Liberal Zionism in the Wake of the Flotilla

by Rabbi Jill Maderer

In his recent New York Review of Books essay, “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment,” Peter Beinart, professor of journalism and political science at CUNY, captures his understanding of the status of American Zionism with these provocative words: “For several decades, the Jewish establishment has asked American Jews to check their liberalism at Zionism’s door, and now, to their horror, they are finding that many young Jews have checked their Zionism instead.” Continue reading

Is the Torah true?

One of the most common questions I am asked: Is the Torah true?  Did it happen?  Our liberal Jewish community is compelled to seek meaning in the Torah and understand it as sacred text.  Yet, we don’t want to check our brains at the door or ignore biblical scholarship. 

One important way to discover the truths of Torah is through biblical archaeology.  Join us on that journey next Shabbat, Friday June 4, 8:00 pm, when our Helen O. Sellers Memorial lecturer Professor Elizabeth Bloch-Smith adresses these issue with her talk: “Not Your Grandparents’ Judaism: Faith and 21st Century Biblical Scholarship.”  Click here to learn about Professor Bloch-Smith’s archaeological work in Israel.

Open Tent Initiative

The “Open Tent Initiative” is a wonderful way to build a strong sense of community.

Congregation Rodeph Shalom (RS) recently won an award given by the Union for Reform Judaism (the umbrella organization for all of the Reform Jewish congregations in North America) for our “Open Tent Initiative.” This initiative asks every member of the congregation to do one (or more) of the following five acts:

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(Another Reason) Why I love what I do.

Boy is it cold out there.  For me, a Miami boy, this is skin-peeling cold.  I know because I just walked four blocks up Broad Street in this wind.  I was walking to visit my friend Josh at the Red Shield Shelter.  Josh is the Business Manager at the shelter, a residence for homeless families, and he is responsible for tracking the residents’ savings.  Each resident is working towards finding an apartment or home of their own, and as they search, they are required to save part of their income (whether that income is from actual labor, or from disability, veterans or other sorts of social welfare benefits).  Residents therefore have a savings goal.  This goal is one of the keys to their future independence.

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Welcoming You to the High Holy Days

Rabbi Jill L. Maderer

At last night’s “Taste of the New Year,” Philadelphia’s wine-tasting and synagogue-matching program for young adults, I met many people who are seeking a congregation.  If you are a young adult (22-40), missed the event but would like an invitation to High Holy Day services (“High Holy Day tickets”) at RS, please contact our Membership Director Catherine Fischer.  Thank you to Deborah Gordon Klehr, Ivy and Matt Olesh for representing RS and inviting so many new-comers to High Holy Day services this year!  We were proud that Deborah was interviewed on KYW during the event!   We look forward to joining together on Rosh Hashanah to celebrate the new year and on Yom Kippur to experience the depths of spiritual connection.  L’shanah tova–a sweet new year.

Fasting for Darfur

On my door I have a “Stop the Genocide” sticker. It’s been there for over three years now, and the war in Darfur drags on. So why am I fasting on what seems like a random day in August 2009 for this cause? Why not let it simmer on the back burner where it has been since a group of us traveled to DC for the Save Darfur rally?

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Torah Scroll-Writing Meets Technology…and Meets Women

By Rabbi Jill Maderer

For generations and generations, Jewish communities have engaged a sofer (scribe) to pen a Torah scroll.  Each scribe follows extremely specific regulations in order to make the scroll, kosher, or fit.  Although nothing has changed about these regulations, a new initiative is underway, to help make us all more aware of the sofer’s process.  Today’s Inquirer reports on one congregation’s new website that chronicles a sofer’s work on a new scroll. 

What the author of the article does not mention is the fact that there is another Torah-writing innovation of recent times.  The author refers to scribes, as men.  Yet there are at least 2 traditionally-trained female Torah scribes as well!  Female scribes and a scroll-writing website–2 examples of modern ways we can include more people in the world of Torah.

Welcome!

Congregation Rodeph Shalom, a Reform congregation located in Center City Philadelphia, connects a diverse population to Judaism through prayer, study and social action. We are an inclusive community with families who have life-long Jewish connections, adults new to Jewish study, interfaith couples, and individuals of varied backgrounds, sexual orientations and philosophical points of view. Together we are a community of individuals who care about each other, our neighbors and our faith.