NEW YORK – Today, T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization that represents over 2,300 rabbis and cantors and their communities, responded to the recent rise of antisemitism and political violence ahead of the midterm election. In recent weeks, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked at his home, armed partisans have intimidated voters at polling places and ballot dropboxes, elected officials have faced increasing levels of death threats and threats of violence, antisemitic conspiracies have grown on social media, and more. T’ruah called out candidates using violent rhetoric against their political opponents, urging them to take responsibility for the threat this language poses to democracy and the social fabric of America.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T’ruah, released the following statement:
“The midterm election season has taken place in a climate of hostile and racist rhetoric from some political candidates, and we have seen the results: threats of violence, attacks on political leaders, and widespread antisemitism on social media and even major news networks.
“We know our democracy continues to be in a fragile state following the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building and with certain politicians continuing to promote the ‘Big Lie.’ In moments of political and economic instability, it is not uncommon for antisemitism and other forms of bigotry to be on the rise. But our leaders can choose whether to use language that inspires Americans to vote or incites them to take up arms.
“The power of speech is a responsibility that must not be abused. Proverbs 18:21 teaches us ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ When political and social leaders paint their opponents as the ultimate evil and use inflammatory language to encourage their base to take up arms, they must be held partly responsible for the threats of assault and the real-world violence that follows.
“This election is a pivotal moment for our fundamental rights. While this election cycle has been marred by the agenda of white supremacist individuals and movements, we also have the opportunity to work toward the ideals of justice and equality that we strive for as a democracy. T’ruah remains committed to protecting the sacred right to vote and ensuring that all votes are counted and every voice is heard. We encourage other faith and political leaders to do the same.”
Earlier this year, T’ruah released “A Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism,” a resource for both Jews and non-Jews that offers an introduction to antisemitism and addresses common questions and misconceptions. The guide responds to the rise in antisemitic violence against Jews in the United States by providing historical context, language, and tools to understand, recognize and fight back against antisemitism.
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.
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-Babylonian Talmud Berachot 55a
Since right-wing politicians in many states are working to undermine the basic process of voting and the people’s trust in our election institutions, the work we do is crucial to securing our rights to vote and participate in the democratic process. We work to support rabbis, cantors, and the wider Jewish community in learning and taking action to protect voting rights and the integrity of the democratic process.
We also work hard to protect the values of freedom of speech. This includes the right to boycott. Regardless of whether we support the choice of whom is being boycotted, the power to speak, not just with words, but with money, is an essential right under the First Amendment.
Our work includes:
Recruiting poll chaplains to support election sites through de-escalation.
Collaborating with A More Perfect Union to support rabbis and cantors in building relationships with their local election officials, and build trust in election processes.
Creating Jewish teachings and thought leadership on democracy through Emor.
Joining interfaith partners to advocate and build support for legislation that would support, protect, and expand the right to vote.
Partners:
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is a 501(c)(3) and does not conduct partisan political activities in support or in opposition to any political candidate.
Learn about our related work on Free Speech and the Right to Boycott.
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-Taanit 11a
Racial justice is a Jewish value, and Black lives matter. Period.
Unlike the other issues T'ruah works on, the pursuit of racial justice is not a single isolated campaign, but rather a value that permeates every single one of our campaigns.
Our statement of Commitment to Racial Justice is a manifesto intended to hold us accountable in all aspects of our work.
Some campaigns in which our commitment to racial justice is most visible are our campaigns to end mass incarceration and solitary confinement, which disproportionately target Black Americans and other people of color.
As we advocate for immigrants' rights and workers' rights, we call out the racism that brings more media attention to one group of refugees over another and which allows Americans to ignore the dangerous and degrading conditions in which workers grow the food we eat.
In our work on antisemitism, we seek to elevate the experiences of Jews of Color, who are exposed not only to the threat of antisemitism but simultaneously face racism and other forms of bigotry.
Finally, we practice what we preach. T'ruah seeks to redress racial injustice internally, through our ongoing Diversity Equity Inclusion and Justice initiative. In our hiring practices, compensation philosophy, harassment policy, and other workplace policies, we aspire to equity and just treatment of our employees.
Our work includes:
- Resources: We offer a variety of resources for the Jewish community – particularly white Jews – about how to most effectively be in solidarity with our Black and brown friends, family, and neighbors.
- Human rights delegations: We have brought two delegations of rabbis, cantors, and other Jewish communal leaders to the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Through sophisticated training and experiential learning with T’ruah, Jewish clergy have learned about how the legacy of slavery and racialized violence continues to reverberate through every part of our society, and have gone home dedicated to taking action against racism.
