Rabbi Sandra Lawson shares the Torah of her own family's Lech Lecha moments and the value of meeting people across difference that she has learned from all of them.
A D’var Torah for Parshat Vayishlach by Rabbi Rachael Bregman I live in the land where Trump and Biden signs face off from across property lines. We are told daily that our brothers, our neighbors, are a threat to our lives, are our enemies, because of how we vote. My “other” is not an abstraction,...
“These are the records of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle of the Pact, which were drawn up at Moses’ bidding…” -Exodus 38:21 According to Midrash, after the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was completed, some Israelites accused Moses of misusing their donations. Moses’ response was a full accounting of every piece of jewelry, gold, and precious stone that the...
Commentary on Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1 – 24:18) So, we’re free from bondage! We’ve accepted our lot as God’s chosen people! Now we eagerly move on to… a list of regulations for a hypothetical society we cannot build yet? Why is Parshat Mishpatim here? The essential clue, I think, is in the first topic: rules...
Since the attacks on October 7, T'ruah has offered public webinars for prayer and mourning, to engage with the moral challenges of the war, and to hear from staff who traveled to the region.
Download our human rights haggadah T’ruah’s updated haggadah helps transform the seder into a conversation about immigration, racism, workers’ rights, and forced labor. Filled with insightful comments and thought-provoking questions, reflections from activists in the field, and full-color artwork done by detained immigrant children and forced labor survivors, the haggadah can serve as the full...
May 12, 2022 Secretary of State Antony Blinken 2201 C St NWWashington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Blinken, Our organization, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, represents over 2,300 rabbis and cantors who strive to protect and advance the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. We are writing today to ask the Biden administration to...
What does Moses’ closing address to the Children of Israel have to do with gender? It’s no secret that Torah is gender specific. The Hebrew language assumes a gender binary. Rabbinic Judaism accorded the greatest amount of esteem and religious status to those whom we often refer to today as cis-gendered men – individuals who...