Rabbi Maurice Harris
Special guest
Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2003, Rabbi Maurice Harris served as Associate Rabbi and Head of School at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, Oregon, from 2003 – 2011. He has also worked as a Judaic studies faculty member at the University of Oregon, teaching courses such as “Israelis and Palestinians” and “American Jewish Cultures.” Just prior to joining the staff at RRC, Maurice worked as the Rabbi/Senior Educator at InterfaithFamily, a Boston-based national Jewish non-profit that provides resources and advocacy for interfaith families in the Jewish community. He is the author of two books, Moses: A Stranger Among Us and Leviticus: You Have No Idea (Cascade Books, 2012 and 2013), and has a third one on the way.
Maurice is now working as Associate Director of Affiliate Support at Reconstructing Judaism. He is married to Melissa Crabbe, and they have two children, Clarice Harris and Hunter Harris.
Rabbi Maurice Harris has been a guest on 5 episodes.
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Episode 58: A Palestinian Scientist and Reconstructionist Rabbi Are Working Together to Rebuild Gaza
October 16th, 2024 | Season 1 | 1 hr 28 secs
arava, arava institute, climate change, east jerusalem, environment, environmental science, gaza, gaza war, israel, jerusalem, jewish, judaism, middle east, palestine, peace, reconstructing judaism, reconstructionist, sukkot, war
Tareq Abu Hamed, Ph.D., and Rabbi Michael Cohen join host Bryan Schwartzman to discuss Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which for nearly 30 years has brought together students and faculty from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and elsewhere to build relationships and solve pressing environmental challenges.
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Episode 52: A Supersized Passover Episode: Rabbi Nathan Kamesar on the Israel-Hamas War; Rabbi Maurice Harris on his starring role in the new Netflix series Testament: The Story of Moses
April 25th, 2024 | Season 1 | 1 hr 21 mins
jewish, judaism, moses, netflix, passover, reconstructing, reconstructionist
Rabbi Nathan Kamesar opens up about what it’s like being a pulpit rabbi and spiritual leader during wartime. Later, Rabbi Maurice Harris drops by to discuss all things Moses.
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Episode 43: Reconstructionist Jews and the Struggle Over Israel’s Future
July 20th, 2023 | Season 1 | 1 hr 5 mins
israel, jewish, judiasm, politics, protests, zion, zionism
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., Reconstructing Judaism's president & CEO, and Rabbi Maurice Harris, Reconstructing Judaism’s Israel affairs specialist, have each just spent extended stays in Israel, immersed in conversations about its future as well as its relationship with Diaspora Jewry. They make an impassioned, moral defense of sustained engagement with Israel, even as they take a principled opposition to the government's attempts to strip away the country’s democratic character.
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Episode 28: Ben & Jerry’s, Amnesty International, and the Debate Over Boycotting Israel
February 15th, 2022 | Season 1 | 1 hr 11 mins
When Ben & Jerry’s announced last year that it would cease selling its products in the Occupied Territories, it touched off a brouhaha that lasted months. Rabbi Maurice Harris, Reconstructing Judaism’s lead staff member on Israel affairs, explains why this story garnered such attention and what he thinks it all means. He also delves into a recent Amnesty International report accusing Israel of Apartheid and narrates Reconstructing Judaism's response, both in terms of process and substance.
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#TrendingJewish 11: The Accidental Rabbi
February 19th, 2018 | Season 0 | 48 mins 33 secs
Taking a page from the Judaism Unbound podcast, Rachael and Bryan ask the questions: What does Judaism do and what it is for? What does it do for those who don’t feel compelled by God to live life according to Jewish law? Rabbi Maurice Harris fields these questions, and also explains why he avoids “outing” himself as a rabbi while he’s a passenger on a commercial flight.