Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Event writeups

Jewish Federation launches community new board member training

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“Jewish Federation launches community new board member training” was written by Eileen Freed. It appeared in the July 2026 edition of Washtenaw Jewish News.

This winter, 40 board members from almost every local Jewish congregation and organization gathered for a three-part educational experience coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and funded by the Jewish Community Foundation.

The aim of the Jewish Community Leadership Training series was to provide important general information about nonprofit board service for new and current board members of local Jewish organizations, large and small. The Jewish Federation hoped this information would drive increased board effectiveness at participating organizations. Other key goals were for participants to develop cross-communal connections, learn best practices from one another, better understand the local Jewish communal landscape, and increase collaboration. 

Under the leadership of facilitator Carrie Hammerman, formerly the Chief Strategy and Programs Officer at the NEW Center, a three-part curriculum was developed and delivered. Session One focused on “The Basics,” such as board and governance responsibilities; board structure, roles, committees, meetings and recruitment; and challenges of volunteer boards. The session was facilitated by University of Michigan Professor Emerita Janet Weiss. Professor Weiss taught nonprofit and public management for 40 years in the Ford School of Public Policy and the Ross School of Business and founded the UM Nonprofit Board Fellows Program at UM, which has provided opportunities for over a thousand graduate students to serve on nonprofit boards in Michigan, and to learn hands-on about board service.

The second session focused on fiduciary responsibilities — organizational financial policy and fundraising. Greg Lewis, an executive coach and consultant and longtime lecturer at Ross School of Business, led the group through understanding the financial obligations of the board and how to serve as stewards of the organization’s finances. Participants received handouts about financial terms and engaged in an exercise around reading financial statements. This was followed by Carrie introducing “the elephant in the room” — the very key role board members play in ensuring financial stability through fundraising — giving, educating, and connecting for the benefit of the organization. Carrie encouraged the group to get comfortable with and find joy in fund development. People serve on boards because they care about the cause or mission, and fundraising is simply giving people the opportunity to support the organization to which they commit their time and leadership. Former development director at JFS and UM’s Museum of Natural History and current team leader for the Temple Beth Emeth Life & Legacy team Robin Little spoke to the group about the importance of incorporating planned and legacy giving into the culture of the community’s Jewish communal organizations.

The final session focused on better understanding the Jewish community organizations and structures in Washtenaw County. Jewish Federation CEO Eileen Freed gave a presentation on Ann Arbor’s Jewish history, receiving much appreciated input from the participants regarding their organizations’ important milestones. She spoke about the Jewish community today and shared opportunities and incentives for community collaborations. 

Temple Beth Emeth Board Chair Jack Billi thanked Freed for the “very valuable series of sessions for training our community leaders. I hope we can carry forward some of the excellent suggestions for future areas of collaboration.”

Rabbi Gabrielle Pescador and the board members of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation (AARC) believe that serving on the board of a congregation is “a terrific way to give back to the community, but it can come with challenges.” The AARC leadership were eager to attend the training to learn and network with board members of other area congregations, and the AARC was strongly represented at all three sessions. 

“Rabbi Pescador and our board strive to create a warm, supportive leadership cohort that will reflect in the vibe and experience of the congregation,” wrote AARC Board Member Julie Norris in a reflection after the final session. “We work to serve our congregation by fostering an inclusive and caring environment for our current and future congregants. This training helped further these intentions.

“Our Board members sat together during the training, which strengthened our team, and enabled us to quickly discuss and begin applying the valuable learning points directly to our growing Reconstructionist congregation. The sessions were an effective mix of teaching best practices and allowing for participant interaction.”

Dave Nelson, Chair of the AARC’s Board, said, “The program was substantive, informative, and engaging. We really appreciated the opportunity for concentrated time together to reflect on our own leadership, processes, and planning.” He added that “the dinners were delicious and the quinoa stuffed squash was especially good.” 

