Who We Are
Dorshei Tzedek is a dynamic and growing Reconstructionist congregation in West Newton, Massachusetts, with 250 member households. We are dedicated to Jewish learning and to ethical Jewish living in the modern world. Our Reconstructionist educational program is committed to making Judaism relevant and meaningful for children as well as adults.
Our Rabbi, Toba Spitzer, has been named one of the "Top 50 Rabbis in America." You can read and listen to her talks here.
Our community includes people from a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds, as well as interfaith families and people with little or no previous Jewish learning or experience. We embrace one another’s unique points of view. Our membership includes families, couples, and singles of all ages, Jews by birth and Jews by choice (or still choosing). We value and include everyone regardless of age, marital status, income level, or sexual orientation.
History of Dorshei Tzedek
Six households created Congregation Dorshei Tzedek (CDT) during the summer of 1991. We sought to establish a Jewish congregation committed to Reconstructionist principles and philosophy. We envisioned a welcoming, participatory and inclusive community with a rabbi, strong lay leadership, a religious school, lifelong education, Shabbat and holiday services, and lifecycle observances. We chose the name "Dorshei Tzedek" which means "seekers of justice."
To create Congregation Dorshei Tzedek's first High Holyday services, each founding household contributed $500 for initial funding. Services were held at Brandeis University's Sacher Auditorium. We bought a modest number of High Holy Day prayer books and engaged Rabbi Mordechai Liebling to help us lead services. We advertised in the Jewish Advocate, local Newton newspapers, and on community bulletin boards and held our breath!
To our amazement, services were a great success. We were able to pay all our bills, make an appropriate contribution to Brandeis Hillel, and even had a little left over. More importantly, several families joined us right after the holidays. We applied for membership in the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and were accepted at their next board meeting.
Over the next two years, we held regular Shabbat services, celebrated holidays, and organized a board. We knew we needed to grow and to do that we needed a rabbi and a religious school.
For the first few years, Temple Emanuel in Newton graciously allowed our children to enroll in their religious school. By our third year as a congregation, we were able to start our own Religious School, starting with a Gan-Aleph (K-1) class and adding another grade each year until we had a full Gan-Zayin school.
Rabbi Liebling, at that time the Executive Director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, continued to serve as our High Holy Day rabbi. As our congregation grew to almost 30 households, he advised us to hire a student rabbi for one Shabbat weekend per month plus High Holy Days. Rabbi Linda Potemken served our congregation for the last three years of her rabbinic schooling, from 1994 until 1997.
With a regular rabbinic presence, our membership grew steadily, and by the time Rabbi Potemken graduated we had reached 60 households. At that point, we were able to raise enough money to guarantee a half-time salary for two years. We were incredibly fortunate to bring Rabbi Toba Spitzer to Boston in 1997.
For several years, we held High Holy Day services at the Solomon Schechter School in Newton. Since 2007 we have celebrated High Holy Days at the Gann Academy in Waltham.
Our religious school, adult education and holiday programs, and especially our commitment to tikkun olam, continue to grow thanks to Rabbi Spitzer's guidance and our dedicated membership.
Sat, April 17 2021
5 Iyyar 5781
Upcoming Events
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Saturday ,
AprApril 17 , 2021Earth Day Shabbat
Shabbat, Apr 17th 10:00a to 12:00p
Our Shabbat morning service will celebrate our connections to the Earth, and at 11am, CDT member Ezra Hausman will lead a Torah discussion addressing obstacles to successfully addressing the climate crisis. Ezra has a Ph.D. in climate science and 20+ years experience in the electric energy industry, including support for efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants at the state, regional, and national level. -
Saturday ,
AprApril 17 , 2021
Shabbat, Apr 17th 3:30p to 4:30p
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Sunday ,
AprApril 18 , 2021
Sunday, Apr 18th 1:00p to 2:30p
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Sunday ,
AprApril 18 , 2021Talmud for the 99%
Sunday, Apr 18th 4:30p to 6:30p
