Mordechai Liebling

Mordechai Eliyahu Liebling (born October 29, 1948) is a rabbi, educator, and activist who has led Jewish and interfaith organizations dedicated to social justice missions. He founded the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) to provide student rabbis training for engaging in the work of tikkun olam, Hebrew for "repair of the world".

Early life and education Liebling was born in Brooklyn, New York October 29, 1948. His parents were Holocaust survivors.

Career After graduating from rabbinical school, Liebling became the executive director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, which is now part of Reconstructing Judaism, serving for 12 years before stepping down in 1998 to spend more time with his family after his wife died, staying on two days a week as a senior consultant. In this role, Liebling served as a congregational consultant, assisting fledgling Reconstructionist synagogues in their establishment, guiding new congregations toward affiliation with the Reconstructionist movement, conducting board trainings, and supporting congregations facing difficulties.

In 2010 he founded the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in order to educate rabbinical students on systems of power and resources with an emphasis on transformative change, integrating their passion for justice with Judaism. Because of this program and courses taught by Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, as of 2015 about 200 rabbis had been trained in community organizing work. and to Charlottesville, Virginia to serve as a moral witness at the Unite the Right rally. He was arrested protesting the Keystone pipeline at the federal building in Philadelphia.

Liebling was a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations for 12 years. and The Shalom Center, and was a founding board member of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America (now T'ruah). He serves as Senior Advisor at Power Interfaith, the largest faith-based grass roots organizing network in Pennsylvania.

Selected publications