College News
Below, you’ll find a list of all news and blog posts on the site in reverse chronological order.
Recent News
“We welcome the appointment of Rabbi Kleinbaum to USCIRF.” said Chair Tony Perkins. “Rabbi Kleinbaum is a widely recognized leader in both faith and politics, which will make her a great asset in the complex environment in which we advocate for communities and individuals around the world who are discriminated against or persecuted for their beliefs.”
The door flew open, and there was Rabbi Shira Stutman. She beamed, smiling and immediately embraced us. “Welcome,” she said, “welcome to Sixth and I.”
Frazier said that his Reform synagogue in Missouri, where he lived at the time, worked with him to create a meaningful mikvah transition ceremony at the river. He said his transition was more difficult for his work. “When I changed my name legally, everybody thought I got married,” Frazier said to laughs from the audience.
After years of pressure from advocates, leaders in Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled state House are indicating they might be willing to substantially tighten the law governing legislative gifts.
Michael Pollack, a Philadelphia rabbi, has spent the last three years nonviolently agitating for a gift ban with the group March on Harrisburg.
Richman feels that there is a tension in her understanding of her craft. On one hand, it does feel “powerfully subversive” to do something denied to women for centuries; on the other hand, she does find meaning in tradition.
It’s no coincidence Heifetz, a 45-year-old Silver Spring resident, thought of turning the tradition into an exercise in art. About four years ago, he says, he felt a compulsion to “do something with my hands” and began experimenting with metal as an art form. Heifetz progressed from creatively bending silverware to molding and shaping metal, transforming spoons, copper wire and car trim into works of art.
Ye led discussions on the intersection of social justice and spiritual space, and how to honor the wide variety of ethnic backgrounds that exist in Judaism.
“We accept the responsibility for changing and for changing this world. That is what people need to stay in hope. And without hope, there is no energy for no creative new solutions,” says Rabbi Amy Bernstein (‘97) in this moving video, Tashlikh Reconstructed.
The award, which was presented at the Federation’s Annual Meeting Sept. 17, recognizes Jewish professionals under 40 whose exemplary performance at a Jewish agency in the Chicago area has benefited the entire Jewish community.
“We are all accountable for the violence that happens at our borders,” Katz said. “Showing up for others is actually an action you can do in a world that feels powerless.”
Keynote speakers included Rabbi Rachel Weiss of Evanston’s Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation. Weiss was raised in Evanston and said she is the town’s first lesbian rabbi. “I came back after college and my wife and I got married here in Evanston at the synagogue where I am now rabbi,” Weiss said.
“I was very interested in Kaplan’s approach to Judaism as an evolving religious civilization, and the idea that it is a manifestation of Jews and what we believe and how we believe, not the other way around. It is not that we are Torah, and therefore we are Jews. It is more that we are Jews, and therefore there is Torah.”
A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College with a specialization in the congregational rabbinate, Sklover said she identifies with the strong sense of community and inclusion that the Or Hadash congregation cultivates.
“Parts of it feels radically different,” said Lily Solochek, a rabbinical student who began studying at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary and is now a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on Never Again Action’s July 2019 demonstrations against refugee detainment camps, featuring rabbinical student Lizzie Horn.
This video recounts a pre-rabbinical school experience of Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner, who graduated in 2016.
The first thing you should know about Rabbi Ariana Katz is that she’s a total badass. She’s a founding rabbi of Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebel, a radical Jewish collective (check out their website). She’s worked at T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and even as a chaplain at Planned Parenthood.
Rabbi Alex Weissman is the senior Jewish educator at Brown RISD Hillel, where he says he has the pleasure of drinking a lot of coffee and learning a lot of Torah with and from his students. He agreed to answer a few questions as part of Jewish Rhode Island’s ongoing effort to introduce community leaders.
Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Ph.D., a longtime faculty member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College who founded the institution’s multifaith studies department, has published a new book, Strangers, Neighbors, Friends: Muslim-Christian-Jewish Reflections on Compassion and Peace.
Rabbi Sandra Lawson, ’18, who serves as associate chaplain for Jewish life and Jewish educator at Elon University in North Carolina, was recently featured in an in-depth video segment produced by Elon News Network, the university’s student-run organization.
