Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

You are here: Home / Blog

Blog

EVOLVING AARC RESPONSES TO TRAGEDY IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE by Steve Merritt

by

Since the first of several “Listening Circles” following the October 7th Hamas attack, Israel’s massive reaction, and subsequent expansions of hostilities, the responses of individuals and groups at AARC have been evolving and moving toward action. 

After the October 7th attack, and later as the scale of Israel’s retaliation became clearer, six AARC members met to plan Listening Circles to “facilitate conversations about our pain, sense of disbelief, helplessness, anger, betrayal, and fear that conflict in our own congregation could split us apart,” according to Claudia Kraus Piper, one of the planners. The goal was to “speak about our anguish and to deeply listen to each other without trying to change minds or counter each other,” she added. “I see this as a really important foundation of AARC’s response.” Four well-attended  Circles were held from 2023 to 2025.

“As part of the Listening Circle planning group,” said Idelle Hammond-Sass, “we knew and hoped there would be a move toward more action.”

One example of this move toward action is an ad hoc group whose members feel strongly about human rights in Israel/Palestine. It has met monthly since April for Shabbat dinners, and most recently, for lunch after Rosh Hashanah services. “Many of us have had seders in the last few years that focused on these issues,” said Deb Kraus. This group grew out of “having a few like-minded people over this year to break Passover and talk more generally about, Where do we go from here?” The gatherings have provided a safe space for those who felt their views were not always welcome in the Jewish community. The attendees represented a range of views on Israel/Palestine. Rather than planning joint actions, the group has chosen to support individual and small group efforts. 

Within our congregation, the move toward action has also involved educational programs as well as various levels of activism, including calls for the congregation to sign petitions, such as those advocating a ceasefire. The Board’s decision not to take public stands has frustrated some members.

Addressing this, Chair Dave Nelson said, “As a Board, it’s not our role to sign onto political statements. It’d be presumptuous for the seven of us to give the impression we speak for 90-plus families with a multitude of perspectives.”

“The Board is here to take care of all the day-to-day tasks needed to support the community so that all our members have access to the vital wellspring of energy that drives them toward right action,” he added. “We see how this energy is helping foster so much activity in the congregation and beyond, and we’re pleased to know we’re playing even a small role in supporting that.”

The recent Yom Kippur workshop called “Scared Into Silence,”  designed by Deb Kraus, Manya Arond-Thomas, and Deborah Fisch, looked at how fear gets in the way of being at-one within ourselves and with others.  Participants first looked at this from a personal point of view, and this was followed by a group dialogue exploring how fear has impacted the ability or inability to speak about Israel/Palestine within the congregation. 

Rabbi Gabrielle welcomed the Yom Kippur afternoon workshop. In fact, her Yom Kippur sermon acknowledged the horror and disproportionate suffering of the Palestinians, while also asking us to see the current conflict from the wider perspective of two traumatized peoples with a long history. And she asked congregants to make room for the range of views within our community.

“At the opening of the most recent Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association conference, it was suggested that rabbis need to be a ‘moral compass’ for their congregations,” she said, “but I want our members to find their own moral compass and to act individually and collectively in ways that call to them.”

Some of our members’ upcoming actions include:

  • AARC will present three programs open to the public this fall in a series called “New Perspectives, Timely Conversations.” Some will touch on Israel/Palestine issues. The programs are being organized by Sarai Brachman Shoup and Debbie Field. According to the flyer, the series “aims to provide fresh perspectives and raise new questions that will allow the community to think differently about Jewish identity.” Most sessions will consist of interview-style conversations with scholars, journalists, and educators about their work. 

The first session is Sunday, October 11, 12:00pm–1:30pm and will feature Dr. Elliott Ratzman, a research fellow at U-M’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute and an experienced organizer and activist. The title is “Zipporah’s Sacrifice: Jewish Ethics and Race.” Dr. Ratzman will use the biblical story of Zipporah as a jumping off point to think about how we as Jews interact with the “others” whom we live among. To attend, email Sarai at sbshoup@gmail.com for the link to RSVP.