- Educational programs: From 2021-23 we guided two cohorts through Synagogue Teams for Equity and Partnerships (STEP), a program that brought together New York-area synagogues with non-Jewish communities of color to build new relationships or deepen existing ones. Additionally, we have hosted Antiracism Communities of Practice for chaverim, and have offered multipart courses on the intersections of Antisemitism and Race for national groups.
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—Nedarim 49b
Our tradition tells us that it is a Jewish moral imperative to treat workers fairly. But we know that in this country and around the world, the workplace is often ground zero for forced labor, exploitation, wage theft, and violence – especially for members of Black, brown, and undocumented communities, as well as those with temporary work visas. From the tomato fields of Immokalee, FL, to construction sites in Brooklyn, to undocumented workers excluded from COVID benefits, T’ruah rabbis and cantors across the country are in solidarity with workers standing up for dignity, equity, and safety in their workplaces.
Our work includes:
- Solidarity with farmworkers: Since 2011, T’ruah has brought more than 100 rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders to visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker-led organization that is transforming the Florida tomato fields from places of modern day slavery to some of the best workplaces in U.S. agriculture. The #tomatorabbis, as members of the rabbinic delegations call themselves, have gone home to involve members of their own communities in asking major corporations to join the coalition’s Fair Food Program, which raises the wages of tomato workers and ensures fair, regulated working conditions in the fields to end the conditions that have led to widespread labor trafficking and slavery.T’ruah has worked with the coalition to bring Trader Joe’s, Ahold (Stop & Shop/Giant), and Chipotle into the Fair Food Program. We are currently organizing Jewish communities to ask Wendy’s to join 14 major corporations in doing the same, and are partnering with the coalition to expand the Fair Food Program into additional states and crops.
- Building the faith-rooted movement for worker justice: Along with organizations and networks like the Interreligious Network for Worker Solidarity, T'ruah works to bolster national advocacy and organizing that builds up the worker justice movement and aims to stop the attacks on workers coming from both legislatures and individual companies.
- Selling fairly traded chocolate for Jewish holiday celebrations: T’ruah partners with Equal Exchange and Divine Chocolate, to encourage Jewish communities to purchase kosher fairly traded Chanukah gelt, kosher-for-Passover chocolate, coffee, and other products.
Local campaigns:
T'ruah's New York City cluster is partnering with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and the Laundry Workers Center on their Cabricanecos campaign, standing in solidarity with migrant and indigenous workers who are seeking access to safer and more equitable working conditions at job sites across Brooklyn.
Partners:
Internally, T'ruah strives to live our values around worker justice. Whenever possible, our products, including paper materials and t-shirts, are union printed, and we use a union cleaning company for our office. We aspire to equity, transparency, and dignity in all aspects of our hiring process and in how we treat our employees.
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-Babylonian Talmud Berachot 55a
Since right-wing politicians in many states are working to undermine the basic process of voting and the people’s trust in our election institutions, the work we do is crucial to securing our rights to vote and participate in the democratic process. We work to support rabbis, cantors, and the wider Jewish community in learning and taking action to protect voting rights and the integrity of the democratic process.
We also work hard to protect the values of freedom of speech. This includes the right to boycott. Regardless of whether we support the choice of whom is being boycotted, the power to speak, not just with words, but with money, is an essential right under the First Amendment.
Our work includes:
Recruiting poll chaplains to support election sites through de-escalation.
Collaborating with A More Perfect Union to support rabbis and cantors in building relationships with their local election officials, and build trust in election processes.
Creating Jewish teachings and thought leadership on democracy through Emor.
Joining interfaith partners to advocate and build support for legislation that would support, protect, and expand the right to vote.
Partners:
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is a 501(c)(3) and does not conduct partisan political activities in support or in opposition to any political candidate.
Learn about our related work on Free Speech and the Right to Boycott.
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-Taanit 11a
Racial justice is a Jewish value, and Black lives matter. Period.
Unlike the other issues T'ruah works on, the pursuit of racial justice is not a single isolated campaign, but rather a value that permeates every single one of our campaigns.
Our statement of Commitment to Racial Justice is a manifesto intended to hold us accountable in all aspects of our work.
Some campaigns in which our commitment to racial justice is most visible are our campaigns to end mass incarceration and solitary confinement, which disproportionately target Black Americans and other people of color.
As we advocate for immigrants' rights and workers' rights, we call out the racism that brings more media attention to one group of refugees over another and which allows Americans to ignore the dangerous and degrading conditions in which workers grow the food we eat.
