WE BELIEVE…
We believe in the equality of men and women. We see God as the power that infuses all creation with transcendence and inspires us to improve the world and ourselves. We believe that Judaism is an evolving religious civilization reflecting peoplehood, community, history, the arts and ethics.
CHOSENNESS: A RECONSTRUCTIONIST UNDERSTANDING
Reconstructionist Judaism understands Judaism to be the “evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people.” Belonging, not believing, to the Jewish people is the key. We believe that Judaism exists for people, people don’t exist for Judaism. In the world today, choosing to be Jewish is a modern idea.
RECONSTRUCTIONIST THOUGHT
Quotes from Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan
- The only way to change the world is to change yourself into what you want others to be.
- Reconstructionism seeks to put gates through the fences that divide Jews into separate groups.
- A religion came to mean to me the sum of those habits and values, which give a people the will to live in common, to perpetuate itself and to make the best use of its collective life…[in short, the enduring definition of Reconstructionism, that we understand]… Judaism as an evolving religious civilization.
- Science does not destroy the belief in miracle. It merely transfers that belief from the supernatural to the natural.
- God is not the conception of the ordering principle in the universe, but of a power predisposing humans to their ultimate human good, provided each person does his/her share learning about and living up to the requisite conditions. To view the cosmos this way is to believe in God.
LINKS TO RECONSTRUCTIONIST SITES
You can reach the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s website by clicking on www.RRC.edu.
You can contact the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association by clicking on mail to:info@TheRRA.org
You can reach the Jewish Reconstructionist Communities’ website by clicking onwww.JewishRecon.org.