Pirkei Avot teaches: It is not your duty to finish the work; neither are you free to desist from it. American democracy is a great, unfolding experiment that requires attention and effort. Let us renew our commitment to the work of furthering it.
Congregation Dor Hadash is Pittsburgh’s only Reconstructionist Jewish Congregation. We are inclusive, egalitarian, and member-led. We are an active, socially engaged, community-oriented congregation, and we are passionate about repairing the world (tikkun olam). We are proud of our history of advocating for our vision of a shared society in which diversity is celebrated. Through community and social action, we strive to tear down the walls that divide us while seeking to build a more just, thriving, and inclusive world for all of us.
Reconstructionist Judaism is a politically and religiously progressive Jewish movement that approaches both life and Judaism with a deep consideration of the past and a desire to create and share new ways of being Jewish and practicing our faith in the present. Reconstructionists often say that the past has a vote but not a veto.
For models of how to enact resilience, we look to the members of Dor Hadash, the vibrant lay-led Reconstructionist congregation in Pittsburgh that was meeting in the Tree of Life synagogue building on Shabbat morning of Oct. 27, 2018. As the lay and professional leaders of the national Reconstructionist movement, we have been privileged to witness their extraordinary efforts to mourn, recover and rebuild their community in the aftermath of the unimaginable. Even as we have endeavored to support and amplify those efforts over the past two years, we have learned from their example and asked ourselves how we would react if, heaven forbid, we were forced to stand in their shoes. The members of Dor Hadash never asked to be our role models. We have no doubt that they would have given anything not to be. Nonetheless, we have learned from them and continue to do so.