Archive-name: judaism/reading-lists/reconstructionist Posting-Frequency: Monthly Selected Sources for Additional Reading on Judaism Part VI: Reconstructionist Judaism [Last Change: $Date: 1993/06/08 18:00:42 $ $Revision: 2.1 $] [Last Post: Sun May 9 11:00:30 1993] This message is intended to provide readers of soc.culture.jewish with a list of references to allow them to learn more about the current practices, past practices, beliefs, and history of the Reconstructionist Judaism Movement. Reconstructionist Judaism is the small "fourth movement" of American Judaism. It was founded by the Conservative Rabbi and philosopher Mordecai Kaplan. It emphasizes "Judaism as a civilization" (i.e., the integration of selected Jewish beliefs with the Jewish people's culture and folkways). Reconstructionist Jews are willing to question conventional answers and keep open minds. They believe that a Jew need not and ought not sacrifice intellectual integrity for the sake of his/her Jewish identity. Reconstructionists are Jews who take the Jewish traditions seriously and live Jewish lives even through they don't believe in the divine supernatural origin of the Torah. Reconstructionists believe that, just a Jewish civilization has adapted to new circumstances throughout Jewish history, so must it adapt to late twentieth-century North American society. Reconstructionists tend to conduct more intimate worship services in which everyone is involved and the rabbi--if there is one--does not dominate. The membership body of the Reconstructionist Movement is the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. The congregations and havurot (Reconstructionist Judaism originated the Havurot concept) are organized into the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregation and Havurot. The association of the reconstructionist Rabbis is the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, located at Church Road and Greenwood Avenue in Wyncote PA 19095 publishes _Raayonot_ as its rabbinical journal. Information on where to obtain these books, including an explanation of the and notations, may be found in Part I of the Reading List (judaism/reading-lists/general). Publications of the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, the Reconstructionist Press, etc. may be obtained from: Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot Church Road & Greenwood Ave. Wyncote, PA 19095-1898 (215) 887-1988 This list is organized as a digest; it may be successfully undigestified by programs such as "gnus". ------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: Archival and Credits This list is based on research done at the University of Judaism in January 1993 by faigin@aero.org. Contributions were also made by Sharon Morrison (sharon@cs.uiuc.edu). Suggestions for additions or deletions are welcome, as are *brief* annotations for the entries. All portions of the FAQ and of the reading lists are archived on israel.nysernet.org [192.77.173.2] in the directory: ~ftp/israel/lists/scj-faq They are available in the rtfm.mit.edu archives in the directory: pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism The following files make up the reading lists and are in the "reading-lists" subdirectory: general, traditional, chasidism, reform, conservative, reconstructionist, humanistic, zionism, antisemitism, intermarriage, periodicals. The following files make up the FAQ and are in the "FAQ" subdirectory: 01-FAQ-intro, 02-Who-We-Are, 03-Torah-Halacha, 04-Observance, 05-Worship, 06-Jewish-Thought, 07-Jews-As-Nation, 08-Israel, 09-Antisemitism, 10-Miscellaneous. The files may also be obtained via Email by sending a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the following line in the body of the message: send usenet/news.answers/judaism/(portionname) Where (portionname) is replaced by the appropriate subdirectory and filenames; for example, to get the first part of the reading list, one would say: send usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists/general ------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: VI.1. PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENT [Alp85] Alpert, Rebecca T. and Staub, Jacob J. _Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach_ Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1985. ISBN 0-935457-00-3. [Eis52] Eisenstein, Ira and Kohn, Eugene. _Mordecai M. Kaplan: An Evaluation_ Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1952. [Kap34] Kaplan, Mordecai M. _Judaism as a Civilization_. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1934. Also available from Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia PA. ISBN 0-8276-0194-8. [Kap36] Kaplan, Mordecai M., Ed. _The Jewish Reconstructionist Papers_. Behrman's Jewish Book House, New York. 1936. [Kap48] Kaplan, Mordecai M. _The Future of the American Jew_. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1948. [Kap56] Kaplan, Moredecai M. _Questions Jews Ask: Reconstructionist Answers_. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1956. [Kap60] Kaplan, Mordecai M. _The Greater Judaism in the Making_ Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1960. [Coh58] Cohen, Jack J. _The Case for Religious Naturalism_. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1958. [Scu85] Scult, Mel and Goldsmith, Emanual. _Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan_. Reconstructionist Press & Schocken Books, New York. 1985. ------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: VI.2. RECONSTRUCTIONIST EDUCATION [Sta85] Staug, Jacob and Schein, Jeffrey eds. _Creative Jewish Education: A Reconstructionist Perspective_. Rossel Books and Reconstructionist Rabbinic Council Press, New York. 1985. ------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: VI.3. RECONSTRUCTIONIST LITURGY [FRC89] Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot. _Kol Haneshamah: Shabbat Eve_. Reconstructionist Press, Wyncote PA. 1989. [JRF41] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. _The New Haggadah_. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1941. [Passover Liturgy] [JRF45] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. _The Sabbath Prayer Book_. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1945. [This is been superceded, but gives an idea of the early approach] [JRF48] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. _High Holiday Prayer Book_. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1948. [JRF58] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. _Festival Prayer Book_. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1958 [Festival Liturgy] ------------------------------------------------------------ -- Please mail additions or corrections to me at faigin@aero.org. End of Judaism Reading List Part VI (Reconstructionist) Digest ************************** ------- -- [W]:The Aerospace Corp. M1/055 * POB 92957 * LA, CA 90009-2957 * 310/336-8228 [Email]:faigin@aerospace.aero.org [Vmail]:310/336-5454 Box#13149 "And as they say, the rest is compost"