Region served | United States |
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Beit Kaplan: The Rabbinic Partnership for Jewish Peoplehood is a Reconstructionist Judaism rabbinical organization formed in 2016 with the goal of promoting "traditional Kaplanian" interpretations of Reconstructionist Judaism, including Zionism and opposition to interfaith marriages among rabbis. Beit Kaplan advocates "Ahavat Yisrael – love for the diverse, creative Jewish people and for its ancestral homeland – and the centrality of Jewish peoplehood." [1]
Beit Kaplan was formed in April 2016. Originally, Beit Kaplan opposed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement within Reconstructionist circles, and the decision of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College to admit rabbinical students with non-Jewish partners. [2] [3] More broadly, Beit Kaplan sought the realignment of Reconstructionist Judaism: to center upon its original, rational religious naturalism, rather than a “New Age religiosity of privatized, episodic, soft spirituality,” as Rabbi Dennis Sasso, a member of Beit Kaplan, has written. [4] Following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Beit Kaplan's focus shifted to combating anti-Zionism at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and within the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; as a result, Beit Kaplan's membership increased to 91 rabbis and rabbinical students (as of July 2025) in six countries. This accelerated in May 2024, when two pro-Israel former RRC students publicly documented the alleged hostility they faced within the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which they called a "training ground for anti-Zionist rabbis." [5] [6] Presently, Beit Kaplan focuses on a "course correction" to reestablish the Reconstructionist movement's support for Israel and emphasis on the centrality of Jewish peoplehood. [7]
The organization aims to promote a "more traditional Kaplanian reading of Reconstructionist Judaism" in an attempt to "continue the work and vision" of Reconstructionist Judaism's founder Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan. Kaplan was a strong supporter of the Zionist movement. [8] Beit Kaplan affirms concepts such as Jewish peoplehood and Ahavat Yisrael. While the institution Reconstructing Judaism officially supports the Zionist movement and has not endorsed BDS, many Reconstructionist Rabbinical College graduates are involved in anti-Zionist activist groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace. [9] In opposition to anti-Zionism within Reconstructionism, Beit Kaplan has released a statement that they "unequivocally reject any movement to delegitimize Israel in the community of nations". [10]
Even as Beit Kaplan is growing into an independent rabbinical association, many Beit Kaplan members also remain members of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College has welcomed the creation of Beit Kaplan and asserted that there has been no split in the Reconstructionist movement. [11]