The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA), established in 1974, is the professional association of Reconstructionist rabbis.
Comprised of over 300 rabbis, the RRA has three primary missions.
RRA NEWS
With broken hearts, we stand in solidarity with the Christian communities of Sri Lanka, and with people in grief and shock around the world.
We are distressed to now see anti-Semitism being used as a wedge issue. At the same time, we are also concerned by members of Congress using references to the Holocaust and Nazis to demonize the opposition
Brunei's official announcement that it will reinstate the practice of public stoning of people accused of LGBTQrelations and adultery must be rejected and sanctioned by the United States.
Judaism teaches that all human beings are created b'tzelem Elohim - in the image of God - whether Jewish, Muslim, or immigrant, and that to acknowledge the dignity of each human being is to honor God's presence in the world.
We the undersigned national, state, and local organizations support significant cuts in funding toImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), theagencies behind President Trump's harmful detention, deportation and border militarizationregime.
Since August 2017, the Burmese military has engaged in a brutal genocide against the Rohingya people of Burma (Myanmar).
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association are horrified by and condemn the terrorist attacks carried out this morning against Muslims in New Zealand. Our hearts are broken and we are shaken.
A governmental display of the Christian flag in front of city hall is exclusionary to the countless Americans not represented by that religious symbol. More than that, it places a heavy thumb on the scale in favor of one religion over others and over nonreligion
The proposed amicus brief is consistent with the policies adopted by the General Assembly of the PCUSA wherein they have affirmed as appropriate boundaries of religious liberties, that religious freedom is not a license for discrimination against any of God's people.
Today, we stand up as Jews and Americans against the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya people by the Burmese military, as we believe deeply from our own historical experience and understand from our ethical values that we cannot remain silent when any people is on the brink of destruction.
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association opposes the Trump Administration's plan to impose broad restrictions on transgender individuals serving in the United States Military.
The RRA condemns any behind-the-scenes lobbying of the BCRI board. As Jewish leaders, we value integrity, transparency, and civility.
On behalf of the 16 undersigned Jewish organizations, we write to express our deep concernabout purported efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights(OCR) to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of1972
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association mourn the devastating losses that a white nationalist domestic terrorist inflicted upon the Jewish community this past Shabbat morning at Tree of Life - Or L'Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh.
We unequivocally oppose any attempt by the Trump Administration to dismantle federal protections for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people under Title IX. Read our statement.
"We oppose any effort to roll-back the seminal protections provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA), and we believe that that the ADA Education and Reform Act (H.R. 620), recently passed... by a narrow margin, would significantly undermine the civil rights of individuals with disabilities."
The RRA Signs Amicus Brief in the case of Hawai'i v. Trump, challenging the indefinite Proclamation now in effect that bans immigration and most travel from a group of predominantly Muslim countries
Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) are deeply saddened and concerned following the deaths of approximately 18 Palestinians, and the wounding of many others, by Israeli army fire during last Friday's Palestinian-led marches near the border fence between Gaza and Israel.
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and Reconstructing Judaism express horror at the violent shooting in Parkland, Florida that has taken the lives of 17 individuals and injured many more.
RRA/RRC Joint Statement on Palestinian President Abbas' recent remarks.
Read our statement here.
The Rohingya people are facing unconscionable atrocities by the Burmese military. That's why the RRA is proud to join over 300 Jewish leaders and organizations in urging the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to advance the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2017.
RRA RABBIS IN THE WORLD
"The food that you're buying is the product of oppressed labor and that's not kosher," Rabbi Barbara Penzner, of Temple Hillel B'nai Torah, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Boston, said last week.
There is no special magic in becoming a rescuer, a hero. It is simply daring to do what is right and good and hopeful when all around you there is pressure to look away.
For educational relationships to thrive, we need to see each other in new roles and in new contexts. It creates new experiences that grant us the potential to see each other more clearly
"We are saying there is something important about this city and community and our faith," he said. "We are saying we want to invest in a future that will be different for our children and the generation that will come after them. So I invite us to think about that future."
To his Muslim brothers and sisters, "We see you, we are with you, we are you," said Rabbi David Basior of the Kadima Reconstructionist Community.
About 400 people gathered at the Border Field State Park on Monday to support the migrants as part of a nationwide week of action called "Love Knows No Borders: A moral call for migrant justice."
Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia has decided to become a sanctuary congregation and has planned a public ceremony to commemorate its decision to aid immigrants.
The Baron Book prize for 2017 was awarded to Rabbi Mira Beth Wasserman (HUC '98) of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College for Jews for Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals: The Talmud After the Humanities (University of Pennsylvania Press)
Friday before last, I led a morning Jewish prayer service at the construction site of the new youth jail in King County, and witnessed police arrest six participants.
About 20 rabbis affiliated with liberal Jewish group, T'ruah, were arrested on Monday night after blocking the street near the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle in Manhattan to protest an executive order that banned travel to the United States from seven majority-Muslim nations.
Four RRA members - Rabbi Seth Goldstein, Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton, Rabbi Jon Cutler and Rabbi Darby Leigh - have each been named to the Forward's annual list of "Most Inspiring Rabbis."
Rabbi Sandy Sasso and storyteller Peninah Schram, in a synergistic collaboration, have created an engaging compilation of Jewish love letters and love stories. Follow the link to a review at Publisher's Weekly.