Torat Yovel: The Torah of Jubilee

Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert is Professor of Religion Emeritus at Temple University. She attended Barnard College before receiving her Ph.D. in religion at Temple University and her rabbinical training at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. After spending the early part of her career in academic administration at RRC, Alpert joined the faculty at Temple University in the Department of Religion and as Co-director of the Women's Studies Program.

Alpert received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Liberal Arts (2001), the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Teaching Award (2013), and Temple University's Great Teacher Award (2016). She taught graduate and undergraduate courses on Religion in Philadelphia, Religion and Sexuality, Religion in Public Life, Sport and Society, Intellectual Heritage, and Baseball and American History.

She has published 10 books, over 40 academic articles, and more than 60 articles and essays for general audiences on twentieth-century American Jewish history and culture, gender and sexuality, Israel/Palestine, and Jewish ethics. Her best-known works are Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach, with Jacob Staub, and Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition. Later in her career she developed an expertise in religion and sport. Her major work in the field, Out of Left Field: Jews and Black Baseball, was published by Oxford University Press in June 2011. She is the book review editor for the International Journal of Sport and Religion and co-editor of a soon to be published Routledge Handbook on Religion and Sport. She is currently working on an autoethnographic collection, Queering the Rabbinate: On Being a Lesbian-Feminist, Teacher, Preacher, Baseball Fan, and Anti-Zionist, to be published by Wayne State University Press in 2027.

She serves on the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations and is active in Jewish Voice for Peace Action and Academic and Rabbinical Councils and is part of the leadership team of Rabbis for Ceasefire.

Dr. Steven Carr Reuben has been involved in the field of moral development and spiritual education for over forty years.

He holds Bachelors degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of California, Davis, two Master's degrees from the University of Southern California and the Hebrew Union College, Certification in Aging and Human Development from the University of Georgia, a Ph.D. in Religion from Sierra University and two honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1976.

Rabbi Reuben has served on numerous non-profit boards, including GriefHaven.Org, Chrysalis, I Have a Dream Foundation, Global Children's Foundation, and People Assisting the Homeless among many, and was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown of California to The Governor's Task Force on Youth and served as a member of the Board of Governors of the College for Reconstructing Judaism.

He is the recipient of numerous community awards, including the Micah Award for founding the largest full-service homeless shelter in Los Angeles, and the Unsung Heroes Award from the Youth Law Center of San Francisco. He has contributed to a wide variety of publications as an author and composer, wrote a series of parenting education columns for L.A. Family Magazine, and has written for, been written about and quoted in periodicals throughout the country including USA Today, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, New York Newsday, The Chicago Sun Times, McCalls, Philadelphia Daily News, Bride's Magazine, and People Magazine.

Rabbi Reuben was featured regularly on Michael Josephson's nationally syndicated "Character Counts" radio commentaries and is featured in both The Power of Character, edited by Michael Josephson & Wes Hanson and In Search of Ethics – Conversations with Men and Women of Character, by Len Marella.

Rabbi Reuben is the author of numerous books, including But How Will You Raise the Children?" – a Guide to Interfaith Marriage (1987), published by Pocket Books, Raising Jewish Children in a Contemporary World (1992), Making Interfaith Marriage Work (1994), and Raising Ethical Children (1994), published by Prima Publishing, Children of Character – Leading Your Children to Ethical Choices in Everyday Life (1997) published by Canter & Associates, A Nonjudgmental Guide to Interfaith Marriage (2002), and A Parent's Guild-Free Guide to Raising Jewish Kids (2002) by Xlibris Corporation, There's an Easter Egg on Your Seder Plate – Surviving Your Child's Interfaith Marriage (2008) by Praeger Publishing, Becoming Jewish – The Challenges, Rewards, and Paths to Conversion, (2011) with Jennifer S. Hanin, published by Rowman & Littlefield, A Year with Mordecai Kaplan – Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion (2019) published by Jewish Publication Society and Nebraska University Press, and How to Marry Your Second Husband First (2020) Xlibris with Didi Carr Reuben.

He currently serves as Rabbi Emeritus of Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation in Pacific Palisades, California and is past president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. He is married to Didi Carr Reuben and is stepfather to Gable.

Throughout 50 years in the rabbinate, Jeff has been dedicated (חנכ) to bringing education (חנכ) to all who have experienced Judaism with him.

