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The defining characteristic of a modern democracy is its promise to protect the rights of all people. This bill would remove that democratic basis and give constitutional protection to policies that could discriminate against minorities, including women, Palestinian citizens, racial minorities, LGBT people, non-Orthodox Jews, Muslims, Druze, Christians, and others.

The following letter, organized by T’ruah, the New Israel Fund, HIAS, and Right Now, was delivered to two Israeli embassies and seven consulates on January 30, 2018. Over 900 rabbis, cantors, and rabbinical/cantorial students signed it; the names below represent the initial signatories. Click here for the original URL and to add your name.  ...

Today T'ruah joined 24 other leaders of the North American Jewish community who sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, urging Israel not to deport African asylum seekers, but rather to let North American Jews help in addressing the issue. The letter followed the Israeli government’s announcement last week of its plans to deport tens of thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers, which include thousands of survivors of the Darfuri genocide and other victims of persecution. The text of the letter follows.

As U.S. rabbis and cantors, we join in the recent call issued by 55 Israeli rabbis and community leaders urging the Israeli government to stop weapons sales to Burma (Myanmar) and military training services there in the face of a brutal, potentially genocidal campaign against the Rohingya minority community. We also support the members of Congress who have stepped across party lines to issue a bipartisan letter calling for the U.S. to “immediately suspend all planned training programs with Burma’s military.” 

“Justice, justice you shall pursue.” (Deut.16:20) Perhaps no words from Torah are more famous, or more fully express the fundamental passion of Judaism for justice – justice for the poor, the widow, the orphan – for all those whom society might otherwise reject. Justice is even considered “more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice” (Prov....

Because of our commitment to free speech, which is central to Judaism, to the U.S. Constitution, and to human rights law, T’ruah expresses deep concerns about “The Israel Anti-Boycott Act,” now moving through the U.S. Congress. T’ruah does not support or affiliate with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. We do, however, believe that free speech—including the right to boycott--is an essential component of democracy, a basic human right, and a fundamental value of Judaism. And we believe that the Anti-Boycott act threatens in the long-run to harm both Israel and the chance for a just and peaceful solution that protects the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

We write in the name of T’ruah, a network of more than 1800 rabbis and cantors in North America who hold deep love for the State of Israel, and who believe that the vision of the Hebrew prophets, cited in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, for a homeland committed to peace and justice, represents the most powerful guarantee of Israel’s future.

This Torah portion begins the book’s extensive treatment of the sacrificial system that was practiced in Israel for more than 1000 years. And it is now some 2000 years since we stopped offering sacrifices. In the interim we have developed a sense of distance from that ancient cultic practice. Nevertheless, it may still be possible...

A week ago Sunday, marked by the new moon of the Jewish month of Adar, I spent the day at the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Northeast Philadelphia, bearing witness to the desecration of 539 gravestones. Joining with Muslim, Quaker and Christian neighbors, people of faith and conscience, our hands in the earth restoring headstones, as...

T’ruah does not support or affiliate with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. We do, however, believe that free speech is an essential component of democracy, a basic human right, and a fundamental value of Judaism. It is for that reason that T’ruah condemns the legislation passed today by the Knesset that bans those...