In our work on antisemitism, we seek to elevate the experiences of Jews of Color, who are exposed not only to the threat of antisemitism but simultaneously face racism and other forms of bigotry.
Finally, we practice what we preach. T'ruah seeks to redress racial injustice internally, through our ongoing Diversity Equity Inclusion and Justice initiative. In our hiring practices, compensation philosophy, harassment policy, and other workplace policies, we aspire to equity and just treatment of our employees.
Our work includes:
- Resources: We offer a variety of resources for the Jewish community – particularly white Jews – about how to most effectively be in solidarity with our Black and brown friends, family, and neighbors.
- Human rights delegations: We have brought two delegations of rabbis, cantors, and other Jewish communal leaders to the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Through sophisticated training and experiential learning with T’ruah, Jewish clergy have learned about how the legacy of slavery and racialized violence continues to reverberate through every part of our society, and have gone home dedicated to taking action against racism.
- Educational programs: From 2021-23 we guided two cohorts through Synagogue Teams for Equity and Partnerships (STEP), a program that brought together New York-area synagogues with non-Jewish communities of color to build new relationships or deepen existing ones. Additionally, we have hosted Antiracism Communities of Practice for chaverim, and have offered multipart courses on the intersections of Antisemitism and Race for national groups.
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"Great is work, as it gives honor
to the one who does it."
—Nedarim 49b
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Our work includes:
- Solidarity with farmworkers: Since 2011, T’ruah has brought more than 100 rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders to visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker-led organization that is transforming the Florida tomato fields from places of modern day slavery to some of the best workplaces in U.S. agriculture. The #tomatorabbis, as members of the rabbinic delegations call themselves, have gone home to involve members of their own communities in asking major corporations to join the coalition’s Fair Food Program, which raises the wages of tomato workers and ensures fair, regulated working conditions in the fields to end the conditions that have led to widespread labor trafficking and slavery.T’ruah has worked with the coalition to bring Trader Joe’s, Ahold (Stop & Shop/Giant), and Chipotle into the Fair Food Program. We are currently organizing Jewish communities to ask Wendy’s to join 14 major corporations in doing the same, and are partnering with the coalition to expand the Fair Food Program into additional states and crops.
- Building the faith-rooted movement for worker justice: Along with organizations and networks like the Interreligious Network for Worker Solidarity, T'ruah works to bolster national advocacy and organizing that builds up the worker justice movement and aims to stop the attacks on workers coming from both legislatures and individual companies.
- Selling fairly traded chocolate for Jewish holiday celebrations: T’ruah partners with Equal Exchange and Divine Chocolate, to encourage Jewish communities to purchase kosher fairly traded Chanukah gelt, kosher-for-Passover chocolate, coffee, and other products.
Local campaigns:
T'ruah's New York City cluster is partnering with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and the Laundry Workers Center on their Cabricanecos campaign, standing in solidarity with migrant and indigenous workers who are seeking access to safer and more equitable working conditions at job sites across Brooklyn.
Partners:
Internally, T'ruah strives to live our values around worker justice. Whenever possible, our products, including paper materials and t-shirts, are union printed, and we use a union cleaning company for our office. We aspire to equity, transparency, and dignity in all aspects of our hiring process and in how we treat our employees.
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-Babylonian Talmud Berachot 55a
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We also work hard to protect the values of freedom of speech. This includes the right to boycott. Regardless of whether we support the choice of whom is being boycotted, the power to speak, not just with words, but with money, is an essential right under the First Amendment.
Our work includes:
Recruiting poll chaplains to support election sites through de-escalation.
Collaborating with A More Perfect Union to support rabbis and cantors in building relationships with their local election officials, and build trust in election processes.
Creating Jewish teachings and thought leadership on democracy through Emor.
Joining interfaith partners to advocate and build support for legislation that would support, protect, and expand the right to vote.
Partners:
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is a 501(c)(3) and does not conduct partisan political activities in support or in opposition to any political candidate.
Learn about our related work on Free Speech and the Right to Boycott.
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-Taanit 11a
Racial justice is a Jewish value, and Black lives matter. Period.
Unlike the other issues T'ruah works on, the pursuit of racial justice is not a single isolated campaign, but rather a value that permeates every single one of our campaigns.
Our statement of Commitment to Racial Justice is a manifesto intended to hold us accountable in all aspects of our work.
Some campaigns in which our commitment to racial justice is most visible are our campaigns to end mass incarceration and solitary confinement, which disproportionately target Black Americans and other people of color.
As we advocate for immigrants' rights and workers' rights, we call out the racism that brings more media attention to one group of refugees over another and which allows Americans to ignore the dangerous and degrading conditions in which workers grow the food we eat.
