From the SAJ 100 Years Co-Chairs: A Judaism That Stands For All

100 years – a centennial.  A once in a lifetime landmark. 

2022 heralds the SAJ’s completion of one century’s cycle and the beginning of the next. We are privileged to stand at this moment, and feel ourselves as living links in a human chain, hand in hand with generations who have gone before, and those who will come after. 

We celebrate the vision, courage and tireless of work of so many rabbis (beginning with Mordechai Kaplan), cantors, teachers, staff, choirs, committees, congregants and friends, who have built and nurtured the synagogue and our broad, welcoming, ever questioning and dedicated community.  

We also recommit to continuing to build this vibrant congregation as part of our evolving religious civilization — in a way that welcomes all and meets needs and lifts the voices of our members, in chorus with our broader Jewish and human community.

And together – as we look forward as Reconstructionists – our changing times present us and our children with urgent personal, institutional, national and global challenges, imperatives and possibilities. Firm in our prophetic agenda of pursuing justice (tikkun olam), we recognize that the partnership of all peoples remains an elusive goal. Repairing the world requires more than good deeds and acts of loving kindness. It also calls us to reenvision, restructure and, if necessary, replace institutions that prevent human beings from realizing their full potential while subjugating some to the interests of others.

As we step into SAJ’s next 100 years, we invite you to join us in celebrating this milestone and beginning the sacred work to shape the next century.

Sincerely,

Donna Katzin Altschuler

Abraham Clott

Co-chairs, SAJ 100 Years Committee