Jeff is the Founding Director of the Reconstructionist Camp JRF (Havaya) and Youth Program, Noar Hadash. He has served congregations in Plantation, FL, Philadelphia and State College, PA, directed Hillel at Penn State and has also run summer camps, youth programs, family retreats and family trips to Israel. He received his Masters in Education from Temple University and is a 1976 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

At RRC, Jeff has taught courses for Rabbi as Educator, Merging Formal and Informal Jewish Learning and Transformative Text Experiences. He has served as a faculty member of the JCCA and as a mentor for the Lekhu Lakhem camp director program.

Among his writings are studies in creating family davening experiences, teaching the Civilization Approach and The Values of Spiritual Peoplehood. He has also created some musical recordings.

Jeff is a recipient of the Ira Eisenstein Lifetime Achievement Award from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Jeff has been honored with RRC's highest award of the Keter Shem Tov.

He is married to Rabbi Sarah Messinger where together they co-created Congregation Shireinu in Bryn Mawr, PA., where they used their experiential skills in creative prayer and programs. Sarah and Jeff are blessed with their children, Ari (Zephanii), Miriam and Rachel (Wil) and their grandchild, Stori.

My Torah

Each of us has a Song in our soul..according to Rav Kook.

My song is leading the Jewish people on an education journey, from formal to experiential learning, from early childhood to our honored elders. I can sing inside a classroom or out in nature and I help others find their Jewish voice. . These melodies may inspire campers and staff to dance on Shabbat or resound on the bimah with young or old in celebration or it can be the piyut or dirge of comfort at graveside. But the most important symphony comes when I act as conductor to help create " holy community".

Rabbi Ari Mark Cartun is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Etz Chayim in Palo Alto, CA where he served as Rabbi and Scholar-in-Residence from 1996-2015. He was the Executive Director of the Hillel Foundation at Stanford University from 1975-1996.

A member of the Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Reform Rabbinical associations, Rabbi Cartun has devoted his rabbinate to bridging gaps between denominations within Judaism. He has done the same for interfaith relations. At Stanford he was Founder and President of the Stanford Associated Ministries, 1980-88. Today he continues to teach on topics shared by Jews and Christians with Pastor Danielle Parish of Spark Church, which meets at Etz Chayim.

Rabbi Cartun has published articles on Bible, Jewish liturgy, and Jewish thought. He is in development of Family Stories: Pirkey Avot v'Immahot, and, with co-author Jeffrey Brandstetter, he is finishing a book on Judaism explained with computer metaphors: Mindware for G0dwrestlers: Thinking Jewishly in the Age of Thinking Machines.

Rabbi Lee Friedlander is a native Philadelphian who was raised by secular Jewish parents and was educated in an Orthodox day school. These contrasting experiences have informed his wide-tent approach to Jewish life. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College ('75), he has served as the Reconstructionist Movement as "Readings" co-editor (along with Deborah Brin) of the Reconstructionist Prayerbook series, and as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. It was under his presidency, thanks to the work of Executive Director Bob Gluck, that the Association fully enfranchised gay, lesbian and transgender Jews in all ritual and liturgical practices including marriage – the first Jewish denominational movement to o so, and more than twenty years before it was legally sanctioned by the Supreme Court.

Connecting people to one another and to the culture and history, and to the folkways and customs of the Jewish People has been the guiding directive of Lee's rabbinate. For him, belonging is Judaism's first principle. He understands that despite vast differences in observance and belief, what has kept Jews together throughout the millennia is a sense of fellowship and responsibility for one another. Lee fosters that spirit of community and obligation in all his work while bringing the fulness of Jewish expression – art, music, food, poetry – to every service and seminar. He feels fortunate to have brought so many people together in these ways at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore on Long Island since the beginning of his tenure in 1981.

Lee is father of daughters Sara and Ruthie, father-in-law of Matthew and Steven, and grandfather of Helaina, Isaac and Tallulah. He is a man who is truly happy with his lot.

Rabbi Dan Nussbaum was ordained in 1975 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.A. in Biblical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from Brandeis University's Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service. He later participated in the Hartford Graduate Center's Corporate Fellows Program where he earned an M.S. in Management.

Rabbi Nussbaum's life's journey was shaped by his profound experience working with students in Chester, PA through Swarthmore College's Upward Bound program, and his transformative year in Israel after graduation. This led him to serve as Rabbi for two synagogues, and work in higher education and nonprofit organizations dedicated to human services, adult degree completion, workforce education, interfaith dialogue, and diversity. His leadership roles included serving as Dean of the University of Saint Joseph's School of Graduate and Professional Studies, National Director of Leadership Development for the YMCA movement, Dean of Springfield College's School of Human Services, and a regional director for the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Rabbi Nussbaum resides in Cambridge, MA, with his wife Jacki, his partner of 48 years. They are blessed to live close by to their children and grandchildren.

