DivInnovations Profile 3: Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Posted on by DivInnovations

RECONSTRUCTIONIST RABBINICAL COLLEGE

In conversation with Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Ph.D., Director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives, Associate Professor of Religious Studies:

For more than twenty years, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) has recognized the need for Jewish leaders to understand other religious traditions and has required its students to engage in multifaith work, through a minimum of two semester-long courses. RRC’s unique stance among rabbinical seminaries garnered an award from the Interfaith Youth Core and successive, multi-year grants from the Henry Luce Foundation. These grants fueled the department into high gear, giving RRC the opportunity to expand and experiment in a number of dynamic directions.

An annual four-day retreat for 16 emerging Muslim and Jewish religious leaders from a range of religious training programs became a central component of the college’s multifaith work. This pioneering project aims to provide an incubator for far-reaching Jewish-Muslim partnerships and to develop cohorts of influential young leaders who take skills, relationships and understanding back to their respective communities. Before the Luce grants, RRC had taught a course on Islam for Rabbis. Afterwards, the college was able to tailor that course into a service learning experience that explored new ways to teach students about Islam beyond the classroom. RRC partnered with Muslim graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Middle East Center to brainstorm innovative ways of teaching Islam in a Jewish venue. Rabbinical students have gained valuable leadership skills by developing one-on-one relationships with Muslim counterparts, studying religious texts, and visiting mosques. An intimate multifaith salon brought students into dialogue with leaders of other faiths; a continuing education program for RRC graduates this spring will help practicing rabbis understand Islam in America via video conferences with four renowned Muslim scholars.

The College has pursued yet another innovative interfaith partnership in its regular activities with Lutheran Theological Seminary and with Palmer Theological Seminary (formerly Eastern Baptist). Students from RRC are paired with Lutheran Theological Seminary students for an entire semester to undertake deep textual analysis. This Jewish-Christian encounter through text brings together ten students from each campus, and each week features a new text from the respective faith traditions. This year, RRC partnered again with LTSP for an innovative course based on the Harvard Pluralism Project case study initiative and hopes to continue work with Palmer as well.

New multifaith courses continue to emerge.  At the suggestion of State of Formation Contributing Scholar Michael Ramberg,, RRC class of 2012, RRC students recently worked with Shane Claiborne, founder and leader of The Simple Way movement on several service projects in Philadelphia’s inner-city Kensington neighborhood that demonstrate Christian intentional living. Claiborne took the volunteers on a “reality tour,” pointing out problems and the religious groups working to address them.
In addition to their intensive interfaith study, RRC students participate in social justice initiatives. Shepherded through the Social Justice Organizing Program by Rabbi Mordechai Liebling,  students combine rigorous coursework with supervised internships in which they cultivate relationships with a number of pioneering, dedicated organizations in Philadelphia. For example, an RRC student is currently interning with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). HIAS was founded originally by Jews to help Jewish immigrants but has since expanded to assist all immigrants with legal aid work and refugee resettlement. Student interest in environmentalism and interfaith work has led to a partnership with New Jersey-based environmental justice group Green Faith, which educates worshippers at churches, synagogues, and mosques. Courses at RRC such as “Food Justice,” and “Money in Our Lives and Society” enlarge the students’ visions. Rabbi Liebling and Rabbi Kreimer join forces to supervise interns working in social justice and interfaith contexts.

By searching for meaning outside of its own walls, RRC has enriched the lives of its own students and others for decades. Its trailblazing efforts make it an especially rewarding setting for future scholars and activists who are dedicated to forging new partnerships and finding new paths for constructive collaboration.

Further Links:

RRC, as narrated by Michael Ramberg, Class of 2012:

“In the extraordinarily rich learning environment of RRC, my interfaith opportunities have been among the most rewarding.  My interfaith classes and internships have exposed me to academic perspectives on Islam, in-depth text study with a diverse group of Christians, interfaith organizing for immigrants’ rights and case studies on challenges around religious pluralism.  The result of this training is that as I prepare to graduate in June I am open to the tremendous beauty in other religions and I am committed to being a leader in creating genuine pluralism.”