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Judaism Reading List: Reconstructionist Judaism (Pt. VI)

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              Selected Sources for Additional Reading on Judaism
                      Part VI: Reconstructionist Judaism
         [Last Change: $Date: 1995/10/19 15:21:35 $ $Revision: 1.3 $]
                    [Last Post: Sat Feb 14 11:07:04 US/Pacific 2004]

   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 [6]Jewish
   Reconstructionist Federation ([7]http://www.jrf.org/). The association
   of the reconstructionist Rabbis is the Reconstructionist Rabbinical
   Association. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College publishes
   Raayonot as its rabbinical journal.
   
    Where Can I Get The Books
    
     * Many of these books are available through general bookstores or
       Judaica bookstores. A list of links to these may be found in the
       [8]sources section of the [9]General Reading List (if you are
       reading this at [10]www.scjfaq.org, you can simply click on the
       "Sources" button in the header navigation bar).
     * Publications of the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, the
       Reconstructionist Press, etc. may be obtained from:
       
    Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
    Beit Devora
    7804 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 9
    Elkins Park, PA 19027-2649
    Phone (215) 782-8500
    Fax (215) 782-8805
    E-mail [11]info@jrf.org
    Reconstructionist Press toll free order line: (877) JRF-PUBS or
    (877) 573-7827
    [12]http://www.jrf.org/pub/cat-main.html
       
   [Amazon Associate] The S.C.J Reading List has established an affiliate
   relationship with Amazon.Com. ([13]http://www.amazon.com/). Now you
   can complete your Reconstructionist Jewish library and support the
   continued development of the Reading Lists at the same time, for many
   books on Reconstructionist Judaism are available through Amazon. For
   those reading this at [14]www.scjfaq.org/rl/jrc-intro.html, you can
   click the link to the left to browse Amazon's selections.
   Alternatively, if you enter Amazon using the URL
   [15]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home?tag=socculturejewi
   sh, the reading lists will get credit for your entry. Additionally,
   when you see the Amazon graphic [16][If you were at www.scjfaq.org,
   the graphic would be here] (or "[Buy at Amazon: http:...]") on an
   entry in the reading list, this indicates that the specific book is
   available for purchase at Amazon. Click on the graphic/link to go to
   Amazon and purchase the book.

   Reproduction of this posting for commercial use is subject to
   restriction. See Part 1 (general) for more details.