  • Manya Arond-Thomas will be traveling to Israel/Palestine in mid-October on “The Future is Peace Tour” (with Mejdi Tours), which focuses on Israeli and Palestinian peace groups promoting dialogue and understanding between different communities in the region. The travel agency owners, Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, an Israeli Jew and Palestinian, are authors of the book The Future is Peace.  Manya plans to make presentations about her experiences after her return.                    
  • Several AARC members who have Israeli citizenship will be flying to Israel to vote in the elections scheduled for October 27 in hopes of helping unseat Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling coalition.
  • Sunday Schmooze – The MI Senate Campaigns: We Have Questions! 

Abdul El-Sayed’s candidacy for the US Senate has Jews talking. Some are working to bolster support for him in our community, as his election is seen as key to Democrats taking control of the Senate. Others have concerns around his positions on Israel. A few members of the AARC and the Jewish Cultural Society, with support from Michigan Jews for Democracy, are organizing a program to help attendees process their decisions about how to vote in this election. Asked about the program, Dave Nelson said, “This sounds fantastic. It’s precisely the sort of thing we’d like to foster.” The program will be held on Sunday, October 18, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm at the Jewish Community Center. Bagels & coffee provided. Questions? Contact Kira Berman at kira.berman@gmail.com.

Watch for information about all these and other activities that feature AARC members’ engagement with Israel/Palestine issues in the weekly Tuesday Telegraph and on Reconchat. 

Conversation Series on Making Challenging Ideas Accessible

by

by Sarai Brachman Shoup

New Perspectives, Timely Conversations, a series proposing to make academic resources and challenging ideas accessible to the wider Jewish community, kicks off on October 11, 2026.  The three Fall 2026 offerings take place at the JCC Ann Arbor, noon – 1:30 PM. 

Sponsored by The Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation and organized by Deborah Field and Sarai Brachman Shoup, the series is grounded in Reconstructionist Judaism, which considers Jewish culture and beliefs as evolving rather than fixed. 

New Perspectives, Timely Conversations aims to provide fresh perspectives and raise new questions that allow the community to think differently about Jewish identity.

Most sessions consist of interview-style conversations with scholars, journalists, and educators about their work.  This Fall, one of the sessions is a film, an Ann Arbor premiere.

On Sunday, October 11, Dr. Elliot Ratzman, a research fellow at U-M’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute, and experienced organizer and activist, discusses “Zipporah’s Sacrifice:  Jewish Ethics and Race.” 

On Sunday, November 15, the acclaimed 30-minute Scenes From the Divide screens for the first time in Ann Arbor.  Scenes From the Divide explores the tensions among New York Jews over identity, history and responsibility surrounding the Mamdani campaign for mayor in 2024-25.  A facilitated discussion follows the screening.

On Sunday, November 22, Ann Arbor native and senior politics editor at Jewish Currents, Mari Cohen, discusses “The Anti-Defamation League and Today’s Crisis of Jewish Politics.”

RSVP for each session is required. Please register HERE.

Kavanah, Baruch She’amar (Yom Kippur, 9/21/2026) by Margo Schlanger

by

The theme Rabbi Gabrielle has threaded through these yontif services is conversation. That’s easily connected to this prayer, Baruch She’amar: “Blessed be the one who spoke the world into being.”

It’s not just God who creates by way of speech – we all do.  Words are how we make sense of the world, of course. But they can act as well as explain. Words join and separate us. They harm and heal. 

The thing I offer as a Kavanah, an intention, for this next part of the service is this: I like to think of people as godly—but we are different from God, whom Baruch She’amar envisions as dominating the environment by speech. In the Pesukei d’Zimrah and other parts of the service, we praise God as exalted and unknowable. But for we humans, as we strive to use words for conversation, for joining and healing and collaborating, we need to be the opposite of exalted and unknowable. Instead, we need to show our conversation partners a commitment to equality and shared humanity. In decades of speaking and negotiating for a living, this is the thing I’ve learned—equality is the bare prerequisite to something good happening from a human interaction. 