In our work on antisemitism, we seek to elevate the experiences of Jews of Color, who are exposed not only to the threat of antisemitism but simultaneously face racism and other forms of bigotry.
Finally, we practice what we preach. T'ruah seeks to redress racial injustice internally, through our ongoing Diversity Equity Inclusion and Justice initiative. In our hiring practices, compensation philosophy, harassment policy, and other workplace policies, we aspire to equity and just treatment of our employees.
Our work includes:
- Resources: We offer a variety of resources for the Jewish community – particularly white Jews – about how to most effectively be in solidarity with our Black and brown friends, family, and neighbors.
- Human rights delegations: We have brought two delegations of rabbis, cantors, and other Jewish communal leaders to the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Through sophisticated training and experiential learning with T’ruah, Jewish clergy have learned about how the legacy of slavery and racialized violence continues to reverberate through every part of our society, and have gone home dedicated to taking action against racism.
- Educational programs: From 2021-23 we guided two cohorts through Synagogue Teams for Equity and Partnerships (STEP), a program that brought together New York-area synagogues with non-Jewish communities of color to build new relationships or deepen existing ones. Additionally, we have hosted Antiracism Communities of Practice for chaverim, and have offered multipart courses on the intersections of Antisemitism and Race for national groups.
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"Great is work, as it gives honor
to the one who does it."
—Nedarim 49b
Our tradition tells us that it is a Jewish moral imperative to treat workers fairly. But we know that in this country and around the world, the workplace is often ground zero for forced labor, exploitation, wage theft, and violence – especially for members of Black, brown, and undocumented communities, as well as those with temporary work visas. From the tomato fields of Immokalee, FL, to construction sites in Brooklyn, to undocumented workers excluded from COVID benefits, T’ruah rabbis and cantors across the country are in solidarity with workers standing up for dignity, equity, and safety in their workplaces.
Our work includes:
- Solidarity with farmworkers: Since 2011, T’ruah has brought more than 100 rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders to visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker-led organization that is transforming the Florida tomato fields from places of modern day slavery to some of the best workplaces in U.S. agriculture. The #tomatorabbis, as members of the rabbinic delegations call themselves, have gone home to involve members of their own communities in asking major corporations to join the coalition’s Fair Food Program, which raises the wages of tomato workers and ensures fair, regulated working conditions in the fields to end the conditions that have led to widespread labor trafficking and slavery.T’ruah has worked with the coalition to bring Trader Joe’s, Ahold (Stop & Shop/Giant), and Chipotle into the Fair Food Program. We are currently organizing Jewish communities to ask Wendy’s to join 14 major corporations in doing the same, and are partnering with the coalition to expand the Fair Food Program into additional states and crops.
- Building the faith-rooted movement for worker justice: Along with organizations and networks like the Interreligious Network for Worker Solidarity, T'ruah works to bolster national advocacy and organizing that builds up the worker justice movement and aims to stop the attacks on workers coming from both legislatures and individual companies.
- Selling fairly traded chocolate for Jewish holiday celebrations: T’ruah partners with Equal Exchange and Divine Chocolate, to encourage Jewish communities to purchase kosher fairly traded Chanukah gelt, kosher-for-Passover chocolate, coffee, and other products.
Local campaigns:
T'ruah's New York City cluster is partnering with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and the Laundry Workers Center on their Cabricanecos campaign, standing in solidarity with migrant and indigenous workers who are seeking access to safer and more equitable working conditions at job sites across Brooklyn.
Partners:
Internally, T'ruah strives to live our values around worker justice. Whenever possible, our products, including paper materials and t-shirts, are union printed, and we use a union cleaning company for our office. We aspire to equity, transparency, and dignity in all aspects of our hiring process and in how we treat our employees.
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-Babylonian Talmud Berachot 55a
Since right-wing politicians in many states are working to undermine the basic process of voting and the people’s trust in our election institutions, the work we do is crucial to securing our rights to vote and participate in the democratic process. We work to support rabbis, cantors, and the wider Jewish community in learning and taking action to protect voting rights and the integrity of the democratic process.
We also work hard to protect the values of freedom of speech. This includes the right to boycott. Regardless of whether we support the choice of whom is being boycotted, the power to speak, not just with words, but with money, is an essential right under the First Amendment.
Our work includes:
Recruiting poll chaplains to support election sites through de-escalation.
Collaborating with A More Perfect Union to support rabbis and cantors in building relationships with their local election officials, and build trust in election processes.
Creating Jewish teachings and thought leadership on democracy through Emor.
Joining interfaith partners to advocate and build support for legislation that would support, protect, and expand the right to vote.