Norris continued, “We are grateful to Federation for the significant work that went into producing this high-quality training. Our hope is that having this resource will encourage our congregants and members of the greater Jewish community to volunteer for board service with more confidence. We now have access to an excellent training program with extensive accompanying resources, all tailored to our unique and wonderful Ann Arbor community.”

The Jewish Federation plans to offer this series on a regular basis, taking the input from this inaugural group to make adjustments. For more information, contact the Jewish Federation at info@jewishannarbor.org.

LGBTQ+ Pride Kabbalat Shabbat — June 26, 2026 by Robin Wagner

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We are thrilled to share that Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation invites you to an evening of prayer, poetry, music, and community at our LGBTQ+ Pride Kabbalat Shabbat, on Friday, June 26, 2026 at 6:30 pm, at the JCC, 2939 Birch Hollow Dr. A parve potluck follows the service. Come as you are. Bring your whole self. Bring a friend. Bring a parve dish to share (no meat, no dairy, but eggs ok)!

A Torah Portion Made for This Moment

The week’s parsha, Chukat-Balak, is the perfect queer-positive parsha to center our thoughts around Pride and the LGBTQ+ experience. At its heart is a jenny — a female donkey — who sees what the powerful male prophet Balaam cannot: the angel of God standing directly in his path. When she speaks, she disrupts everything. She’s marginalized, overlooked, and dismissed — and she’s the one with the clearest vision of truth.

Sound familiar?

The central drama of this portion is Balaam’s repeated attempt to curse the Israelites, which God transforms, again and again, into blessing. “A people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations” — words Balaam meant as an insult that become, through a queer lens, a source of pride. To be outside the norm, to resist definition by society’s narrow metrics, to be “strange” in a world that rewards sameness — these are not curses. They are, read rightly, blessings.

Transforming Curses into Blessings, Because Pride is Protest

There’s a wonderful saying–I have it on 2 t-shirts–that “Pride is Protest.” It’s an odd phrase, but an important one: we need to always remember that LGBTQ+ Pride was born out of the Stonewall Uprising, in the early hours of June 28, 1969, when queer patrons of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City, resisted a police raid. This is why we celebrate Pride in June, and why we must always keep in mind that we have turned the hideous efforts to shame and humiliate vulnerable members of the community into a reason to celebrate, march, dance in the streets, wear all sorts of rainbow decorations, and celebrate LGBTQ+ people. 

Inspired by the Chukat-Balak parsha and Pride month, we’ll engage in a special ritual to help us each release a curse, hurt, or fear bogging us down and then embrace a hope or blessing to lift us up and give us pride, just as Balaam’s curse was transformed, into something new and positive.

Poetry, Music, and the Sacred Art of Being Seen

The evening will be woven through with poetry and song that honor LGBTQ+ lives and sacred belonging. We are thrilled to welcome Detroit-based poet Stephanie Glazier, a Lambda Literary Fellow, who will read her own work at the service — including her moving poem Agent Orange, Again, a meditation on prayer, rage, love, and the wildness of God. Stephanie’s manuscript Of Fish & Country has been recognized by the National Poetry Series, the Alice James Book Prize, and many others. Her work has appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review, and she served for years as poetry editor of Gertrude, the celebrated LGBTQ+ literary journal. Having her voice with us on this night is a true gift.

The service will also draw on the poetry of Mary Oliver (who was, in her own life, a testament to love on one’s own terms), and on the music of Debbie Friedman — including Miriam’s Song — performed by an ensemble of musicians and singers from our community who are bringing their whole hearts to this evening. 

Our Interpretive Amidah, adapted from Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells, will include a blessing for our LGBTQ+ ancestors — those who fought to love, who insisted on their dignity, who contributed their fierceness and art and voice to this world. We walk in their memory.

Celebrating All of Who We Are

The children’s blessing will name LGBTQ+ figures from our tradition — Joseph, David and Jonathan, Naomi and Ruth — alongside the matriarchs and patriarchs, because our stories have always been part of the story. We’ll close with Fred Small’s beloved Everything’s Possible, a lullaby for every child that holds open all the doors of a life: “You can be anybody you want to be / You can love whomever you will.”

