The Philadelphia Story (Audio Podcast)

It's been five days now, but I still feel freshly back from Philadelphia where Susan and

Sherry and I may hold the image to the reconstructing Judaism convention.

For several days before that, I attended the Biennial gathering of the reconstruction

of Provinical Association of which I am a member. I have not been excited about going. I know,

when I say reconstruction of Provinical Assembly, you think, that sounds so exciting.

I'm not getting excited about it. But the truth is, I have been in Israel for a month

over the winter when my father and mom died and I was kind of done with travel. And also in this

really divisive climate, I have felt rather isolated. Not among you, but among rebels.

And I didn't know what it would be like to be in a Revinical Scene. Spoiler, it was good.

These reconstruction as rabbis are solid. They are solidly to the left. They are smart and

aridite. They hold their criticisms of Israel alongside a deep commitment to the welfare of all

people. I'm going to give you some tidbits about the reconstruction of this convention because we are,

after all, a reconstruction of this congregation, which means that you are all,

Raise your hand if you're a member of Narshalo. You are all reconstructionists.

More or less. And I'd love for that to mean something to you. I know that when I joined Narshalo

20 years ago, it meant nothing to me. But now I feel proud that we are part of this

particular lineage that began with the thought and practice of theologian philosopher and rabbi

Mordechai Kaplan. Kaplan remains a towering figure and not only at the convention.

Just this week, the foreword ran an article about Kaplan calling him the re-vinylizer of 20th

century Judaism. They also refer to him as Forgotten. Well, not Forgotten by Reconstructionists

certainly, even though Reconstructionism itself seems to have been forgotten by the journalist

writing the article. Mordechai Kaplan was a big idea of God. Many of his thoughts might seem

obvious to us now, but they weren't when he first articulated them. He rejected an anthropomorphic

God and located the divine in our collective actions and relationships. He saw Judaism as an

unfolding civilization beyond religion itself and was committed to the nurturing of a Jewish

peoplehood. He rejected triumphalism, including the idea of Jewish chosenness. He was an egalitarian

and famously gave his daughter, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein, the first botnist on record back in 1922.

This convention was the kind of scene where people bandied about the term Kaplanian.

And I got to do some Kaplanian learning myself. I attended a session where I learned that because

of Kaplan's opposition to concentrating religious authority in individuals, Reconstructionist

rabbis are not ordained in the traditional sense. There is no smecha, no play of hands,

to pass special authority onto them. So my colleagues who became rabbis in the Reconstructionist

for Medical College simply graduated and were given the title Rabbi in recognition of having fulfilled

other course requirements. Who knew? I attended another session on Kaplan's Zionism.

He believed Jews should be a nation in every sense and that in his modern world that must include

an autonomous state. But he saw that state as limited, a small autonomous homeland in Palestine

that would reinforce and reinvigorate Jewish peoplehood around the world. Not a homeland

that all Jewish people should aspire to join. And that that homeland would be part of a larger body

for instance he thought an Arab Federation. His Zionism also came with caveats. Any Jewish

nation state in his view would have to be guided by powerful ethical principles. In his 1934

tone Judaism as a civilization he says quote, when not disciplined and brought onto the control

of a moral standard such as represented by the Torah of Israel, nationhood is short to run

a mock and driven by the wild impulses of greed and vanity is bound to weak ruin upon all who

come in its path. So let's consider Kaplan not only a philosopher but alaz a prophet.

What other Kaplan alia for you? I heard a story that when asked to comment on whether Jews should

celebrate the second day of holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Shabu'ot he responded that to do so

is like trying to draw yourself off with a wet towel. Meaning the work has been done and a second

day would simply be an unsatisfying use of the yesterday's tools. Later in his life he walked

back I understand saying that if people find it meaningful of course they should do it.

Oh and Kaplan's nearly 90-year-old granddaughter, Mim Eisenstein, the daughter of Judith Kaplan

Eisenstein, the aforementioned first partner's father, was also at the convention along with her

wife. I noticed whenever she was in the room but was too shocked to introduce myself. In any event

better to free up her time for the rabbis who actually graduated from the reconstruction of

seminary whose investment in her grandfather is deeper and longer standing amount. What else?

I should say that Nair Salon got some noteworthy attention at the convention. We have been growing

as you all know and flourishing and other communities are interested in figuring out what we're

doing right as we also are. Our president Susan Levine, who was also on the reconstructing Judaism

board of governors, was in her element. Beyond her tireless hobnaming, she gave a workshop

about the new do structure that we adopted last year and also sat on a panel about disability

accommodation to speak about our cent free policy. I also helped on the Nair Salon visibility front.

I landed healing service a sort of soul massage of music and visualization which as it turned out

I needed as much as everyone else attending. I also got to participate in a $1 concert

of music written by rabbis and students in the movement. Among the offerings was the Ashia

Lava 9 that I wrote a few years ago and what a treat it was to hear it performed by such

talented group of musicians. Of course, you all are no slouches either.

There were many interesting words and ideas shared at workshops and plenaries about how Jewish

safety increasingly gets falsely pitted against democracy. About the need for community even

when we disagree about Israel. About Israeli-Palestinian peace and cooperation initiatives that aren't

sensational enough to make it on to the news but continue to operate steadfastly.

And a joke one presenter made about using our birth Torah portions or our B. Mitzvah portions

as a method of prognosticating what our role in activism will one day be.

Another spoiler my B. Mitzvah portion was Abraham arguing with God over the fate of some.

Mostly the week was an opportunity to feel some people hood again which hasn't been

easy during these past few raw and divisive years. I felt it in prayer. I felt it in stone.

I felt it being with over 100 rabbis who joined the weekly interface vigil outside Philadelphia's

Ice Detention Center. I felt it in the super rabbinical students I met and in the queer

affinity group I attended. I felt it going to a rabbis for ceasefire happy hour.

Not usually associating that through founded early on the Gaza war with the word happy.

But give fierce serious clergy activists a margarita and you've got a party.

I felt people hood as we offered tributes to reconstructing Judaism's president Rabbi Deborah Waxman

who many of you have met on her visits to Nier Shalom on the eve of her retirement.

And I felt proud and grateful to have truly become part of the reconstruction of this world

during what is already known as the Waxman era.

The Torah portion we read all week was about the building of the Mishkan and how the entire

community was invited to give according to their hearts generosity. I felt that generosity of spirit

around me and that creativity. Divine, human, creative, generative people hood.

It was good to be there. I wish you had all been there with us. We carried you in our hearts

and in our words as we thought about our beloved Nier Shalom which is to be completely

showmanist about it. Unfolding Jewish civilization at its best.

The Torah portion we read all week was about the Mishkan and how the entire community was

the Mishkan and how the people of the Mishkan and how the entire community was

the Mishkan and how the people of the Mishkan and how the people of the Mishkan and how the entire community

was the Mishkan and how the entire community is the Mishkan and how the entire community was

a Son of a L-O-I, a L-O-T!

A-Shi-R-L-A-N-I-N-I-A

B-I-I-I-L-A, a Son of a L-O-I, a L-O-T!

A-Shi-R-L-A-N-I-A, a Son of a L-O-I-A-N-I-N-I-A, a L-O-T!