Light Waves Special Edition

Rarely do I send more than a bi-monthly message, but I think this special notice is warranted … current and time-sensitive (December 5th). Maybe we’ll see each other there.

Blessings, Sulima

Reconstructionists Expanding Our Conversation on Israel-Palestine

Rabbi Dev Noily, Rabbi Alissa Wise, and Morriah Kaplan will speak on Tuesday, December 5 on a panel entitled “What Changed? What’s Next?” – 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Central, and 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

The vicious Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel’s brutal response may mark a pivotal moment in the trajectories of Israel/Palestine, the greater Middle East, and North American Jewish and Palestinian and Muslim communities. How have these events affected us already? What can we expect in the near future? What does it mean to be a progressive North American Jew in these new circumstances? How can Reconstructionist values guide us in this moment? Where can the movement for a just, democratic future of equality between Palestinians and Israeli Jews go next? What kind of relationship between North American Jewry and Israel/Palestine should we embrace?

Rabbi Dev Noily serves as senior rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Oakland, CA, in the Lisjan Ohlone territory of Huchiun. They are a co-founder of Synagogues Rising, a network of progressive, justice-oriented congregations. In 2019 Rabbi Dev co-founded Jews on Ohlone Land (JOOL) and serves on its leadership council. JOOL works in solidarity with the Confederated Villages of Lisjan to protect sacred sites and rematriate the land. It supports Jews to build community and spiritual practices that are rooted in the land of Huchiun. They graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2009.

Rabbi Alissa Wise is a West Philadelphia-based organizational consultant, community organizer, educator, and ritual leader with over two decades of movement-building experience. She is currently organizing Rabbis for Ceasefire, a group comprised of rabbis from Conservative, Reform, Modern Orthodox, Reconstructionist, and Renewal communities speaking out with one voice to fulfill the most sacred obligation in Jewish tradition – pikuach nefesh, saving a life. Rabbi Alissa is the former Deputy Director of Jewish Voice for Peace. She graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2009.

Morriah Kaplan serves as the Managing Director of IfNotNow, a movement of American Jews organizing the Jewish community to reject US support for Israel’s systems of occupation and apartheid, and towards a vision of equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis. She has served as IfNotNow’s national spokesperson, appearing on BBC World, Al Jazeera, and multiple Jewish and mainstream news outlets. She grew up at Havurah Shalom, Portland’s Reconstructionist community, which instilled in her a deep sense of social justice which led her to anti-occupation organizing.

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If you would like to be added to an email listserv discussion, please email Seth Horwitz at reachseth@gmail.com and type “Subscribe to Recon I-P listserve” in the subject line.

This series is co-sponsored by the following Reconstructionist congregations: Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, Dorshei Tzedek, Havurah Shalom Israel/Palestine Committee, Kadima Reconstructionist Community, Kol Tzedek, and Mishkan Shalom.

L’shalom,

Joel Beinin, Diana Ralph, Marcy Boroff, Sue Lanser, Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, Rabbi Brian Walt, and Rabbi Rebecca Zimmerman Hornstein