participating in it. Reconstructionism thus retains a warmly traditional (and fully egalitarian) approach to Jewish religious practice

Spiritual Seeking

Reconstructionists hold diverse ideas about God, but we share an emphasis on Godliness --those hopes, beliefs, and values within us that impel us to work for a better world, that give us strength and solace in times of need, that challenge us to grow, and that deepen our joy in moments of celebration.

Reconstructionist prayerbooks speak of God beyond the gender concepts of male/female, and beyond the traditional metaphor of "king of the universe." For example, in our prayerbooks God is addressed as, among other things, "The Healer," "The Teacher," "The Comforter," and "The Presence." We are engaged in the spiritual adventure of discovering the many attributes of the one God.

Ethics and Values

Reconstructionist communities emphasize acts of social justice alongside prayer and study as an essential part of their spiritual practice. Reconstructionist Judaism affirms that religion can and must be a powerful force for promoting communal discussion about ethics and values. The Torah tradition itself is a deep and wide resource for this project. Yet we know that generations of Jews have sharpened and distilled the ethical insights of Judaism as a result of their encounter with other cultures and traditions, and so it is in our time.

Mordecai Kaplan (1881-1983)

The founder of the Reconstructionist movement was Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. The son of an Orthodox rabbi, he received a traditional Jewish educated in Vilna, before his family immigrated to in 1889. He graduated from the City College of New York, was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and received a master's degree from Columbia University . He served as associate rabbi of an Orthodox synagogue, headed the Teachers' Institute of the JTS, taught there as a religion professor, and was the founding rabbi of The Society of the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ), the first Reconstructionist synagogue.

Rabbi Kaplan defined Judaism as the "evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people," encompassing art, philosophy, language ethics, customs and culture, in addition to religious observance. He advocated democracy in the synagogue and the need to adapt, or "reconstruct," our religious interpretations in keeping with changes in our Jewish life and society. He is widely credited for having instituted the first Bat Mitzvah - that of his daughter Judith, in 1922. 

Rabbi Kaplan is regarded as one of the major influences on modern Judaism. The following explains some aspects of his philosophical legacy.

Understanding the Divine:  Rabbi Kaplan sought an understanding of Judaism that made sense intellectually and spiritually -- one that did not require acceptance of divine miracles and supernatural intervention, but that was still deeply rooted in our rich religious traditions. His breakthrough was to reconstruct Judaism from the "bottom up," beginning with the experiences of the Jewish people, as opposed to a religion literally delivered by God. He did not believe that God is a being with thoughts and feelings like humans, but rather that God is a divine force or process that works through us, not upon us.

"I know very well what I mean by God. God to me is the process that makes for creativity, integration, love and justice. The function of prayer is to render us conscious of that process. I can react with a sense of holiness and momentousness to existence because it is continually being worked upon by this divine process. I am not troubled in the least by the fact that God is not an identifiable being; for that matter neither is my Ego an identifiable being. Nor am I troubled by the fact that God is not perfect. He would have to be static to be perfect. Nothing dynamic can be perfect since to be dynamic implies to be in the state of becoming." (Communings of the Spirit: The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, Volume 1: 1913-1934 Wayne State University Press/Reconstructionist Press, 2001).

Thus, Reconstructionism speaks less of revelation and more of discovery. It emphasizes connection, opportunity and responsibility over commandment. It is we who bear the responsibility of bringing sacredness into the world.

Torah: Tradition declares that the Torah was dictated by God to Moses. Reconstructionism sees the Torah as Jews' response to God's presence in the world (and not God's gift to us). That is to say, the Jews wrote the Torah, but the Torah is not merely a human creation. It is our divinely inspired "response" to, or interpretation of, the sacred. The essential Torah is neither the tidal explanation for the parting of the sea, nor the cosmological identification of "let there be light." The essential Torah consists of the wisdom deep within these stories.

Prayer and Ritual: On the face of it, the siddur suggests that our prayers are direct recitations and petitions to a God who is "other" and who, we hope, is listening and contemplating a favorable response. Reconstructionism retains the traditional language of Jewish prayer, but sees prayer as an "awakening" experience. Prayer reminds us of the Godly values in the world and our obligations to fulfill mitzvot.

Mitzvot: The word mitzvah means "commandment." Tradition literally understands mitzvot to be direct commandments from God via the Torah. Reconstructionism teaches that performing mitzvot is the way we infuse sacredness into our daily lives. Mitzvot range from balancing work and rest (Shabbat), to establishing courts and laws, to medical ethics, to making the world a better place (tikkun olam).

Reconstructionism encourages the performance of religious rituals by choice, not commandment. We light Shabbat candles, for example, out of a desire to partake in a ritual that connects us with the traditions experienced by Jews throughout our history. We seek and experience this connection affirmatively, not by obligation.

Chosenness and Inclusiveness. Reconstructionism does not hold that Jews are the "chosen people" in an exclusionary sense, but that Jews choose to revere the Divine plan by performing mitzvot.

Rabbi Kaplan advanced the notion that the "past has a vote, but not a veto," meaning that we deeply respect the historical record of the Jewish people, with all its rich traditions, and seek to reinterpret these inherited beliefs and practices so that they may continue to enrich our lives. Implicit in this perspective is the recognition that Judaism has never been a static religion, but a dynamic one evolving with the times.

One such reinterpretation is to make the Jewish community inclusive. Reconstructionists recognize the complete equality of Jews regardless of gender or sexual orientation, define Jewish identity through the father as well as the mother, and joyfully welcome Jews by choice and the non-Jewish spouses/partners in Jewish households into our congregations. The emphasis is on sustaining Jewish peoplehood, the Jewish civilization.

The Reconstructionist Movement

There are more than 100 Reconstructionist synagogues and havurot throughout North America . Each has a distinct personality, but all share certain core beliefs of inclusiveness, openness, and spirituality.

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (JRF) is the international umbrella organization of all Reconstructionist congregations and havurot. Information about the movement, including member synagogues, programs and publications, can be found at www.jrf.org..

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC), located in Wyncote, PA. , is the rabbinical seminary of the Reconstructionist movement. Information about the RRC can be found at www.rrc.edu.

Further Readings 

We recommend Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach by Rabbis Rebecca T. Alpert and Jacob J. Staub. Revised in 2000, this book is available through the Reconstructionist Press, as are many other titles.

Judaism as a Civilization - Toward a Reconstruction of American Jewish Life by Mordecai Kaplan (Reprint published by The Jewish Publication Society 1994)

Communings of the Spirit: The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, Volume 1: 1913-1934 ( Wayne State University Press/Reconstructionist Press, 2001)

Judaism  Faces the 20th Century: A Biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan by Mel Scult (Wayne State Press 1993) 

Imaging the Jewish Future – Essays and Responses, Dr. David A. Teutsch, Editor (SUNY Press 1992) 

Dynamic Judaism - The Essential Writings Of Mordecai Kaplan, edited by Emmanuel Goldsmith and Mel Scult (Fordham University Press 1991) 

Seek My Face, Speak My Name, A Contemporary Jewish Theology by Rabbi Arthur Green (Jason Aronson Inc. 1992)

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