Incarceration

There is a deep and abiding power in saying to those who have died as a result of solitary confinement. We cannot bring back those we lost, but we can sanctify their memories by continuing to fight for a city that is dedicated to human rights for all.

I believe one reason we dispose of people who have done harm (or are accused of doing harm) is to avoid looking at ourselves and our own baser natures.

No matter the circumstances, each imprisoned and formerly imprisoned person deserves a life filled with dignity.

T'ruah invites Massachusetts clergy to use this toolkit as a way to connect the decarceration of women and girls in the Commonwealth with Shabbat Hazon.

When someone like Kenneth Smith is praying even as he is lying on a bed of death, how can we pass by once we are made aware, awakened to God's presence there? 

Of all the places I have served in a rabbinic capacity, the maximum-security prison where I serve now is the most religious.

...In our seats, we forgive ourselves for these sins, the ones we committed and those we did not. But outside of the synagogue, we continue to hold others, who actually seek teshuvah for many of those same sins, forever in chains.

...justice comes in many forms. It is not, as many mistakenly think, mostly punishment and consequences.

In our tradition, from any place on earth, even in a prison cell, there is always the possibility of teshuvah — a return.

The Torah commands us to be a nation of priests and to make the earth a place for God to dwell. And it’s not possible to do that from behind bars.