Rabbi Rachel Weiss believes in sacred communities enacted through ritual, prayer, justice, and the arts. A native of Evanston, IL, she grew up in the Reconstructionist movement. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College with a certificate in Congregation Life, she is the rabbi of Congregation Am Haskalah in Allentown, PA.
 While at RRC, Rabbi Rachel completed the Certificate in Congregational Life, and was Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (New York, NY), and served as student rabbi to JRF affiliates Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Congregation Ahavath Sholom, and Congregation Kol Ami of Boca Raton. She has worked as a hospital chaplain, and has developed programs for Kolot: The Center for Gender and Judaism. Rabbi Rachel has spent summers as the Education, Faculty, and Arts Director at Camp JRF, and facilitated interfaith teen dialogues for The Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, as a Walking the Walk group leader. She is the recipient of the Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Scholarship, and is a Grinnell College Lilly post-graduate fellow.
Rabbi Rachel graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa with a BA in Spanish, with an interdisciplinary concentration in Gender and Women’s studies. Following her undergraduate studies, she put her academic degree into action by serving as the director of the Chicago-area Nuestro Center for Mexican immigrant families. Blending her interest in the arts with Judaism, she enjoys beadwork, crafts, mosaic, Jewish papercutting, English and Hebrew calligraphy, singing, cooking, and the creation of Jewish ritual and ritual objects. A lover of languages, she communicates in Spanish, Modern Hebrew and ASL.
Rabbi Rachel lives in Philadelphia, PA with her partner, Julia Tauber, and their daughter Hannah.
Rabbi Rachel is in the Allentown office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and holds office hours by appointment. She can be reached by email at RabbiRachelWeiss@gmail.com and by voicemail at 610-435-3775.
Congregation Am Haskalah offers a creative, participatory approach to
Judaism, blending tradition with innovation. We believe the past has a
vote but not a veto.
I knew from my first service that this is where
we belonged — that here was a group of Jews who cared deeply about
their religion and about each other. (Cary Oshins)
Am Haskalah welcomes members from diverse life situations, backgrounds,
political and religious perspectives. Each person brings to the community
unique talents and needs. Individuals choose levels of involvement with
which they feel comfortable.
For me, Am Haskalah is wonderfully diverse,
creative and traditional — all at the same time. (Gale Maleskey)
Members of Am Haskalah are not mere observers, but have the opportunity
to participate actively at the very center of Jewish communal life. Reconstructionism,
based on the ideas of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, is for both intellectuals
and mysticists and for both those who see Judaism as a religious community
or a community that goes beyond religion. Kaplan understood Judaism to
be an "evolving religious civilization."
It's a gift to feel so connected to Jewish
tradition and learning while at the same time be firmly committed to diversity.
(Jenni Levy)
Our services and activities • are generally held
at the Allentown Jewish Community Center, 722 North 22nd St in Allentown.
Please check our updated calendar for room
locations for various events.
Reconstructionists define Judaism as more than a religion. For us it
is a civilization encompassing history, literature, art and music, land
and language.
Our religious tradition is the reflection of our ancestors' search for
meaning, purpose and value. In our own search, we are egalitarian, participatory,
and open to varying viewpoints.
Belonging to the Jewish people comes before
behaving or believing; through our shared past and through our communal
experience of worship, study and celebration, we affirm our sense of belonging.
We are respectful of traditional Jewish practice but also open to new
interpretation and forms of religious expression; tradition has "a
vote but not a veto."
Our diverse views of God share an emphasis on godliness rather than the
supernatural. We value that power in the universe which infuses all creation
with a sense of transcendence and impels us to improve the world and ourselves.
We believe we are involved in the evolution of Judaism right now, and
are responsible for shaping the spiritual and cultural legacy we will
leave to future generations.
Perhaps you are a Reconstructionist —
and just don't know it.
Check out the Reconstructionist Movement's web site at www.jrf.org
for more information!
|