Throughout the service, we’ll use fluid, expansive language for the Divine — because our tradition has always known that God is bigger than any single name.

Pronoun stickers will be available. All are welcome at this table.

## Join Us

**LGBTQ+ Pride Kabbalat Shabbat — Parshat Chukat-Balak**  

Friday, June 26, 2026 · 6:30 pm  

JCC · 2939 Birch Hollow Dr, Ann Arbor  

Parve potluck to follow

Shabbat Shalom — and Happy Pride. 🌈

Time to stand up for our immigrant neighbors! by Steve Merritt

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Back in January, Jeff Basch posted on Reconchat about an interfaith coalition on immigration coming together in Ann Arbor. When he asked if any of us were interested, it called out to me.

I had worked for eight years as a Spanish interpreter in courts, hospitals, schools and community mental health. I was often there in people’s most difficult, intimate moments—during jail visits, medical procedures, school meetings with parents, and in the privacy of therapists’ offices.

In those years, I got to know the Latino community. What I saw were people working multiple jobs to feed and clothe their kids, paying social security taxes they’d never collect on, and trying their best to live under the radar. They took jobs no one else wanted. They prioritized family and friends. They went to church. They are not so different from any of us. And they are here for the same reasons most of our ancestors came: To escape danger and/or seek a better life for themselves and their kids.

They do not merit the harsh, dehumanizing treatment they are receiving. The Torah calls on us 36 times to care for the stranger in our midst, often cited as the most frequently mentioned commandment. If there ever were a time to heed the call to defend our immigrant neighbors, it is now.

In what became the Interfaith Funds for Immigrant Justice coalition, 23 congregations committed to raising $100,000 so that the Michigan Immigration Rights Center (MIRC) could hire more legal staff. At the AARC, David Speyer quickly organized an immigration-themed Purim party to raise money. In mid-March, Kira Berman put on a benefit cocktail party. You can read about our next fundraiser below.

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The Latin Music & Dance CELEBRATION! on Saturday, June 13, 6:00-9:00 pm, is our next benefit for MIRC. Paul Vornhagen’s Afro-Cuban jazz band Tumbao Bravo will headline an evening of music for listening and dancing. We’ll be at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Abor, which is co-sponsoring the event with us and providing the venue.

The doors for the event will open at 6:00 with dinner from Pilar’s Tamales and a cash bar. A salsa lesson with Mambo Marci from YA Salsa will start at 6:30. The band will take the stage at 7:15.

During the intermission, we’ll hear from Molli, a member of the UU congregation who answers the MIRC hotline. She’ll share some of the stories she hears from callers and help put a face on the people we are supporting.

It should be a fun, high-energy evening. And a chance to take a break from the depressing daily news cycle, find a little joy, and show support for our neighbors. Please plan to attend!

Tickets are $50 per person. The deadline for registering is June 6. Those who cannot attend are encouraged to donate. Buy your tickets or donate here!

RSVP to “Lesson of the Homeland” and the Stories We Tell: A Conversation with Anat Zeltser

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Anat Zeltser is the Ken Burns of Israel. Over the past 25 years, she has made deeply researched and thought- provoking films about Israel’s  identity,  history, culture and politics. 

On Sunday, April 26, the AARC and wider Jewish community will have the opportunity for a conversation with her about her work. Gilad Halpern, a journalist and media historian will lead a conversation with Anat, and there will be time for questions from the audience. 

Both Anat and Gilad have been Fellows at the University of Michigan’s Frankel Center this year and will soon be leaving town. This event is a rare opportunity to meet and learn from “the best documentary creator in Israel,” (according to one of her reviews); another Israeli critic describes her work as  “mesmerizing, informative, and profound.” 

We ask that participants come having watched the first part of her series “Lesson of the Homeland.” A link is here. It’s about 30 minutes and has subtitles.