Join Earnest for a four session Talmud class between Passover and Shavuot. In this class we will prepare for Shavuot, which commemorates the Jewish people entering into a covenantal relationship with God, by decoding a wild Talmudic story that completely reimagines the covenantal moment. We will explore the rabbis’ motivation for their subversive reimagining, and their vision for a more liberatory relationship with the Divine. This is a SVARA-Method class, each session will begin with chevruta (study partner) learning. You and your chevruta will work with the text in the original Hebrew and Aramaic, using dictionaries to decipher each word. All you need to begin learning is your alef-bet (the ability to sound out the Hebrew alphabet) and you’re ready to go! Still working on your alef-bet? Check out these resources and contact Earnest, e.vener@dorsheitzedek.org, for support. Please register by April 1st, so that we can get everyone all the supplies they need! Questions? Come to the Talmud for the 99% Info Session immediately following Shabbat morning services on March 13th at 12pm. Not sure if it is right for you? Come to the Hebrew Roots & Dictionary Skills Crash Course on Wednesday, March 17th from 7-8pm. This session is open to the whole congregation. We will learn how to identify root letters and look them up in dictionaries. We will decode a text from the Passover Haggadah together and you will get a taste of SVARA method’s joyful and rigorous pedagogy. Read below for a description of SVARA-Method learning. -
Wednesday ,
AprApril 21 , 2021Torah Study
Wednesday, Apr 21st 8:00a to 9:00a
Start your Wednesday mornings with Torah Study! Join Director of Congregational Learning Earnest Vener for a weekly hour-long study of the weekly Torah portion on Wednesdays at 8am. You are welcome to drop in or come weekly. All are welcome and no prior knowledge is required. Please email Earnest at e.vener@dorsheitzedek.org with any questions. -
Wednesday ,
AprApril 21 , 2021
Wednesday, Apr 21st 5:30p to 5:45p
All are welcome to join Rabbi Toba for a moment of calm each week. The content will vary - a brief teaching, a meditative moment, some music, or another contemplative practice. We will start promptly at 5:30pm each Wednesday, but feel free to drop in at any time. Each session will end with an opportunity for those in mourning or observing a yahrzeit to recite Mourners Kaddish. Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/97091443951?pwd=dVk4bFZIVitMcDViYllNQnRIdmhmZz09 -
Thursday ,
AprApril 22 , 2021Purity Politics and the Problem of Jewish Solidarity
Thursday, Apr 22nd 1:30p to 2:30p
This talk explores the relationship between the rise in purity politics among American Jews and the problems it raises for building solidarities in the context of such things as the Women’s March and BLM. This is part of a Reconstructing Judaism free online lecture series on Jews, Race, & Religion. -
Thursday ,
AprApril 22 , 2021
Thursday, Apr 22nd 7:30p to 9:00p
CDT member Chanda Prescod-Weinstein will read from and talk about her newly published book, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. To purchase the book ahead of the talk, go to https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/chanda-prescod-weinstein/the-disordered-cosmos/9781541724709/ -
Saturday ,
AprApril 24 , 2021Shabbat Morning Service & B'nai Mitzvah of Nuriel Gutman
Shabbat, Apr 24th 10:00a to 12:00p
All are welcome to join us for Shabbat morning services as we call Nuriel Gutman to the Torah as a B Mitzvah. -
Sunday ,
AprApril 25 , 2021Talmud for the 99%
Sunday, Apr 25th 4:30p to 6:30p
Join Earnest for a four session Talmud class between Passover and Shavuot. In this class we will prepare for Shavuot, which commemorates the Jewish people entering into a covenantal relationship with God, by decoding a wild Talmudic story that completely reimagines the covenantal moment. We will explore the rabbis’ motivation for their subversive reimagining, and their vision for a more liberatory relationship with the Divine. This is a SVARA-Method class, each session will begin with chevruta (study partner) learning. You and your chevruta will work with the text in the original Hebrew and Aramaic, using dictionaries to decipher each word. All you need to begin learning is your alef-bet (the ability to sound out the Hebrew alphabet) and you’re ready to go! Still working on your alef-bet? Check out these resources and contact Earnest, e.vener@dorsheitzedek.org, for support. Please register by April 1st, so that we can get everyone all the supplies they need! Questions? Come to the Talmud for the 99% Info Session immediately following Shabbat morning services on March 13th at 12pm. Not sure if it is right for you? Come to the Hebrew Roots & Dictionary Skills Crash Course on Wednesday, March 17th from 7-8pm. This session is open to the whole congregation. We will learn how to identify root letters and look them up in dictionaries. We will decode a text from the Passover Haggadah together and you will get a taste of SVARA method’s joyful and rigorous pedagogy. Read below for a description of SVARA-Method learning.
Zmanim
Alot Hashachar | 4:31a |
Earliest Tallit | 5:07a |
Netz (Sunrise) | 6:01a |
Latest Shema | 9:23a |
Zman Tefillah | 10:30a |
Chatzot (Midday) | 12:45p |
Mincha Gedola | 1:19p |
Mincha Ketana | 4:40p |
Plag HaMincha | 6:04p |
Shkiah (Sunset) | 7:29p |
Havdalah | 8:19p |
Tzeit Hakochavim | 8:12p |
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