As the House debated H.R. 1, American rabbis and cantors joined the loud chorus of outrage and dismay at the human cost of this bill.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, said:
“This disaster of a bill threatens all Americans. This is no Big Beautiful Bill but rather a Big Bad Betrayal, with devastating costs to human life, freedom, and dignity.
“The bill provides billions to ICE to escalate their dangerous and unlawful targeting of immigrant communities. In fact, it’s such a drastic increase that it’s clear ICE does not even have the capacity to receive such an influx without an explosion of chaos and harm. It also imposes impossible fees on mundane asylum and other immigration proceedings, making seeking asylum, a human right, virtually inaccessible.
“From dangerous firearm provisions to benefits for polluters to truly shameful rollbacks on access to healthcare and food, the bill puts in motion plans that will make Americans less safe, leaving our children hungry and our communities vulnerable to disease. The Medicaid cuts alone should stop every elected official in their tracks; it would be unconscionable to approve such a betrayal.
“In the Torah, the apotheosis of communal wickedness is Sodom, the city destroyed by God when God cannot find even 10 righteous people there. The Torah does not specify the sin of Sodom, but the prophet Ezekiel says, “This was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquility; yet she did not support the poor and the needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49) The Talmud goes on to suggest that Sodom’s sin was specifically mistreatment of immigrants: “[The people of Sodom] said: Since bread comes forth out of [our] earth, and it has the dust of gold, why should we suffer wayfarers, who come to us only to deplete our wealth?” (Sanhedrin 109a) Today, we see the sins of Sodom being repeated in this bill, which is written from a place of arrogance, cruelty, and selfishness. We fear that, like Sodom, these sins will lead to our destruction.
“Elected officials must act in the best interest of voters. We demand that House members stop this disastrous bill in its tracks and vote NO on H.R. 1.”
###
About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our network of over 2,300 rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.