Reconstructionist movement -

Mordecai Kaplan wanted Jews to choose Judaism. Why they didn’t was the bane of his life.

April 7, 2026April 7, 2026Jesse Orine

Reconstructionist Judaism, wrote the Jewish sociologist Charles Liebman almost 60 years ago, “comes closer than any other movement or school of thought to articulating the meaning of Judaism for American Jews.” By emphasizing belonging over rote observance, personal fulfillment over inherited obligation, and Jewish “civilization” over theology, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s brainchild seemed poised to capture […]

Reconstructionist leader to step down as head of movement riven by tension over anti-Zionism

May 1, 2025May 1, 2025Sara Wood

Rabbi Deborah Waxman, who leads the seminary and congregational union of Judaism’s Reconstructionist movement, said this week that she will retire in the summer of 2026, opening the top job at a movement that has been rocked by tension over a growing strain of anti-Zionism among its recent rabbinical school students and graduates. Since taking […]