What does that mean? Equality at a minimum means that each one of us strives to know, all the time—not just as a matter of lip service but really down deep—that other people’s pain and other people’s flourishing matters just as much as our own and our loved ones’.  This sounds so simple, but it’s so hard. It’s an aspiration we see in many places, though. Just for example, I teach torts, and this is the basic morality of tort law – I need to act with care not only towards my own interests and body but towards yours, too.  And this applies not just to members of my own community but to other communities, who don’t share my nationality, language, or religion. 

Ben Shahn, Conversations, 1958. Watercolor and ink on paper, 39 x 53 in. (99.1 x 134.6 cm). Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

As Jews, we are instructed to operationalize this view for the strangers among us. Leviticus 19:33 spells out the obligation, loud and clear: “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

But other texts make the case that far more is required—that we must honor the equality not of just those who are proximate, but those who remain far away.  We learn this in Sifra Kedoshim and Genesis Rabbah. There we see that when Rabbi Akiva says that “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18) is the great principle of the Torah, Ben Azzai answers that a greater principle is Genesis 5:1: “This is the book of the generations of Adam — in the likeness of God He made him.” All of us are equally holy. 

It’s also the message of today’s Mincha haftarah reading, Jonah. One key to that story is to understand that Nineva was a goyische city. That’s part of the reason Jonah is so uninvested in its survival—part of his grave moral failing that God scolds him for.  

Back to conversation—conversation is about sharing. Not necessarily agreeing, but sharing views and ideas and possibly growing closer. The only way that works is from a place of radical equality. This is a crucial and endless personal struggle for each of us to have with ourselves. 

More broadly, unfortunately, it seems right now that there are many people—including many in the name of Judaism—who deny human equality, who deny that no one person or group matters more than another. 

This time, right now, demands that we look at people of cities and villages and refugee camps—Ninevah and Gaza City, as much as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Detroit and Ann Arbor—and see all those humans as equal. Our community needs to stand against that, to learn from Jonah’s moral failure, stand with Ben Azzai, and commit to holy, equal conversation.  Then perhaps we too can speak a world into being. 

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם, בָּרוּךְ הוּא

Baruch she’amar v’hayah ha’olam, Baruch hu.

Blessed be the one who spoke the world into being.

Celebrating Alan Haber on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday

by

Comments delivered by Rebecca Kanner (left) in honor or Alan Haber (right)

 הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי מִתַּלְמִידָיו שֶׁל אַהֲרֹן, אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם וְרוֹדֵף שָׁלוֹם, אוֹהֵב אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת וּמְקָרְבָן לַתּוֹרָה:

Hillel used to say: be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving humankind and drawing them close to the Torah.
(Pirkei Avot 1:12)

Alan Haber is a true disciple of Aaron.  He has lived his life loving and pursuing peace, loving humankind, and drawing us close to the Torah through the works of his hands and by example.

On July 29, Alan turned 90 and on behalf of the congregation, I am offering this appreciation to celebrate Alan. 

Alan is a forever activist.  Here are only a few highlights:
 
His activism started in the mid-1950’s.  Alan grew up in Ann Arbor and enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1954, where his father William Haber was the dean of LSA – at times, Alan’s activism made the two of them visible opponents.  It is no surprise that Alan did not graduate until 1965: he was one active activist!  While a student, Alan was a founder of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), and its first national president.  He was one of the authors in 1962 of the Port Huron Statement, an eloquent manifesto, proposing an agenda for a generation.  Alan was also one of the organizers of the first teach-in on the Vietnam War at the UM in 1965.

Alan has been described as Ann Arbor’s resident radical and also Ann Arbor’s reticent visionary.  His occupations have been listed as American activist and cabinetmaker.

Alan left Ann Arbor for Berkeley, California.  He told me once that passing a woodworking shop while walking in Berkeley, he smelled that wonderful smell of newly cut wood.  It drew him in and his life changed forever.  This is when he became both a woodworker and a “freelance radical intellectual”.  Berkeley is also where Alan met Odile Hugonot and they became lifelong partners in life and in their activism.  


