Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

You're Invited to JRF's New York/New Jersey Region Annual Celebration! This year's celebration will take place at The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York on March 12, 2011.

The theme for this year's event will be "JRF Salutes: L'dor v'dor (From Generation to Generation)"

As the JRF and the RRC (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College) continue towards restructuring the movement, JRF is celebrating the legacy of our first half-century as a congregational movement. We are creating a Legacy book to highlight JRF's communities. These books will be available in time for the New York/New Jersey Celebration.

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November 12-13th 2011

West End Synagogue is very proud to present Cantor Henry Rosenblum in a program that will display not only his wide knowledge of Jewish music, both liturgical and folk, but also his beautiful voice, consummate musicianship and magnetic performance skills.

The weekend will begin with Havdalah at 7:45 on Saturday night, November 12th with a special combined lecture/concert following at 8pm. The presentation on the topic: Synagogue Music as We Know It, How It All Began will encompass a history of synagogue music, its roots in the music borrowed from the countries and cultures where Jews lived as well as the great composers whose own particular vision shaped the music that became the basis of Jewish prayer services for the past 150 years. The talk will also look at the role of the cantor in the service. Cantor Rosenblum will use his beautiful voice to illustrate the presentation with both snippets of song and full performances of works being discussed. West End Synagogue Cantor Ayelet Piatigorsky will add her glorious soprano to the concert by joining her mentor in several selections.

Following the concert there will be a dessert reception with music for all to enjoy. Attendees are asked for a donation: members $10; visitors $15. Payment can be made in advance to the synagogue, by cheque prior to the Havdalah, or in cash following the concert.

The audience will have ample opportunity to ask questions of our scholar. Hazzan Rosenblum is a graduate of Brooklyn College and he received the Diploma of Hazzan and a Bachelor of Sacred Music Degree from the Cantor’s Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. After graduating in 1972 he served as the Hazzan of several congregations in the metropolitan area and taught at JTS, sung with the Zamir Chorale of New York and served on the board of the American Society for Jewish Music. In recent years he has served as President of the Cantor’s Assembly and Dean of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music at JTS. Since June of 2010 he has served the Forest Hills Jewish Center as their Cantor.

Sunday morning’s program will focus on contemporary themes: What’s Hot Today: the Phenomenon of Debbie Friedman, Craig Taubman and Shlomo Carlebach. A light breakfast will be served at 10am. At 10:30 Cantor Rosenblum will survey the contemporary scene in synagogue music illustrating his thoughts with recorded music. Once again the audience will have ample time for questions at the end of the program.

West End Synagogue

Click on the link below to view the event flier.

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It's time for the New York/New Jersey Region's annual celebration! This year's festivities will take place on Monday, May 9 at the Jewish Heritage Museum in New York City.

Each year, JRF puts together regional celebrations in the New York/New Jersey region, the Chesapeake Region, and the MidWest Region. This page will serve as the information hub for this year's events.

If you have any questions about the regional events, please contact us at events@jrf.org.

The 2011 New York/New Jersey Event

The 2011 Chesapeake Event

The 2011 MidWest Event

 In partnership with the New York Board of Rabbis and the major Jewish movements — Jewish Reconstructionist Federation of Metropolitan New York and New Jersey, Orthodox Union, Union for Reform Judaism, and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism — UJA-Federation of New York’s Caring Commission and SYNERGY are pleased to announce a community Shabbat devoted to emotional health and well-being to be held just after Mental Health Awareness Week in October 2010: Friday, October 15 — Sunday, October 17, 2010 (Parshat Lech L’cha). In preparation for the Shabbat of Wholeness, congregational leaders, both lay and professional, have an opportunity on THURSDAY, MAY 6th, to learn about the resources available for our members and their families, and how to make our congregations most welcoming and comforting to ALL. The RRC's Barbara Breitman will address a panel on Training Rabbis as first responders.
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Please remember to share with JRF NY/NJ items of interest to which your congregation invites members of our region.  We will do what we can to help publicize your event. Please e-mail the details to Victoria Cangelosi at vcangelosi@jrf.org. Thanks!

Saturday, April 10
1:15 PM 

The Society for the Advancement of Judaism presents Mel Scult on “Mordecai Kaplan on Suffering and Evil.”  Kaplan has thought much about the “power that makes for salvation” but what about the more destructive powers in the universe? We all seek meaning but sometimes the meaning breaks down. Religious thinkers throughout history have sought to understand evil and suffering both individual and collective. This talk will attempt to outline Kaplan’s thoughts on suffering and evil and try to present his attitudes in the context of this perennial problem.

Mel Scult is a renowned expert on Mordecai Kaplan.  He is award winning writer and has just completed a major work on Kaplan’s thought entitled “Mordecai Kaplan and His God- An Exploration of Naturalist Judaism.”

SAJ is located at:
15 West 86th Street
New York, NY 

www.thesaj.org

Are you a Jewish educator invested in the future of our earth?
Registration is now open!
www.tevacenter.org/seminar
June 7-10, 2010
Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, NY

Come meet, learn, pray and share with others also passionate about Jewish environmentalism. Join Torah scholars, farmers, educators, students and scientists to engage in contemporary topics of Jewish environmentalism. Participants will leave with curriculum, connections and skills to run Jewish environmental programming at their summer camp.  read more »

For the second year in a row, communities in the New York-New Jersey region welcome newcomers to our High Holiday services. Called “Open Seats,” this effort is part of a two-year regional outreach initiative funded by the UJA-Federation of New York.  Last year, over 300 newcomers attended High Holiday services in our regional congregations.

Open Seats 2009 includes a centralized website: www.highholidayopenseats.com, where each community describes their services and outreach efforts. We are proud that these efforts include holding services in public venues so all can attend, providing captioning for the hearing impaired, and asking for a voluntary donation, rather than selling tickets at a set price.  The updated website will be ready by the end of August.

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