The New Constitution by Reb Arthur Waskow

Dear companions in love and justice,

Many of us knew Reb Arthur as a rabbi, a rebbe, and as a radical mover and shaker within the world of Jewish life and justice. But Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, Ph.D., didn’t start out that way. 

Arthur’s first life-path, before the Freedom Seder, was marked by a Ph.D. in US history from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, a time as legislative assistant to a US Congressman, and 15 years as one of the Founding Fellows of the Institute for Policy Studies, working against racial injustice, the nuclear arms race, and providing leadership in opposing the US War against Vietnam. He also served as a DC delegate to the Democratic National Convention of 1968. 

Delegates from Washington DC at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Courtesy of the National Archives.

Even though Arthur’s path evolved over the years, as he rooted down into Judaism and shifted from being a “Jewish radical” to a “radical Jew,” he never left behind or abandoned his passion for history and his belief in the power of transformative government. To the contrary, his political prowess and civic pursuits became infused by his deep devotion to Judaism and his grounding in Jewish wisdom, these two central aspects of his life transformed by the other.

It is no surprise, then, that in his final years of life - as the US was traversing rising authoritarianism and the tenuous degradation of Democracy - Arthur would return to his first life-path, this time with the consciousness of a seasoned spiritual seeker.

At 90, Arthur drafted a new US constitution.

Describing the need for such a thing in 2023, Arthur wrote:

“Power has drastically changed. To meet the needs of a multiracial, multigender, multireligious society in a democratic way requires a New Constitution. To meet the needs of a society deeply intertwined with others in a planet on the dangerous verge of self-destruction by Humankind also demands a New Constitution.

What follows is an attempt to imagine one. In it are some obvious and some startlingly inventive ideas. I offer it chiefly as a device to spur exploration.

For those of us who were close to him at that time, it was clear that amongst Arthur’s various projects and writings, this enterprise took on special significance. So as we approach July 4th, 2026 - the 250th anniversary of America’s founding - we are honored to share Arthur’s New Constitution.

In this digital reader, you will find the full text of Arthur’s new constitution, an article written by Arthur introducing the project, and action steps to support Democracy today. You will also find a special new preface and dedication written by Shir Hashirim Rabbi Pesach-Lev / Dr. Paul Zeitz, a longtime friend, colleague, and co-conspirator to Arthur and someone who is himself a leader in the multireligious pro-Democracy movement, thinking boldly and creatively about the need for a new constitution. You can read an excerpt from Pesach-Lev’s preface and dedication here:

In July of 2024, at the Kallah in West Chester, Pennsylvania, we sat together at breakfast. I was overflowing with the work of #unifyUSA— our call to Hit Refresh on the U.S. Constitution, to renew American democracy as we approach our nation's 250th year. As I spoke, something shifted at the table. A zeitgeist of energy moved through us both. Arthur leaned in and whispered in his soft elder voice and told me that he, too, had been laboring on a new Constitution — a fully democratic charter for a multiracial, multireligious, multigender people living on an imperiled and beloved Earth, with new articles he had dared to imagine for the Earth, the Powers of the People, and the Economy. That very document — "The New Constitution” — is published below, and I urge you to read it as the living testament to Rabbi Arthur that it is.

At this auspicious time in the history of Democracy and the pursuit of “we the people” and “we, part of Yahhhh’s Creation,” perhaps Reb Arthur’s New Constitution can stimulate our imagination, spark diverse and creative approaches to change, and point us in a direction of dignity and collective thriving for the next 250 years and beyond.

As Pesach-Lev concludes his preface and dedication:

“Reb Arthur — my teacher, my elder, my fellow swimmer in the holy waters — thank you. Thank you for the lineage. The floods could not drown your love, and they will not drown it now. Those of us who remain will keep refreshing the sacred work — for democracy, for the Earth, for the breath we all share.”

-Rabbi Nate DeGroot

Reb Arthur z"l together with Shir Hashirim Rabbi Pesach-Lev / Dr. Paul Zeitz in January 2025