6:00 p.m. Shabbat Dinner

7:00 p.m. “Beyond Polarities: Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan And The Ongoing Search For The "Wholeness" of Judaism” will be the topic of Rabbi Jeffrey Schein, Executive Director of The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, at Synaplex Shabbat Alive, our jazz and pop service with a band.

Deborah Tannen called it the argument culture in 1998.  Ezra Klein explored it in Why We Are Polarized and, most recently, Frank Bruni of the New York Times described it as The Age of Grievance. We Jews often think of ourselves as too sophisticated for such polarities.  Yet, we compete fiercely in the marketplace of Jewish ideas to lift our own understanding of Judaism above others. It happens in the Reconstructionist movement, as well.  Let's explore why such behavior would have Mordecai Kaplan turning in his grave. Discover how the enduring value of Mordecai Kaplan's thought and the Center that is devoted to discovering his ongoing relevance to 21st-century Judaism – The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood – rests in resolving polarities within a Jewish concept of shlemut (wholeness).

Rabbi Jeffrey Schein is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and earned his doctorate in education from Temple University in 1980.   He was the first non-pulpit Rabbi to be awarded the prestigious Ira Eisenstein award for community service.  He has authored seven books and over fifty articles about Jewish life and learning.  In his capacity as the Director of Jewish Education at Siegal College in Cleveland, he taught and mentored over 100 students who achieved their Masters in Jewish Education degree.  During this same time, he was the National Director of Jewish Education for the Jewish Reconstructionist Education and a key figure in founding of Camp Havaya as a Jewish Reconstructionist camp.

More recently Rabbi Schein has served as the senior consultant for Jewish education and Executive Director for The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood.  He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Dr. Deborah Schein. Sponsored by Steve and Rena Stone.