The murder in Washington, D.C., of Israeli embassy staff members Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, last month by an anti-Israel extremist has drawn statements from American rabbis across the spectrum of political and religious thought. Yet one response stands out for its disturbing nature.
Rabbi Brant Rosen of Chicago, co-founder of the Rabbinical Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and spiritual leader of Tzedek Chicago, responded by stating: “These were two Israeli embassy workers, so they were representatives of a country that is engaged in a genocide,” referring to Palestinian Arab deaths amid a war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that followed the terrorist massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the kidnapping of some 250 others.
Tzedek Chicago, founded in 2015, describes itself as “an anti-Zionist Jewish congregation based on core values of justice, equity and solidarity.” In other words, Rosen positions himself well outside the mainstream of American Jewish life.
JVP’s rabbinical council has only 41 members—out of an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 rabbis in the United States, not including ordained rabbis working outside synagogues and campus organizations. Yet despite their small numbers, JVP rabbis have gained an outsized influence in discourse since Oct. 7. By contrast, the Coalition for Jewish Values says its “Rabbinic Circle is composed of over 2,500 traditional Orthodox rabbis.”
If the American Jewish community holds that some individuals and organizations cross lines into what can generously be called renegade territory, then JVP surely qualifies.
What’s more troubling is that the Reconstructionist movement, which is the home of many JVP leaders, has so far failed to disassociate itself from these figures. This inaction should prompt the Reform and Conservative movements to re-examine their relationships with Reconstructionist institutions. Yet this reckoning has not occurred.
Let’s examine the close, even affirming, relationship between the Reconstructionist movement and JVP extremists.
Brant Rosen, Linda Holtzman and Brian Walt—all members of the JVP Rabbinical Council—are graduates of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) and have held or continue to hold high-profile roles within major Reconstructionist organizations. All three are featured on ReconstructingJudaism.org, the movement’s official website.
Another affiliated site, RitualWell.org, serves as a liturgical resource for the movement. Rosen’s “A Jewish Prayer for Nakba Day” is published there and includes the phrase “from the river to the sea”—a slogan widely recognized as rejecting Israel’s existence. Walt’s bio on ReconstructingJudaism.org notes explicitly that he is a member of JVP’s Rabbinical Council.
According to ReconstructingJudaism.org, Linda Holtzman serves as an RRC professor and director of student life—though it is unclear how current the listing is—despite her long-standing involvement with JVP. Walt was even chosen to present at the December 2024 Reconstructionist Israel Convening in a session titled “Reflecting on Israel, despite being a senior JVP leader.”
Rosen’s nearly 2,600-word screed titled “Why I’ve Broken From Zionism” remains publicly available on ReconstructingJudaism.org. In it, he disavows any connection to the Zionist movement.
This is not a case of guilt by association.
The Reconstructionist movement offers JVP-affiliated rabbis a degree of legitimacy that amounts to tacit approval of their anti-Zionist extremism. This stands in stark contrast to broader American Jewish opinions. As a Gallup staffer noted in 2019, “95% of Jews have favorable views of Israel.”
In early May, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, head of the two most prominent Reconstructionist institutions, gave a major interview upon announcing her retirement. In it, she stated: “The Reconstructionist movement has long supported a two-state solution, and many of our leaders have advocated for Palestinian national aspirations even when it came at a personal cost.”
But how can Waxman’s statements be taken seriously when key movement figures contradict them so openly?
Rosen is a past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Holtzman currently serves on its board. Walt wrote back in 2012 in a nearly 6,700-word essay: “The daily reality in Israel violated each of these core values. And I could no longer be a Zionist.”
Walt is also currently listed as a member of the J Street Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet on its website. And he is not alone in belonging to both J Street’s rabbinic body and JVP’s. Mordechai Liebling, one-time executive director of Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, is another, as are Alan LaPayover, Rebecca Alpert and others.
Both J Street and the Reconstructionists claim to be for a two-state solution, but how do they reconcile the involvement in their organizations of JVP’s anti-Israel rabbis?
JVP does not support a two-state solution. JVP calls for an end to the State of Israel as we now know it. It’s easy to see just how radical JVP really is with even a very quick review of their website where they call for the removal of Jews from Israel. The section reads: “We imagine Arab, Middle Eastern and Southwest Asian/North African Jews having ethical and safe access to return to their original homelands.”
The Reconstructionist movement has had more than a decade to address this issue—and has consistently failed to act. It has not distanced itself from its most radical figures, nor has it publicly disavowed the positions of JVP’s rabbinical leadership.
It’s time for American Jews to seriously re-evaluate the place the Reconstructionist movement occupies in the larger communal tent.