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis is the Rabbi Emeritus of University Synagogue in Irvine, California. Born in Philadelphia, Rabbi Rachlis received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from Temple University and Ordination and a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Rachlis has taught at Temple University and Spertus College and has published scholarly articles, opinion pieces and poetry in a variety of publications, including Judaism, Reconstructionist, National Jewish Monthly, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, The Forward,Jewish Journal, Maj'shavot Pensamientos and A Psychology – Judaism Reader.

Rabbi Rachlis has served in Washington, D.C. as a White House Fellow, an honor annually accorded to only a dozen national leaders, and as a Senior Foreign Affairs Advisor in the State Department. He has been appointed a regional panelist for the President's Commission on White House Fellowships in both Democratic and Republican administrations, and was also selected as a Fellow in Leadership Greater Chicago. Rabbi Rachlis was chosen by the White House to give the invocation for President Obama's Town Hall meeting and he was also selected as one of the 25 most influential leaders in Orange County. Rabbi Rachlis has served as Chair of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, a coalition of over a thousand synagogues and Jewish organizations across the country, and as the President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

For nine years, Rabbi Rachlis hosted Of Cabbages and Kings on ABC-TV, as well as a syndicated cable television show on contemporary Jewish issues, Hayom. He has appeared as a guest on National Public Radio, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and PBS, and has been interviewed frequently by such publications as the New York Times. He was profiled in the award-winning documentary film, The Legacy, and has served as a Judaica consultant for Compton's Encyclopedia.

With his wife, Sandy, and his two children, Josh and Yoni, Rabbi David Brusin moved to Milwaukee in 1986 to take a position as Director of Jewish Studies at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, a position he held for seven and a half years.

In his first few years in Milwaukee, Rabbi David was asked, on numerous occasions, to speak to several Havurot, small study groups, about Reconstructionism. People liked what they heard and wanted more. Rabbi David encouraged them to attend services in Evanston, Illinois, at JRC, the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation. Not long after, they asked him if he would help them create a Reconstructionist synagogue in Milwaukee. As they say, the rest is history. Four years later, in 1993, Rabbi David left the Day School and become Shir's first resident rabbi, a position he proudly held for twenty-one years until his retirement in 2014.

Rabbi David was in the first graduating class at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He also received an M.A. and an ABD in philosophy at Temple University. He taught at local colleges throughout his tenure at Shir Hadash and he continues to teach at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and at Ripon College.

Rabbi Saul Perlmutter has worked as a Hebrew school teacher, the Youth Director of Temple Beth Sholom in Elkins Park, PA (the synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), summer camp counselor, and Executive Director of Hillel at UMass Amherst. He also manufactured mattresses as a summer job and my be the only rabbi who knows how to make a mattress - a skill, he quips, that only comes in handy when services go on too long...

Saul's diverse educational training includes a BA in History from Brandeis University, a Master's degree in Religion from Temple University, and a Master of Social Work degree from Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. His Rabbinical Ordination is from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He spent an undergraduate year studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a second year on sabbatical in Israel with his wife, Shoshana Zonderman, and their two children, Ariela and Noam.

Saul is an avid bicycler and you may see him biking to Sons of Zion from his home in Florence, MA . His other hobbies include vegetable gardening, swimming, hiking, and occasionally strumming the guitar. He is an environmental activist and a volunteer at various social service agencies.

Under his leadership, UMass Hillel became the first and only six-time winner of National Hillel's Haber Award for programs of outstanding quality for the Jewish campus community. He was voted Best Local Spiritual Leader in the only year that the Valley Advocate included that category in their annual reader's poll. Services that Saul leads include lively, interactive Torah discussions that engage our minds and participatory singing that lifts our spirits.

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was the first woman ordained from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1974), and the first to serve a Conservative congregation together with her husband, Rabbi Dennis C. Sasso as the first practicing rabbinical couple in world Jewish history. Following 36 years of service to Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis, Indiana, she is now its Senior Rabbi Emerita. She is the founder of the Religion, Spirituality and Arts Initiative at Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University at Indianapolis.

Sasso is active in the arts, civic and interfaith communities and has written and lectured on women, spirituality, and children's religious imagination. She received her B.A. Magna Cum Laude and M.A. from Temple University. She received a Doctor of Ministry from Christian Theological Seminary. She is the recipient of awards and honorary Doctorates from universities, theological seminaries, and civic institutions.