When I met Alan in the 80’s at a New Jewish Agenda conference in New Jersey, he told me that as a woodworker, he was “an ark-ist”.  Our congregation became a beneficiary of his ark making.  When Alan moved back to Ann Arbor, with Odile, they joined the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah.  With his skilled hands, Alan drew us close to our torah.  He made our ark and our Torah table, using members’ wood and working collaboratively with other congregants.  He designed our ark, in accordance with the instructions in the Torah for the building of the Mishkan.  Alan also made another smaller ark to hold the beautiful Megillat Esther we read from on Purim.  He made a Peace Table that has traveled the world.  At the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999, several Nobel Peace Prize laureates sat at Alan’s Peace Table.  

Alan continues to pursue peace and on the occasion of his 90th birthday, he shared a political strategy towards a better way.  Alan is no longer a reticent visionary, he is a bold visionary.  He is truly a forever activist and we all benefit from his activism, love, and the model he is of creativity, intelligence, commitment, and enduring allegiance to his values and his dreams of a humanity abiding in peace.  
 
Alan, ad me’ah v’esrim.  We wish you health and joy in your pursuit of peace with justice.

Exhibit Showcases AARC Creativity

by

Art works by Leora Druckman, Dale Sass, Janet Kelman, and Mollie Meadow.


One of the pleasures of being part of the Ann Arbor Jewish community is meeting people engaged in fascinating intellectual, political, musical, and artistic endeavors. Recently, the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation (AARC) showcased the artistic talents of its members in an exhibit at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor. The range and quality of the work on display were impressive.


According to Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador, “Last year, the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation (AARC) launched AARC Creatives, giving members of our community an opportunity to share their creative work and talk about their artistic process. This year, we wanted to build on that idea by creating an exhibit. Since the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation—the home of AARC’s High Holy Day services—displays artwork throughout its building, we asked whether they might be open to exhibiting work by AARC members. They enthusiastically welcomed the idea and generously offered some of their exhibition space.”


Many talented and creative people in the AARC community—artists, artisans, and makers working in a wide range of media—embraced the opportunity to participate. AARC Executive Director Elizabeth Brindley served as the point person and coordinator for the exhibit.  “ It’s been wonderful to see the immense talent of our congregants, and the variety of emotions and moments captured in their pieces,” comments Elizabeth.  “The High Holidays are a time for reflection, and I think our Art Exhibit added to the depth and meaning of our High Holy Days together.“

Here are some of the featured artists and artworks:

  • Alan Haber, a carpenter, exhibited a peace table that was used at The Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999 and hosted Nobel Peace Prize winners and, since then, notables of many faiths and traditions. 
  • Margot Neuhaus, a painter, sculptor, and photographer, displayed two photographs: Galapagos and Sandwater.
  • Leora Druckman, an emerging ceramic and multimedia sculptor, exhibited several examples of her work
  • Jack Edelstein displayed designs that incorporate the ancient symbol of yin and yang—also known as the Taijitu or Cosmic Dyad—an emblem of complementary polarity.
  • Janet Kelman, a glass artist, displayed a piece titled Rushing Water.
  • Paulo Neuhaus, a digital photographer,  displayed photographs of peonies in his Ann Arbor garden and a flamenco dancer in Málaga, Spain.
  • Idelle Hammond-Sass, a sculptor, jewelry maker, and painter, displayed a necklace and two watercolor paintings.
  • Janet Greenhut displayed a painting of a Tricolor Heron.
  • Mollie Meadow, a talented high school student (and our youngest participating artist),   displayed a ceramic vase she created at Interlochen Center for the Arts.
  • Sally Goldberg, a ceramic artist who is a member of the Ann Arbor Potters Guild, displayed a raku mask.
  • Dale Sass displayed a box made of select hardwoods

Alan Haber with his peace table. At left are photos by Paulo Neuhaus. At right is a mask by Sally Goldberg.