Subject: ORGANIZATION This reading list is organized as follows: * [8]Introduction to this Reading List * [9]Philosophy Of Movement * [10]Reconstructionist Education * [11]Reconstructionist Liturgy * [12]Credits
Subject: 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. [Coh58] Cohen, Jack J. The Case for Religious Naturalism. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1958. [Eis52] Eisenstein, Ira and Kohn, Eugene. Mordecai M. Kaplan: An Evaluation Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1952. Out of Print. [Gol91] Goldsmith, Emanuel S.; Scult, Mel; Seltzer, Robert M. The American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan. New York Univ Pr; 1991. Paperback. ISBN 0-814730-52-3. [6][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814730523/socculturejew ish/] [Kap34] Kaplan, Mordecai M. Judaism as a Civilization. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1934. Jewish Publication Society; 1994. Paperback. 640 pages. ISBN 0-827605-29-3. [One of the most original contributions toward creating a comprehensive program for creative Jewish life. Kaplan here offers his now famous concept of Judaism as an evolving religious civilization. For Judaism to survive and grow, Jews must continue to reconstruct their heritage in response to changes in social, political, and cultural conditions.] [7][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0827605293/socculturejew ish] [Kap36] Kaplan, Mordecai M., Ed. The Jewish Reconstructionist Papers. Behrman's Jewish Book House, New York. 1936. Out of Print. [Kap48] Kaplan, Mordecai M. The Future of the American Jew. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1948. Out of Print. [Kap56] Kaplan, Moredecai M. Questions Jews Ask: Reconstructionist Answers. Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1956. Out of Print. [Kap60] Kaplan, Mordecai M. The Greater Judaism in the Making Reconstructionist Press, New York. 1960. Out of Print. [Kap91] Kaplan, Mordecai;Goldsmith, Emanuel S. (ed); Scult, Mel (ed). Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Fordham Univ Pr; 1991. Paperback reprint edition. ISBN 0-823213-10-2. [8][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823213102/socculturejew ish/] [Kap94] Kaplan, Mordecai, M. The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion. Wayne State Univ Pr; 1994. Paperback reprint. ISBN 0-814325-52-1. [Kaplan's most easily understood theological work. It is organized around the Jewish holidays but actually is an elaboration of the basic concepts of his theological system. This edition includes a new introduction, in which Kaplan's thought is put in a historical perspective.] [9][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814325521/socculturejew ish] [Neu93] Neusner, Jacob (ed). Conserving Conservative Judaism: Reconstructionist Judaism (Judaism in Cold War America, 1945-1990, Vol. 7). Garland Pub; 1993. Hardcover. ISBN 0-815300-78-6. [10][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0815300786/socculturejew ish/] [Pre89] Prell, Riv-Ellen. Prayer and Community: The Havurah in American Judaism. Wayne State Univ Pr; 1989. Paperback. ISBN: 0-814319-35-1. [Reconstructionist] [11][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814319351/socculturejew ish/] [Scu93] Scult, Mel. Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century: A Biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan (American Jewish Civilization Series). Wayne State Univ Pr; 1994. Paperback. ISBN 0-814322-80-8. [12][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814322808/socculturejew ish/]
Subject: Reconstructionist Education [Sta85] Staub, Jacob and Schein, Jeffrey eds. Creative Jewish Education: A Reconstructionist Perspective. Rossel Books and Reconstructionist Rabbinic Council Press, New York. 1985. Out of Print.
Subject: Reconstructionist Liturgy [JRF91] Teutsch, David A. (ed). Kol Haneshamah: Shirim Uvrahot: Songs and Blessings. The Reconstructionist Press, 1991. Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; 2000. Hardcover. ISBN 0-935457-44-5. [Songs, Blessing and Rituals For the Home -- includes music; also available is an audio tape to accompany the book.] [6][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0935457445/socculturejew ish/] [JRF94] Teutsch, David A. (ed). Kol Haneshamah: Shabbat Vehagim. The Reconstructionist Press, 1994. Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; 1996. Hardcover. 3rd ed. ISBN 0-935457-46-1. [Sabbath and Holidays Prayerbook; includes a revised version of the Erev Shabbat book] [7][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0935457461/socculturejew ish/] [JRF96] Teutsch, David A. (ed). Kol Haneshamah: Limot Hol (Daily Prayer Book). The Reconstructionist Press, Wyncote, Pennsylvania, 1996. pages Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; 2000. Reprint edition. ISBN 0-935457-47-X. [Contains readings for use in a house of mourning and throughout the year] [8][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/093545747X/socculturejew ish] [FRC93] Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot. Kol Haneshamah: Nashir Uneverah. Enlarged Second Edition. The Reconstructionist Press, Wyncote PA, 1993. [Songs and Grace After Meals -- words, but not music] [JRF00] Teutsch, David (ed); Rosenberg, Joel (trans). Kol Haneshamah: Mahzor Leyamim Nora'Im. Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; 2000. Hardcover. ISBN 0-935457-48-8. [9][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0935457488/socculturejew ish/] [JRF41] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. The New Haggadah. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1941. Out of Print. [Passover Liturgy] [JRF45] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. The Sabbath Prayer Book. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1945. Out of Print. [This is been superceded, but gives an idea of the early approach] [JRF48] Kaplan, Mordecai M. High Holiday Prayerbook: Yom Kippur. Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; 1948. Hardcover. ISBN 0-935457-30-5. [10][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0935457305/socculturejew ish/] [JRF58] Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. Festival Prayer Book. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, New York. 1958. Out of Print. [Festival Liturgy] [Kap99] Kaplan, Mordecai M. (ed); Kohn, Eugene (ed); Eisenstein, Ira; Gerirtz, Gila (ed). Hagadah Shel Pesah: The New American Haggadah Behrman House; 1999. Paperback. Revised edition. ISBN 0-874416-75-2. [11][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0874416752/socculturejew ish/] [Lev03] Levitt, Joy (Editor), Strassfeld, Michael (Editor). A Night of Questions: A Passover Haggadah Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; Illustrated edition (February 22, 2000). ISBN: 0935457496. [12][Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0874416752/socculturejew ish/]