Sasso is the author of nationally acclaimed children's books, winning National Jewish Book and Indiana Authors Awards. She is a recipient of a Sagamore of the Wabash (by the Governor of Indiana), Heritage Keepers Award (Indiana State Museum), Spirit of the Prairie (Conner Prairie Museum), and Torchbearer Award (Indiana Commission of Women). She and Dennis C. Sasso were designated "Interfaith Ambassadors of the Year" by the Center for Interfaith Cooperation and recognized as "Hoosier Jewish Legends" by the Indiana Jewish Historical Society.

Active in the civic, interfaith, and arts communities, she served as President of Gleaners Food Bank and Chair of the Spirit and Place Festival, a statewide festival of the arts, humanities, and religion. She currently serves on the boards of Indiana Humanities, Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, and Advisory Board of Indiana University at Indianapolis. In 2016 she co-founded Women4Change Indiana, a statewide organization of 5000 focused on educating, equipping, and mobilizing Hoosiers to create positive change for women.

Rabbi Sasso and her husband are the first practicing rabbinical couple in world Jewish history. In 2022 they were named "Indiana Living Legends" by the Indiana Historical Society and were listed by the Indianapolis Business Journal among the most influential leaders in Indiana. They are the parents of Dr. David A. Sasso (Dr. Naomi Libby) and Dr. Debora S. Herold (Dr. Bradley). They are the proud grandparents of Darwin, Ari, Levi, and Raven.

Rabbi Dennis Sasso is Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, where he served as Senior Rabbi since 1977, when he and Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became spiritual leaders of the congregation. He was born and raised in Panama, a descendant of Sephardic Jews that settled in the Caribbean (Curaçao and St. Thomas) in the 17th – 18thcenturies.

Rabbi Sasso earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Temple University, Philadelphia, and was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia in 1974. He also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and did doctoral studies at Temple University and at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he obtained the Doctor of Ministry degree, and has served as Affiliate Professor of Jewish Studies for over three decades. Rabbi Sasso is the recipient of Doctor of Divinity degrees, Honoris Causa, from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Philadelphia, PA), the Jewish Theological Seminary (New York, NY), and Christian Theological Seminary (Indianapolis, IN).

Rabbi Sasso is a sought-out speaker and a prolific author of popular and learned articles and essays for various newspapers, journals, and academic publications. He has served on numerous interfaith, civic and community boards and agencies. He is Past President of the Indianapolis Board of Rabbis and of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. A Past-President of the Indiana Interreligious Commission on Human Equality, he was Co-Chairman of the Race Relations Leadership Network. Rabbi Sasso was Co-Chairman of the Citizens Complaint Working Group, a blue-ribbon committee appointed by Mayor Goldsmith to review and upgrade the Ordinance that regulates the Civilian Police Review Process. He has served on the Mayor's Community Crime Prevention Task Force, on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Center, and on the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis. Rabbi Sasso served on the Advisory Board of the Lake Family Institute for Faith and Giving of the IUPUI School of Philanthropy (the first of its kind in the country), the Indianapolis Immigrant Welcome Center, the United Way of Central Indiana , the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, the Public Safety Clergy Committee, and the Center for Interfaith Cooperation. He has been a member of the BrebeufJesuit Preparatory School Board of Advisors and of the Mission and Education Committees.

Rabbi Sasso is the recipient of multiple honors and recognitions, including the Ira Eisenstein Award for Leadership and Service in the Rabbinate; Faith and Freedom Award of the Indiana Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; and the Community Service Award of the NAACP. He and his wife, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, were "Interfaith Ambassadors of the Year" for the Center for Interfaith Cooperation, and were designated as "Hoosier Jewish Legends" by the Indiana Jewish Historical Society. In 2022 they were named "Indiana Living Legends" by the Indiana Historical Society and were listed by the Indianapolis Business Journal among the most influential leaders in Indiana.

The Rabbis Sasso are the first practicing rabbinical couple in world Jewish history. They are the parents of Dr. David Sasso (Dr. Naomi Libby) and Dr. Debora (Dr. Bradley) Herold. They are the proud grandparents of Darwin, Ari, Raven, and Levi.

Rabbi Steve Stroiman was ordained in 1974 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and received his doctorate in Educational Psychology from Temple University in 1977. He taught Jewish Studies at Akiba Hebrew Academy (coed, grades 6-12) in suburban Philadelphia for 34 years. Steve has been the facilitator of the Unstructured Synagogue Havurah, a group that has been meeting in each other's homes twice a month, for the past 53 years. He has also been the coordinator of Cresheim Village Neighbors, a vibrant neighborhood association in Mt. Airy, for the past 35 years. Steve and his family live in Mt. Airy.

Michael Luckens was honored in May 2023.