The concept of the Big Tent has been at the heart of my personal Reconstructionist rabbinate. Our movement is pluralistic, inclusive, and accepting, in principle and in practice. We are inspired by the prophet Isaiah who taught: “Enlarge the space of your tent; stretch the curtains of your habitation. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords; strengthen your stakes” (Isaiah 54:2). The last phrase is essential to the project. As the ropes are lengthened to enlarge the tent, the stakes need to be driven deeper into the ground. The tent has many entry ways, but it is upheld by strong poles of identity, of peoplehood and community, of credible theology, of ethical values, of culture and tradition, of intellect and spirit, of Hebrew and the many languages and literatures of our people, of mores and sancta, of Zion and diaspora, of memory and hope. Upon these, stretches the protective and welcoming canvas of the evolving Jewish civilization. Rabbi Eisenstein would remind us that the Reconstructionist project is human, but its language is Jewish….

We so often quote Kaplan’s iconic saying: “Tradition has a vote but not a veto.” That does not mean, “anything goes.” Being post-halachic is not an endorsement of antinomianism. It does not mean abdicating standards. It is not permissive Sabbateanism. As we do the creative rabbinic work of personalizing and contemporizing ceremony and ritual, let us be attentive to the collective experiences and practices that have bound us through time and space. Let us not strive for “customized religion” but for “unifying custom.” Will our understanding of the evolution of Judaism be one where the past still has a vote, or will we veto what is past? As we nurture our personal spirituality, the need to find mystery in the mundane, renewal in the stagnant, let us not lose touch with a Judaism that is historically tested and intellectually coherent.

— Rabbi Dennis Sasso