Press

T’ruah Statement on Terror Attack in Tel Aviv

January 21, 2015

T’ruah denounces today’s terror attack against Israelis in Tel Aviv. There can be no justification for brutal attacks against civilians at any time. Every religion prohibits attempted murder or harm of a creation in the divine image. We pray for complete healing, both of body and spirit, for all those wounded and their families. We...

T’ruah Statement on Attack in Jerusalem

March 6, 2015

T’ruah denounces today’s terror attack against Israelis in Jerusalem. There can be no justification for brutal attacks against civilians at any time. Every religion prohibits attempted murder or harm of a creation in the divine image. We pray for complete healing, both of body and spirit, for all those wounded and their families. Along with...

T’ruah condemns attacks on the New Israel Fund

March 8, 2015

T’ruah condemns the recent vicious attacks on our friends and partners at the New Israel Fund by a small number of individuals who resort to spreading lies, intimidating donors, and publicly defaming upstanding Jewish communal leaders, including some of our shared supporters, in order to advance a right-wing agenda. By investing in the future of...

T’ruah statement on Israeli Election Day

March 17, 2015

צִיּוֹן בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה “Zion will be redeemed with justice.” —Isaiah 1:27 מדינת ישראל . . . תשקוד על פיתוח הארץ לטובת כל תושביה; תהא מושתתה על יסודות החירות, הצדק והשלום לאור חזונם של נביאי ישראל “The State of Israel will. . .foster the development of the country for the benefit of all of its inhabitants;...

T’ruah letter to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

March 31, 2015

Dear Rabbi Riskin, As American rabbis, we, your colleagues, write to you to ask you to retract and apologize for your statement comparing President Barack Obama to Haman. As rabbis, we know the importance of being careful with our words. In the Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 13a), Rabbi Yishmael the scribe warns his student Rabbi Meir,...

T’ruah stands with the people of Baltimore

April 29, 2015

T’ruah stands with the people of Baltimore. As rabbis, cantors, and members of the Jewish community, we weep with the family and friends of Freddie Gray. We support the communities of color in Baltimore and around the country in the struggle for police accountability and an end to the systems that allow police violence to...

T’ruah condemns Texas shooting

May 5, 2015

T’ruah condemns Sunday’s shooting at Pamela Geller’s anti-Islam cartoon event in Richardson, Texas, and sends prayers for recovery to those who were wounded. While Geller’s event was offensive and hateful, no amount of offense justifies attempts to take the life of another human being. Geller’s hateful messages may be protected under our laws, but we...

“I will keep singing in her ears”: T’ruah statement on the new Israeli government coalition

May 7, 2015

T’ruah is deeply concerned about the composition of the new Israeli government, made up of only right-wing and religious parties. This is the narrowest coalition in recent history–both in numbers and in perspective. As rabbis, cantors, and Jewish lay people committed to building a state of Israel on the foundations of freedom, justice, and peace,...

“I forgot what happiness was”: T’ruah call to stop the proposed demolition of Susiya

July 29, 2015

T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, which represents 1800 North American rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism, joins our rabbinic colleagues in Israel, the UK, and elsewhere in calling for Israel to cancel plans to demolish the Palestinian village of Susiya in the southern Hebron hills in the West Bank and evict...

T’ruah statement on the terrorist attack in Duma

July 31, 2015

T’ruah expresses our horror at the “price tag” (“tag mechir“) attack last night in the northern West Bank, in which Jewish terrorists murdered an 18-month-old baby, Ali Saad Dawbshe, seriously wounded his parents and four-year-old brother, and destroyed their home and that of another Palestinian family. The words “revenge” and “long live the Messiah” were...