Our Mission
Reconstructionist Judaism cultivates and supports Jewish living, learning, and practice in a changing world. We are guided by our commitment to being an inclusive, largely lay-led, community-oriented, egalitarian congregation, as well as to building a more compassionate world for everyone.
When a dozen Salt Lake City families met in 1986 to create an alternative Jewish worship community in Salt Lake City, we hadn’t even heard of the Reconstructionist movement. But when we went looking, this progressive branch of Judaism proved the perfect fit.
The founders wrote Chavurah B’Yachad’s original bylaws to stress inclusivity. For us, full equality for women, interfaith families, and LGBTQ+ Jews was a given, a straightforward embodiment of civil rights. At the time, rabbis and cantors could (and did) lose their jobs when their queer identity was discovered. CBY was ahead of the Reconstructionist movement, which took another six years to endorse equality of gays and lesbians.
Initially, our small group met in people's homes, even for the High Holidays and Passover. Over the years, we have met in spaces belonging to Lutherans, Episcopalians, Quakers, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the JCC. From 2008-2024, Congregation Kol Ami rented us space for our monthly meetings. In 2025, we found a good match at the warm and welcoming McGillis School.
When we read from the Torah at services and at B’nai Mitzvot, we read from our own Torah, a retired military scroll purchased in 1998.
