Brant Rosen, Rabbi, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, IL
I was introduced to JRC and Rabbi Rosen during my year with AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corp. I first traveled to Evanston early on a Saturday morning in September. A morning drenched with fog and hanging on to the last of the summer’s warmth. I went because I was interested in an event listed on the 
JRC calendar as ‘Jewish Meditation’ and was anxious to experience meditation ‘jewishly’ as meditation is important in my own spiritual explorations and, in part, what I wanted my AVODAH experience encompass. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I did not run into the group. I sat silently in the chapel for half an hour or so.
The building which houses that chapel is the first house of worship to be LEED Platinum certified by the United States Green Building Council. I was impressed to learn this and shocked to realize I had such easy access to it. It was just a short trip-a train and bus ride away.
Over the course of the AVODAH year I went to a few services at JRC and came away with great admiration for how much the congregation was doing. There was, of course, the building, but the congregation was also involved in work and study trips to Uganda and congregants participated in many task forces, the Environmental and Fair Trade & Sustainable Development to just name two.
This was the first time I had been introduced to a congregation with such an intense commitment to social justice and I wanted to know more. Which leads me to this post. Rabbi Rosen had led a couple of programs for the AVODAH cohort and I had listened to a few of his sermons but I wanted to know more about him and his story. So I asked him if he’d be willing to be featured on the site and he graciously accepted.
I began the conversation with Rabbi Rosen on the topic of the ‘Green Synagogue’.
I then asked if there were any moments or signposts that he felt reinforced his decision to become a Rabbi. Rabbi Rosen told of three specific examples in this next segment. A funeral he officiated, a trip to Nigeria and a trip to Iran.
For more info please check out Rabbi Rosen's Blog Shalom Rav and JRC's website.
For my own reflections please check out the new When Did You Know? Blog page.
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