Love Hate, by Jack Edelstein

Painting by Idelle Hammond-Sass

Tricolor Heron by Janet Greenhut

Galapagos by Margot Neuhaus

See THIS LINK page 23 to view this article in the October 2026 Washtenaw Jewish News.

D’var Torah Shelach by Elliott Levinson-Brennan

by

In my portion God tells Moses to send scouts to Canaan. Moses, of course, does this and when the scouts come back they tell the whole community what they saw. The scouts tell them that it is a very good land, but there are people living there who are called the Anikites. The Anikites were very strong and would crush the Israelites if they tried to take Canaan. 

Only two of the scouts, Calab and Joshua thought that the Israelites could take the land but the community did not agree. The community thought they would be destroyed. 

So God gets angry over this because the Israelites are disobeying God. So God punishes them by making them wander in the wilderness for forty years while everyone of that generation dies except Calab and Joshua.  Because Caleb and Joshua were loyal. And then after forty years God let the Israelites into the land.

Now there are a couple of things in my Torah portion that I find interesting and even problematic.  One, God punishes the Israelites harshly for their lack of faith.  But the way I see it God is punishing them because of their fear. They’re afraid that they are going to be destroyed by the Anikites and I don’t blame them. 

Although, the portion doesn’t talk about this, I doubt that the Israelites wanted to kill the Anikites or at least I hope they didn’t. Which brings me to my second point.

In Numbers 13:2 God tells Moses to send scouts to Cannan because they are giving the Israelites that land, but God and the Israelites have no rightful ownership of that land. God is talking to Moses like they own Canaan but other people live there and considering that there was a war between them and the Israelites I doubt that the Canaanites approved of this plan. I also find it interesting that God plans to give this land to the Israelites but then forces them to fight for the land.

I don’t think my Torah portion is a very good model for how we should act because in it God forces people to fight for land that other people are inhabiting and I doubt that most of the Israelites want to hurt these people. And when the Israelites don’t obey, God sends them into the wilderness. Moses tells God to be forgiving which in my opinion is a much better model for how we should be. But God still sends them into the wilderness. I think that this portion is trying to teach about trust and faith but it does it in a very violent way that I don’t approve of.

Now I have a question for you: if someone is telling you to do something that you think is wrong, what do you do and how do you respond?  I want you to take a moment to reflect on this and perhaps share your thoughts with your neighbor at the lunch after services.

Now I would like to thank a couple people for getting me where I am today. First, I would like to thank my parents for supporting me and helping me through this. I also would like to thank our Rabbi for helping me with my D’var Torah, the prayers, and countless other things. And thank you to Deborah Fisch for putting the supplement together.  And last but not least, I would like to thank Deb who has helped me with a lot of stuff, Including my portions and my halftorah. I would like to thank all these people because without them I would not be here today doing this.

D’var by Wesley Jackson

by

Wesley at his Bar Mitzvah (May 2026)

My Torah portion combines two portions:  B’har and B’chukotai.  

B’har talks about the Sabbatical and the Jubilee year.  The sabbatical year, also called Shmitta, occurs every 7 years.   In the sabbatical year you cannot farm on your land to let the land grow back naturally.  In that time you cannot harvest, plant or prune. And if something does grow then animals, poor people and slaves are allowed to eat that produce. Hebrew and contracted slaves are also released.

To ensure that people have enough to eat during Shmitta, in the 6th year – the year before shmitta – God commands the Israelites to grow enough crops to last two years. Another detail about Shmitta is that all debts are canceled. The sabbatical year is still observed in Israel.  

The year after seven sabbatical years is called the Jubilee or the Yovel.  The Jubilee is also a year of rest  and a time when a home or property is returned to the original owner – if the ownership has changed in that time. In the Jubilee you also do everything that you’re supposed to do in the sabbatical year. 

The main difference between the Sabbatical and Jubilee years is that in the jubilee there is an aspect of returning property ownership back to how it was in the previous jubilee however in the sabbatical year it is more about stopping people from being mean,  and to be fair to the land –  and to the people. 