Partners:
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is a 501(c)(3) and does not conduct partisan political activities in support or in opposition to any political candidate.
Learn about our related work on Free Speech and the Right to Boycott.
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-Taanit 11a
Racial justice is a Jewish value, and Black lives matter. Period.
Unlike the other issues T'ruah works on, the pursuit of racial justice is not a single isolated campaign, but rather a value that permeates every single one of our campaigns.
Our statement of Commitment to Racial Justice is a manifesto intended to hold us accountable in all aspects of our work.
Some campaigns in which our commitment to racial justice is most visible are our campaigns to end mass incarceration and solitary confinement, which disproportionately target Black Americans and other people of color.
As we advocate for immigrants' rights and workers' rights, we call out the racism that brings more media attention to one group of refugees over another and which allows Americans to ignore the dangerous and degrading conditions in which workers grow the food we eat.
In our work on antisemitism, we seek to elevate the experiences of Jews of Color, who are exposed not only to the threat of antisemitism but simultaneously face racism and other forms of bigotry.
Finally, we practice what we preach. T'ruah seeks to redress racial injustice internally, through our ongoing Diversity Equity Inclusion and Justice initiative. In our hiring practices, compensation philosophy, harassment policy, and other workplace policies, we aspire to equity and just treatment of our employees.
Our work includes:
- Resources: We offer a variety of resources for the Jewish community – particularly white Jews – about how to most effectively be in solidarity with our Black and brown friends, family, and neighbors.
- Human rights delegations: We have brought two delegations of rabbis, cantors, and other Jewish communal leaders to the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Through sophisticated training and experiential learning with T’ruah, Jewish clergy have learned about how the legacy of slavery and racialized violence continues to reverberate through every part of our society, and have gone home dedicated to taking action against racism.
- Educational programs: From 2021-23 we guided two cohorts through Synagogue Teams for Equity and Partnerships (STEP), a program that brought together New York-area synagogues with non-Jewish communities of color to build new relationships or deepen existing ones. Additionally, we have hosted Antiracism Communities of Practice for chaverim, and have offered multipart courses on the intersections of Antisemitism and Race for national groups.
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to the one who does it."
—Nedarim 49b
Our tradition tells us that it is a Jewish moral imperative to treat workers fairly. But we know that in this country and around the world, the workplace is often ground zero for forced labor, exploitation, wage theft, and violence – especially for members of Black, brown, and undocumented communities, as well as those with temporary work visas. From the tomato fields of Immokalee, FL, to construction sites in Brooklyn, to undocumented workers excluded from COVID benefits, T’ruah rabbis and cantors across the country are in solidarity with workers standing up for dignity, equity, and safety in their workplaces.
Our work includes:
- Solidarity with farmworkers: Since 2011, T’ruah has brought more than 100 rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders to visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker-led organization that is transforming the Florida tomato fields from places of modern day slavery to some of the best workplaces in U.S. agriculture. The #tomatorabbis, as members of the rabbinic delegations call themselves, have gone home to involve members of their own communities in asking major corporations to join the coalition’s Fair Food Program, which raises the wages of tomato workers and ensures fair, regulated working conditions in the fields to end the conditions that have led to widespread labor trafficking and slavery.T’ruah has worked with the coalition to bring Trader Joe’s, Ahold (Stop & Shop/Giant), and Chipotle into the Fair Food Program. We are currently organizing Jewish communities to ask Wendy’s to join 14 major corporations in doing the same, and are partnering with the coalition to expand the Fair Food Program into additional states and crops.
- Building the faith-rooted movement for worker justice: Along with organizations and networks like the Interreligious Network for Worker Solidarity, T'ruah works to bolster national advocacy and organizing that builds up the worker justice movement and aims to stop the attacks on workers coming from both legislatures and individual companies.
- Selling fairly traded chocolate for Jewish holiday celebrations: T’ruah partners with Equal Exchange and Divine Chocolate, to encourage Jewish communities to purchase kosher fairly traded Chanukah gelt, kosher-for-Passover chocolate, coffee, and other products.
Local campaigns:
T'ruah's New York City cluster is partnering with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and the Laundry Workers Center on their Cabricanecos campaign, standing in solidarity with migrant and indigenous workers who are seeking access to safer and more equitable working conditions at job sites across Brooklyn.
Partners:
Internally, T'ruah strives to live our values around worker justice. Whenever possible, our products, including paper materials and t-shirts, are union printed, and we use a union cleaning company for our office. We aspire to equity, transparency, and dignity in all aspects of our hiring process and in how we treat our employees.
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Worker Justice
