Kaplan Minyan and Tikkun Olam Themed Shabbatot
KAPLAN MINYANS
The Bnai Keshet Kaplan Minyan is named for Reconstructionist Judaism founder Mordecai Kaplan, who sought to create a Jewish framework for discussions of ethics, culture, history, and current events. They are designed for people who enjoy a communal Shabbat and want to enrich their understanding of Jewish peoplehood in an alternative, less traditional setting.
TIKKUN OLAM SHABBATOT
BK's Tikkun Olam Committee plans and curates a series of Shabbatot about pressing social justice issues. After a spiritual and educational approach to each issue, we take action together as a community following Shabbat. The action could be anything from signing a petition, to calling legislators, to attending a protest (if there happens to be one), or anything in between. Our Shabbatot have included Climate Justice, Reproductive Justice, Disability Awareness & Inclusion, and Refugee Justice. Please contact Jessica Brater to get involved in planning.
Upcoming Sessions
5784 / 2023-2024
Kaplan Minyan with Michael Strassfeld
December 9th starting at 9:00am
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld will facilitate a participatory text study on
prayer at 9:00am, and at 10:00am he will co-lead an out-of-the-box, creative service with Rabbi Elliott focused on the themes of Hanukkah, Hallel and Light. Beginning around 11:00am, he will speak about his newest book Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century. Come for the text study, the service, and/or the talk, and join us afterwards for a light kiddush meal.
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld was one of the editors of the Jewish Catalog (1973) a guide to do-it-yourself Judaism that sold over 300,000 copies. He authored The Jewish Holidays (1985), co-authored A Night of Questions: A Passover Haggadah (1999) with his wife Rabbi Joy Levitt, and authored A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice (2002). His newest book Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st century (2023, Ben Yehuda Press) was published on the 50th anniversary of the Jewish Catalog. He is the rabbi emeritus of the SAJ (Society for the Advancement of Judaism).
January 6th - TBD
February 17th - Tikkun Olam Shabbat
March 2nd - Kaplan Minyan with Kyati Joshi
April 6th - Kaplan Minyan with Steve Gutow
June 8th - Tikkun Olam Shabbat
Past Sessions:
Kaplan Minyan with John Wallach:
Misinformation And Free Speech: A Troublesome Liaison
Joy Levitt:
Toward a more permeable Judaism: The case for conversion and radical welcome
Rabbi Dr. David Teutsch:
Reconstructing Judaism and Israel: A Personal Reflection on the Past, Present, and Potential Future
World Jewry Shabbat
Racial Justice Shabbat
Sally Gottesman:
Getting Proximate: Bringing Jewish Leaders to the West Bank and East Jerusalem
Claire Garland:
Indigenous Culture and Land Rights
Michelle Cameron:
The Uneasy Balance - A Fiction Writer's Take on Assimilation vs. Maintaining Jewish Tradition
Jenny Baum:
Just City, Growing up on the Upper West Side when Housing Was a Human Right
Ariel Goldberg:
Just Captions: Ariel Goldberg Shares Research and Writing from book in progress on Trans and Queer Image Cultures
Miriam Herschlag:
A Montclairite in Jerusalem: Fieldnotes from my inspiring, infuriating, flawed, beautiful home.
Siddhu Nadkarni:
Identity: What is your true identity from a Kabbalistic and Vedantic perspective?
Ari Finkelstein:
Separating Christians from Jews in Late Antique Syria: the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the 380s and its Impact on Jews and Judiasm
Roni Yavin:
Did the Baby Cry? Midwifery and Circumcision in the Talmud.