Subject: How do I obtain copies of the Reading Lists? Answer: There are a number of different ways to obtain copies of the Reading Lists: * WWW. If you are reading this on Usenet, and would like to see an online, hyperlinked version, go visit [2]http://www.scjfaq.org/. This is the "web" version of the FAQ; the version posted to Usenet is generated from the web version. Note that the www.scjfaq.org version is a copy of the actual master version; if you want to access the master, visit [3]http://master.scjfaq.org/. Alternatively, if you would like to see the posted version through the web, visit [4]http://shamash.org/listarchives/scj-faq/. The FAQ is in the subdirectory "FAQ"; the reading lists are in the subdirectory "rl". * Email. Scjfaq.org also provides an autoretriever that allows one to obtain a copy of the reading lists by return Email. To use the autoretriever, you send a retrieval request to [5]archives@scjfaq.org with the request in the body of the message. A more reliable way to retrieve these files is through the [6]FAQ autoretriever ([7]http://www.mljewish.org/bin/autoresp.cgi). For the FAQ, the request has the form: send faq partname For the reading list, the request has the form: send rl partname "Partname" is replaced by the name of the part, as shown in the general index. The following is a short summary of the mapping of partnames for the Reading Lists: + [8]general: Introduction and General. Includes book sources, starting points for beginners, starting points for non-Jewish readers, General Judaism, General Jewish Thought, General Jewish History, Contemporary Judaism, Noachide Laws, Torah and Torah Commentary, Talmud and Talmudic Commentary, Mishnah, Midrash, Halachic Codes, Becoming An Observant Jew, Women and Judaism, and Science and Judaism. + [9]traditional: Traditional Liturgy, Practice, Lifestyle, Holidays. Includes Traditional Liturgy; Traditional Philosophy and Ethics; Prayer; Traditional Practice; The Household; Life, Death, and In-Between; and The Cycle Of Holidays. + [10]mysticism: Kabbalah, Mysticism, and Messianism. Includes Academic and Religious treatments of Kabbalah, Sprituality, and the Jewish notion of the Messiah. + [11]reform: Reform/Progressive Judaism + [12]conservative: Conservative Judaism + [13]reconstructionist: Reconstructionist Judaism + [14]humanistic: Humanistic Judaism (Society for Humanistic Judaism) + [15]chasidism: Chassidism. Includes general information on historical chassidism, as well as specific information on Lubavitch (Chabad), Satmar, Breslaw (Breslov), and other approaches. + [16]zionism: Zionism. Includes Zionism and The Development Of Israel, The Founders, Zionistic Movements, and Judaism in Israel. + [17]antisemitism: Antisemitism. Includes sections on Antisemitism, What Led to The Holocaust, Medieval Oppression, Antisemitism Today (Including Dealing with Hate Groups), Judaism and Christianity, and Judaism, Freemasonry and other rumors. + [18]intermarriage: Intermarriage. Includes sections on "So You're Considering Intermarriage?", The Traditional Viewpoint, Conversion, and Coping With Life As An Intermarried. + [19]childrens: Books for Jewish Children. Includes sections on Birth and Naming, Raising a Child, Family Guidebooks, Upsheren, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation, Holiday Books for Children, Liturgy for Children, Bible and Torah for Children, Jewish History for Children, Jewish Theology for Children, Israel, Learning Hebrew, and Jewish Stories. The following is a short summary of the mapping to partnames for the FAQ: + [20]01-FAQ-intro: Section [21]1: Network and Newsgroup Information. + [22]02-Who-We-Are: Section [23]2: Who We Are + [24]03-Torah-Halacha: Sections [25]3, [26]4: Torah; Halachic Authority + [27]04-Observance: Sections [28]5, [29]6, [30]7, [31]8: Jewish Holidays; Jewish Dietary Law and Kashrut; Sabbath and Holiday Observance; Woman and Marriage + [32]05-Worship: Sections [33]9, [34]10, [35]11: Jewish Worship; Conversion, Intermarriage, and "Who is a Jew?"; Miscellaneous Practice Questions + [36]06-Jewish-Thought: Section [37]12: Jewish Thought + [38]07-Jews-As-Nation: Section [39]13: Jews as a Nation + [40]08-Israel: Section [41]14: Jews and Israel + [42]09-Antisemitism: Sections [43]15, [44]16, [45]17: Churban Europa (The Holocaust); Antisemitism and Rumors about Jews; Countering Missionaries + [46]10-Reform: Section [47]18: Reform/Progressive Judaism + [48]11-Miscellaneous: Sections [49]19, [50]20: Miscellaneous; References and Getting Connected + [51]12-Kids: Section [52]21: Jewish Childrearing Related Questions + [53]mail-order: Mail Order Judaica Alternatively, you may send a message to [54]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 * Anonymous FTP: All portions of the FAQ and of the reading lists are archived on [55]rtfm.mit.edu and are available for anonymous FTP from the pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/FAQ directory (URL [56]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/FAQ/). Similarly, the parts of the reading lists are stored in the pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists directory (URL: [57]ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lis ts). Note that the archived versions of the FAQ and reading lists are the posted versions; that is, they are each one large ASCII file.
Subject: Credits This list is based on research done at the University of Judaism in January 1993 by faigin@pacificnet.net. Contributions were also made by Sharon Morrison and Aaron Seidman. It was remodeled in July 2000. Suggestions for additions or deletions are welcome, as are brief annotations for the entries. A special thank you... Special thanks for her patience and understanding go to my wife, Karen, who put up with me hiding at the computer for the two months it took to complete the July/August 2000 remodel of the entire soc.culture.jewish FAQ and Reading Lists. If you think the effort was worth it, drop her a note c/o [6]maintainer@scjfaq.org. ------------------------------------------------------------ -- Please mail additions or corrections to me at faigin@pacificnet.net. End of Judaism Reading List Part VI (Reconstructionist) Digest ************************** -------

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