Please RSVP below for the conversation.

Event Address: Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor, 2935 Birch Hollow Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48103.

Time: 12:00 – 2:00 pm, bagels, fruit and coffee/tea available.

Gilad Halpern, Moderator
Anat Zeltser, Documentarian

Tu Bishvat Seder 5786 by Elizabeth Brindley

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This past Sunday I had the pleasure of participating in my first ever seder. AARC joined Pardes Hannah for their second Tu Bishvat Seder at the Leslie Science Center, where we explored the four mystical worlds of the Kabbalists. Rav Gav and Rabbis Elliott Ginsburg and Aura Ahuvia led us on a winding path through these worlds, using delicious fruits a grape juice to illustrate their meaning.

Before this I had never had much interaction with Jewish Renewal. In fact, this may have been the first. But Rabbi Elliott and Rabbi Aura were warm and knowledgeable, and their community members friendly and welcoming. I learned too that Rabbi Elliott had been a teach of Rav Gav’s at ALEPH, and they remained friends after her ordination. I can’t imagine how proud a teacher must be to work alongside a pupil like that. It was beautiful.

The first world we explored was Assiyah, the physical world, is represented by the element of Earth, the winter season, and the physical aspect of ourselves. Oranges, pistachios, pomegranates and walnuts are eaten with a glass of pure white wine (or, in our case because insurance, white grape juice.).

Brief aside here: I am glad that my first Seder was one where we use grape juice instead of wine. I had absolutely no clue that this was a thing at seders, and I don’t think anybody would have thought to tell me about it ahead of time because why would it occur to them that I would not also know this? Also, the juice seems like it just would taste better mixed together later in the seder being juice rather than wine, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway.

After Assiyah, we meandered through Yetzirah, the realm of water and spring, of emotions and creativity, are represented by foods with edible outsides and inedible centers. Dates (my favorite!), olives (my second favorite!), cherries, carob, apricots and plums all represent this realm.

B’riyah represents the third world, of air and summer and the intellectual. For this we ate the entirely edible — berries, berries, and more berries for me. I’m sort of a berry crazy, and it was only because I was around basic strangers that I didn’t use my little goblin hands to just scoop all of them from the seder plate straight to my mouth.

We ate nothing as we spoke about the fourth world, the world of Atzilut. Fire and the fall season represent Atzilut, which is the realm of the spiritual and the mysterious.

The moon was full and bright and silver, and we could see it through the window behind the rabbis as we sang and danced and prayed together. As we learned together. As I surreptitiously stuffed more and more berries, pistachios and dates into my mouth. I will not forget my first seder, and thanks to my heads up about the cups of wine, I will remember future ones too.

I’m so pleased to have had this first experience with you all.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higiyanu laz’man hazeh.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d, Sovereign of all, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.

Tu B’Shevat as a Bridge: Growing Jewish Connection Across Communities

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This article was written by Rav Gavrielle Pescador for the Feburary 2026 Washtenaw Jewish news.

At a time when many Jews feel fractured—by politics, by ideology, or by communal boundaries—Tu B’Shevat offers a powerful counter-narrative. Known as the “New Year of the Trees,” this holiday invites us to slow down, notice what is growing, and remember our shared roots. More than a seasonal marker, Tu B’Shevat centers values that are urgently needed right now: interdependence, renewal, gratitude, and care for the earth and for one another.

This year in Ann Arbor, Tu B’Shevat is being celebrated not by any one congregation alone, but through collaboration across the local Jewish community. On Sunday, February 1, 2026, community members of all ages will gather at the JCC from 10am to noon for a daytime Tu B’Shevat celebration that brings together multiple organizations and perspectives.  There will be a variety of arts/craft/planting activities in the JCC Newman Lounge.  Shlomit Cohen, the director of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation (AARC) Beit Sefer (religious school), is part of the community-wide programming for Tu Bishvat. “One of the activities that we are excited to offer is bringing the different colors from nature and making colorful fun tie-dye with the children,” comments Shlomit.

