As our mindsets, values, priorities and practices evolve – reconciling Judaism’s hallowed belief in human dignity and equality with its history of bias, racism, and sometimes-justified rejection of ‘others’ – our theology and liturgy must shift alongside our civic laws. We are not the first to propose revisions and are honored to sit on the shoulders of giants.
On June 12 1945, barely out of the flames of the Holocaust, some 200 Orthodox rabbis met in New York’s McAlpin Hotel to publicly excommunicate Rabbi Mordechi Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. They proceeded to burn the prayer book he had just published. The accusation? Heresy. Why? Because Kaplan challenged the notion of Jews as Chosen People.
Join Lab/Shul Rabbis Emily Cohen and Amichai Lau-Lavie on the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Kaplan’s prayer book burning to honor his legacy, protest zealotry and violence, and engage in conversation about evolving theology and liturgy beyond racism and tribal walls.
Tonight’s Pray/Tell is for Lab/Shul Partners. 8pm EDT.
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“People expect a Jewish prayer book to express what a Jew should believe about God, Israel and the Torah, and about the meaning of human life and the destiny of mankind. We must not disappoint them in that expectation. But, unless we eliminate from the traditional text statements of belief that are untenable and of desires which we do not or should not cherish, we mislead the simple and alienate the sophisticated.” – Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan
