Community

Symposium on Democracy.

My visit was spurred by the desire to join with my brothers and sisters — the Jewish people — out of concern for our homeland.

Kaplan was committed to democracy as an intrinsically good way of life.

Reconstructionist thinkers embraced democracy as both a key strategy and an ultimate truth.

Being in a community where we disagree with people works against polarization and forces us to consider ideas that make us uncomfortable.

The sense of peoplehood is the awareness that an individual has of being a member of a group that is known, both by its own members and by outsiders, as a people. (Mordecai Kaplan, The Future of the American Jew)

Disagreements can be a positive opportunity for enlightenment, growth and deep connection with others.

In providing venues for both consolation of suffering and the arousal of activism, rabbis lead our synagogues towards becoming communities of deep meaning.

Israelism captures a concerted effort that admonishes American Jews to see Israel as a — or maybe the — pillar of Jewish identity, synonymous with their Jewishness.