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
2022-23 Sessions
March 4th - Toward a more permeable Judaism: The case for conversion and radical welcome with Joy Levitt
Joy was Rabbi at BK from 1980 - 1986.
After serving for a time as co-rabbi in Roslyn, NY, Joy moved on to become the Chief Executive Officer at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, one of the largest Jewish Community Centers in the world, serving over 3,000 people each day. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and a Master’s degree from New York University in American Studies and was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is the founder of the Jewish Journey Project, an initiative designed to revolutionize afternoon Jewish education for children, and the co-author of A Night of Questions: a Passover Haggadah. She serves on the boards of the Shefa School, a new Jewish community day school for children with language-based learning disabilities; Plaza Jewish Community Chapels; The Jerusalem Foundation; and Israel Story. She is married to Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, and together they have five children and three grandchildren.
March 18th - Gun Violence Elimination Shabbat
June 9th - Pride Shabbat
Past Sessions:
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.