Later that evening of February 1, at 7:00pm, a different kind of collaboration will unfold. Clergy and members from the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist and Jewish Renewal communities will come together to lead a joint Tu B’Shevat seder. Drawing on traditional ritual structures while inviting creativity, song, and reflection.
What makes this collaboration especially meaningful is Jewish Renewal and Reconstructing Judaism have a lot of affinity.  Both are deeply engaged with tradition, yet embrace the opportunity to reinterpret it in light of modern life. Both emphasize ethical responsibility, spiritual depth, inclusivity, and a Judaism that speaks to the heart as well as the mind.



At the same time, their differences add texture to the collaboration. Jewish Renewal often foregrounds embodied spirituality, music, mysticism, and ecstatic prayer while Reconstructing Judaism emphasizes historical consciousness, democratic process, and thoughtful engagement with evolving Jewish civilization. When these approaches meet, and they often do, the result is not dilution, but enrichment providing multiple doorways into shared Jewish life.

Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg of Pardes Hannah, Ann Arbor’s Jewish Renewal chevre, notes “the Seder for Tu Bishvat invites us to experience an expansive understanding of the divine life-force while helping us appreciate the deep ecology of our own lives. The Seder Tu Bishvat historically draws on kabbalistic understandings of divinity as a Tree of Life with its roots in the Infinite. In this model, earthly life may be seen as leaves and fruit on the tree, energetically connected to the Source. From an ecological perspective,Tu B’Shevat, with its imagery of roots and branches, soil and fruit, reminds us that healthy ecosystems depend on diversity. So do healthy communities. When Jews gather across lines of denomination and ideology, we model a Judaism that is resilient, relational, and alive.“

In a season when public discourse so often pushes us toward division, these Tu B’Shevat gatherings invite something else: to come together, to plant seeds of connection, and to celebrate what can grow when we choose collaboration over separation.  |

Rabbi Aura Ahuvia, who has strong roots in Ann Arbor’s Reconstructionist and Jewish Renewal communities, states: “I’ve felt a rising need for community with every passing month. The news, social media…it all feels oppressive and manipulative. I’ve been seeking the salve of simple connection, to be reminded that when we come together, in-person, as ourselves, we’re capable of enjoying each other’s company and even solving our problems together. Celebrating life as it reawakens within and between us feels like exactly the right thing to do right now.”
 
 

Winter 2026 Reading with the AARC Book Group

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Winter is a fantastic time for enjoying the snow and then curling up on the sofa with tea and a good book.

All are welcome to join the AARC Book Group for its upcoming winter 2026 meetings. Participating in the AARC book group is a great way to get to know terrific people while discussing interesting topics and sharing delicious food.

Here are the dates and books:

All three meetings will begin with in-person lunches at Audrey’s and Greg’s house, with lunch prepared by Audrey, from 12:20-1 PM.  Lunch will be followed by a hybrid in-person/Zoom book discussion from 1-2 PM. Many thanks to Audrey and Greg for their coordination, cooking and generous hosting! To learn more or RSVP, please contact Greg Saltzman, gsaltzman@albion.edu.

Sunday, January 11 we will discuss
The World That We Knew, by Alice Hoffman, (fiction, 2019, 398 pages).

Sunday, February 8 we will discuss
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford (fiction, 2009, 306 pages).

Sunday, March 15 we will discuss
God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine, by Toba Spitzer (nonfiction, 2022, 287 pages). Rav Gavrielle will join us and lead the discussion of this book. Thanks to the AARC’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Brindley, who recommended this book in her blog HERE.

The AARC book group is friendly and welcoming, and we look forward to seeing you! For more on the AARC book group, see this article from October 2025 and this blog from 2021.

The photo shows the December 2025 AARC book group enjoying an excellent lunch and a stimulating discussion on By the Waters of Paradise, by Clare Kinberg. We were delighted that Clare joined the discussion by Zoom from her home in St. Louis.