Photo of the author, Rabbi Sarah Weissman

Ki Tetze: Safety and Dignity for All Workers

The Torah teaches us that we have a special duty, not only to avoid exploiting, but to actively care for the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities. As we celebrate Labor Day, let us do all we can to ensure that every person [especially immigrant workers] can live and work in safety and dignity.

Responsibility, Guilt, Teshuva

Sources and guiding questions to help inspire and support Jewich clergy as they bring the ethical teachings of our tradition to their communities this High Holiday season.

Changing the Conversation: A Resource for Israel and Palestine Education

Want to read this resource as a pdf? Download here. What is this resource? In this moment of heartbreak, overwhelm, and moral reckoning, many of us are searching for ways to have authentic conversations about the realities on the ground in Israel and Palestine. So many in our communities are yearning to connect with people...

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A Prayer for Ferguson

by Sandra Lawson
Help us to lie down, Dear Lord our God, in peace, and let us rise again, to life… This summer, I heard that a young black man had been killed by a police officer. The sad thing is that I tuned the story out. I was too caught up in whatever I was doing to...
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Clergy marching in Ferguson

10 Rules for Engagement for White Jews Joining the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

by Rabbi Susan Talve and Sarah Barasch-Hagans
"1. Show up. It's not too late to build relationships."
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Police and Policing

by Jill Jacobs
Policing in Jewish law, prepared by Rabbi Jill Jacobs.
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A Plan Devised Against Them: Oppression and Justice, Then and Now

A brief text study about the systemic nature of racial oppression, with thanks to Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.
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How to Plan a Delegation to Wendy’s

Four of the five major fast food chains have joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)’s Fair Food Program. Who is the major holdout? Wendy’s, who has not only failed to join the program, but has actively chosen to move its tomato purchases out of Florida, where real changes are taking root. Since 2013, T’ruah has engaged with Wendy’s...
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Writing a Campaign for Fair Food Op/Ed

A guide for Jewish leaders by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. We hope this will inspire you to write an OpEd of your own. Since talking points often change, please email T’ruah for the most up-to-date language and for help with editing and placement.
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Amplifying My ‘Still, Small Voice’ to Testify against Human Trafficking

by Seth Goldstein
Living and serving the Jewish community in a state capital has its advantages, the primary one of which is the proximity to government. As the rabbi at Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington, I am keenly aware of what happens in the state legislature. In my case I have literal proximity, my synagogue is literally...
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Fighting For Fair Food At the Trader Joe’s Headquarters

by Suzanne Singer
Note from T'ruah: Thanks to the pressure from CIW, T'ruah, and tens of thousands of allies, Trader Joe's joined the Fair Food Program in February, 2012. We include this d'var torah on our website as a reminder of how taking action on a campaign for justice can bring about lasting change.
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Inspiration in Immokalee

by Toba Spitzer
I didn’t know what to expect when I went to visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers this past February, with a delegation of rabbis organized by Rabbis for Human Rights. Since Dorshei Tzedek became involved with CIW’s Fair Food Campaign two years ago, I’ve learned that this farmworker organization has had remarkable success in getting...
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Slavery, Then and Now

by Gordon Tucker
In this moving sermon, Rabbi Gordon Tucker discusses the problem of modern slavery and describes his experience visiting sites from the African slave trade. SLAVERY THEN AND NOW Rabbi Gordon Tucker   The Torah, in Leviticus 25:55, has God saying “The children of Israel are My servants”, and the rabbinic tradition afterwards added the following...
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