Creative Expression – Reconstructing Judaism

A waist-up image of Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, standing in front of a tree.

Writer, Educator, Disability Activist to Lead Ritualwell, Leading Source of Creative Jewish Expression and Writer’s Community

September 18, 2023

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer was recently named Ritualwell’s director of virtual content and program, a position she considers her dream job. In this role, she can weave together the multiple strands of her life: her passion for creativity and the arts, her focus on spirituality and writing, her experience in editing and mentoring writers, her commitment to children and families, and making Jewish community and experience accessible to all.

A waist up photo of Rabbi Deborah Waxman smiling in her office.

Jewish Teachings on Resilience

October 19, 2022

On Shabbat Sukkot, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism, spoke at Philadelphia’s Mishkan Shalom. The talk focused on how Jewish practices and rituals cultivate resilience within individuals and communities — sustaining the Jewish people through the centuries and millennia. S

Shahanna MicKinney-Baldon as Madame Goldye

Shahanna McKinney-Baldon channels Madame Goldye Steiner

October 2, 2022

When Shahanna McKinney-Baldon came upon the life and work of early 20th-century entertainer Madame Goldye Steiner, the dramatic soprano who performed Jewish liturgical music along the East Coast and in the upper Midwest as “the only colored woman cantor in the world,” she said she felt an instant connection.

cover of there are still woods by hila ratzabi

Parallel Lines: A Poet’s Journey into Expression, Judaism and Community

August 18, 2022

“It is clear at Ritualwell how values from the Reconstructionist movement are expressed in the creativity of inviting people to create their own rituals,” she says. “It’s empowering to write one’s own prayers and to create spaces for people who never had a voice in Judaism. To me, that inclusive spirit is very much the place that I wanted to be in as a Jew and as a writer, and I think that’s what we are doing at Ritualwell.”

Screenshot from video "Let Silence Be Praise for God," an original melody for Psalm 65 by Rabbi Adam Cerino-Jones

Watch & Listen: Let Silence be Praise for God

June 1, 2022

Reconstructionist Judaism offers a spiritual and communal home to all who seek connection and meaning. And the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College trains diverse and dynamic rabbis who make Jewish experiences accessible to all.

The Reconstructionist Movement Comes Together in New Hinei Mah Tov Video

April 7, 2022

As part of our recent convention, B’yachad: Reconstructing Judaism Together, we shared this video of a new setting for Hinei Mah Tov by RRC student Solomon Hoffman. It features over 150 Reconstructionists representing 40 of our communities from across North America and beyond. The participants reflect the spectrum of our movement—lay leaders, Rabbis, Cantors, students, teachers, children, elders, musicians, singers, dancers, artists—all sharing in this collective project.

Ritualwell’s ADVOT Creates Poetic Community

October 28, 2021

Before Ritualwell was a website containing more than 2,200 liturgy and rituals crowdsourced by Jews, it was an idea of where to put dozens of scraps of paper in the drawers of offices in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Kolot: Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies in Wyncote.

Lost and Found: Personal Reflections at the High Holidays

October 1, 2020

Yom Kippur is our people’s day for a grand pause to look back and to look ahead.
As we look back, I am honestly saying, and if you would like, join me in saying:
“Let me be a little sad,” or, if needed, “deeply sad,” for the things we’ve lost during this most unimaginable year.

Tashlikh Reconstructed

September 23, 2019

“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 in this moving video, Tashlikh Reconstructed.

News

Writer, Educator, Disability Activist to Lead Ritualwell, Leading Source of Creative Jewish Expression and Writer’s Community

Jewish Teachings on Resilience

Shahanna McKinney-Baldon channels Madame Goldye Steiner

Parallel Lines: A Poet’s Journey into Expression, Judaism and Community

Watch & Listen: Let Silence be Praise for God

The Reconstructionist Movement Comes Together in New Hinei Mah Tov Video

Ritualwell’s ADVOT Creates Poetic Community

Lost and Found: Personal Reflections at the High Holidays

Tashlikh Reconstructed

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