Partner Spotlight:
The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood
A Jewish Organization Revives Inspiration for Civic Engagement
The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood is working to bring the teachings of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan – one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the 20th century – to bear on the challenges of 21st century Jewish life. One of those challenges is the need for Jewish wisdom to guide and inspire civic engagement.
As outgoing Executive Director and Senior Education Consultant, Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Schein reflects,
“We are always amazed at Kaplan's prescience, in this case about the importance of – and challenges faced by – democracy. That's why being part of the Jewish Partnership for Democracy was important to us, and why this project was a natural fit."
Strategic Priorities: Civic Learning and Ideological Pluralism
Network Commitment: The Mordecai M. Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood commits to launching a featured section of its webpage focused on Rabbi Kaplan’s insights about democracy, pluralism, and social justice. They further commit to create related dialogue/discussion questions for their 18 congregational friends of the Center so they might continue those dialogues in their home communities.
Partner since: 2023
After receiving a 2023 Ignition Grant from A More Perfect Union, the Center launched a featured section of their webpage focused on Kaplanian insights about democracy. "We will release 5 posts on this page, each featuring a relevant quote and discussion questions," said Rabbi Schein.
The posts will follow a narrative arc saluting American democracy, recognizing its challenges, and promoting Kaplan's idea that, in a healthy democracy, individuals choose to direct their individualism toward upholding communal obligations to others.
The Center hopes to both inspire awareness of Judaism's contributions to democracy and to spark practical civic action, as Kaplan viewed voting as a mitzvah, or sacred obligation. As Rabbi Schein said,
“Kaplan had a lot to say about democracy, both venerating it as the 'religion of America' and also bringing a critical eye to its challenges.”
The Center plans to compile the posts into a package with discussion guides to share with their network of 18 congregational partners, aiming to seed dialogues in those communities.
"Our hope is to have an impact at both the meta level, raising awareness about the contributions that Judaism's wisdom can make to democracy, as well as at the practical level… This project can grow if it turns into a platform for classes or forums in communities.
Our ultimate vision is for Kaplan's teachings to inspire a renewed Jewish commitment to American democracy's highest ideals of pluralism, civic engagement, and our shared responsibility to one another.”
For information about how your organization can work with A More Perfect Union, contact us at info@jewishdemocracy.org.
Dig into our argument for democracy.
To help you understand our argument, approach, and evidence, we’ve published this brief white paper on the Jewish Imperative to Protect and Strengthen American Democracy.
What is transpartisanship?
We believe that protecting and strengthening American democracy is not a partisan issue.
That's why we pursue our work in a spirit of transpartisanship, which rejects the "us vs. them" mindset that characterizes so many political conversations.
We believe that whatever issues we care about individually – from religious freedom to climate change to fair elections – we all have a stake in American self-governance. Engaging effectively in self-governance requires respect and compromise, and we can only exercise these muscles when we focus on what brings us together rather than what sets us apart.
Ultimately, transpartisanship is both an approach and a commitment – to ourselves, to each other, and to future generations.
