NEW YORK — Today, T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization that represents over 2,000 rabbis and cantors and their communities, issued the following statement in support of the executive actions that President Biden plans to enact during his first day in office. T’ruah recently released their Mishkan Vision for the next four years, which details their commitment to replacing systems of injustice with systems of righteousness.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T’ruah, released the following statement:
“Today was a day full of hope for the future. T’ruah supports the executive actions taken today by President Joe Biden that will start to restore America’s human rights record and address the countless crises that face Americans today.
“‘I extol You, Eternal One, for You have lifted me up, and not let my enemies rejoice over me. Eternal One, my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. Eternal One, You brought me up from Sheol, preserved me from going down into the Pit. . .One may lie down weeping at nightfall; but joy comes in the morning. . . .You turned my lament into dancing, you undid my sackcloth and girded me with joy’ (Psalms 30:2-4, 6, 12)
“T’ruah has spent the last four years fighting the xenophobic policies that closed America’s borders, separated families, denied pathways toward citizenship, and celebrated discrimination over compassion. As Jews, we know that immigration policy can be a matter of life or death. Many of our own families fled danger to find refuge in the United States, and many of our family members died after our country’s borders closed to them. Providing permanent status and a path to citizenship for Dreamers, reversing the Muslim ban, ensuring that noncitizens are counted in the census, and taking responsibility for reuniting families separated at the border are moral victories that reinstate our commitment to human rights, including protecting the lives and dignity of every human being.
“T’ruah also shares a sense of relief that the COVID-19 pandemic will finally get the focused, science-based attention the crisis deserves, after 400,000 Americans have already died from the disease. We support President Biden’s executive orders today requiring masks and physical distancing and extending eviction and foreclosure moratoriums as well as the student loan pause. COVID-19 is not only a public health crisis and economic crisis, but also a human rights crisis, as the disease has laid bare and exacerbated the economic discrepancies of this country, as well as our shameful legacy of racism.
“President Biden’s orders also demonstrate a respect for the world we all share and a commitment to facing the existential challenge of climate change, the effects of which vulnerable and marginalized communities experience first and most severely. His decision to immediately rejoin the Paris Agreement on Climate Change repositions the United States to champion the massive investment needed to repair our world.
“These orders, in addition to Biden’s selection of a cabinet that reflects the rich diversity of America, are encouraging first steps along the long road to repair the damage of the last four years.
“Yet, the work does not end today. Our country, and our world, is constructed on a system of injustice that maintains power and wealth for a small few, while trampling on the rights and the wellbeing of the many. T’ruah will continue to fight to replace the systems of injustice with systems of righteousness, as laid out in our Mishkan Vision for the next four years.”
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,000 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.