B’chukotai, the second half of my Torah portion, talks about curses and blessings.  For example,  if you follow God’s laws then you will be blessed and your crops will grow and you will not be attacked by anyone or anything, and you will win battles. 

However if you don’t follow the laws then you will be cursed and you will lose all of your battles and continue getting punished. 

This doesn’t completely make sense to me because some of the rules in Torah do not apply anymore.  Why should people be punished for things that do not make sense?  And some of these commandments are longer practiced, even according to the rabbis – like the jubilee.  It would be almost impossible to celebrate now.  This could cause problems because people would lose a lot of money if they had to return the homes they bought to the original owners.  Our economy would crumble. 

Shmitta, however, is practiced in Israel and the Jewish law around it is very complicated.  But I don’t think it would work in this country.  However, in the spirit of shmitta – of being kind to the land – we could try to use farming methods that help the land and make it easy for crops and nature to flourish. 

That is what I’m trying to do for my Bar Mitzvah Project. For my bar mitzvah project I am planting a garden in the Eddie Center with wild and native plants in Chelsea – where I live – because these plants perform much better in our environment. 

Native plants are important because they provide something for native animals to eat and they make healthy roots that can help the land and prevent problems with it.  Native plants grow easily and naturally and do not need as much human intervention to flourish, if any. So you don’t need toxic pesticides and you don’t have to use as many energy consuming devices for the plants to grow successfully.  Because these plants are native to this region and have adapted to it.  They grow well in this environment. 

How does my Bar Mitzvah Project relate to the themes in my Torah Portion?

It could be easier for the land in my city to rest because it does not need as much human intervention (beyond planting) because the native plants were made to survive there. This is a way of observing Smitta where I live. 

So I choose the blessings rather than the curses in my Torah portion.  If you let the land regrow naturally with indigenous plants then it helps you and the animals and the environment.  It helps all of us.  

My question for you is – how could you practice shmitta in your life?

I would also like to thank my parents for starting this and my brother for surviving going places for me to be able to learn.  And I’d like to thank my uncle Neil for reading his portion and my friends for coming and Jack, Aaron, and Elliot for helping me learn blessings.  And I’d like to thank Deb Kraus for helping me learn haftarah and Torah and those blessings – and the rabbi for helping me learn blessings for the service and my speech and leading the service with her.  I’d also like to thank Deborah Fisch for putting the supplement together – and the congregation of course for being there so that I can become a more active part of it and especially everyone who came and helped set up or is going to help clean up. 

Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot Celebration

by

Originally, Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot served as an agricultural and financial deadline to count and tithe newborn livestock for Temple offerings. This year, we’re reimagining it as a time to appreciate our furry beloveds! Please enjoy these photos of AARC’s animal members:

If you’d like to know more about the origins of Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot, check out Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1.

AARC Welcomes New Assistant to the Executive Director by Elizabeth Brindley

by

Hello AARC community!

Just like we always hoped, our community is growing. We’re gaining new members, hosting more programs, and welcoming more and more faces to our services. To make sure services and programs continue to run smoothly, AARC has hired an assistant to help me out.

Please allow me to introduce Sebastien Keeler. Here’s what he has to say about himself:

Hi everyone!

My name is Sebastien Keeler and I’m happy to be joining you as part of AARC.

I live in Ypsilanti, and used to run the Jamerican Grill food truck with my late husband. Originally, I moved to Ypsilanti to go to Eastern Michigan University where I got a Master’s degree in hotel/restaurant management in 2014.

I enjoy collecting and playing video games; my favorites are from the SNES/Sega Genesis era. I play several musical instruments and have been playing the euphonium in the Canton Concert Band since 2016.

Summertime is my favorite season and I love going on road trips with my Doberman, Fred.

I held an active role at my old synagogue in Pennsylvania, and I’m truly happy for the opportunity to do the same here. I’m looking forward to continuing working with AARC and meeting all of you.