Last Word Rabbi Julie Greenberg has been a part-time rabbi of the reconstructionist Leyv Ha-Ir congregation in Philadelphia for 23 years. While in this position, she has seen administrations of four different presidents, a global pandemic, and the worst terror attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, among other things. Nothing, however, has been able to surpass what she dealt with in her first week on the job.
“I started one week before 9/11,” she said. “I was a young rabbi, new to the community, and we really leaned on each other in a time of need.” The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks showed Greenberg that the community she had joined was a special one and, more importantly, the right place for her.
“It’s a community of people who want to be there for themselves, not because they need to bar mitzvah somebody or they want to belong somewhere but only come once a year, but because they are people who want to live a Jewish path in their own way, together,” she said. Leyv Ha-Ir, as a reconstructionist synagogue, has a different makeup and take on things than more traditional peers of theirs. Greenberg summed it up succinctly.
“We have white hair and purple hair here, and it’s beautiful to see,” she said. Reconstructionist Judaism leans on the main tenets of the religion, but also encourages more open interpretations of Jewish tradition. That’s what drew Greenberg to it many decades ago.
“The core idea of reconstructionist Judaism is that Judaism is.
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