Democracy and Elections

by Compiled by T'ruah
Text studies, divrei Torah, placards, and more resources for elections.
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Jewish Texts On Fair Voting And Just Elections

by Rabbi Mark Hurvitz and Rabbi Ed Stafman
"In the form we know them today, popular elections – where all adult citizens vote for their leaders – are the product of western democracies."
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Looking backward, looking forward: A year of Torah 20/20

by Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow and Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson
A d’var Torah for Simchat Torah. Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow is the Vice President at the Foundation for Jewish Camp. He has a deep love of irreverent, relevant, and revealing Torah and blogs religiously at saidtomyself.com. Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson is Director of Rabbinic Training at T’ruah and the editor of Torah 20/20.   Rabbi...
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Listening Leads to Understanding, Which Leads to God

by Congressman Jerry Nadler
A d'var Torah for Shavuot by Congressman Jerry Nadler, originally published in 2020.
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Yom Yerushalayim Obscures The Reality of Modern Jerusalem

by Daniel Seidemann
A d’var Torah for Yom Yerushalayim by Daniel Seidemann. Jerusalem Day, Yom Yerushalayim, which is this coming Friday, was created by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, the Rabbanut, in the wake of the 1967 war, and subsequently enshrined as a national holiday under law. A religious commemoration of the “reunification” of Jerusalem when Hallel is said,...
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Judging a Sovereign: How the Judges are Judged

by Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson and Rabbi Jason Rubenstein
With thanks to our chaver Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, who brought these texts to our attention, this sheet delves into what happens when a sovereign goes on trial and the judges buckle under fear of him. It gives us Jewish language for grappling with corruption, complicity, and power.
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Resisting Tyrants Seder Supplement

by T'ruah
A supplemental reading and discussion prompts for your Passover seder, as you retell the story of our slavery in Egypt. We recommend you download and print this beautifully designed PDF in full color, but you can also scroll down for the full text.             Our oppression in Egypt was the...
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On Not Attending Prime Minister Netanyahu’s AIPAC Speech: Jewish Sources and Analysis

T’ruah, a network of more than 2,000 rabbis and cantors across the U.S. and Canada, calls on AIPAC attendees not to attend the speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Jewish law prohibits speaking and listening to lashon hara (evil speech), consorting with evildoers, and swaying a court case. Netanyahu regularly engages in speech that...
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Torah Against Incitement

In December 2015, T’ruah organized Jewish communities and individuals to study this text over Shabbat, as a response to incitement against activists in Israel. It is a talk given by Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion and a major figure in the Orthodox movement, in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak...
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The Weeping Mother Speaks: On Tisha B’Av, Remembering the Pain of Separation

by Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein
Tisha B’Av reminds us: You know what this awful pain feels like. First, every year, we are supposed to practice feeling the excruciating dissonance between the way things are and the way they should be. We have to feel the deep outrage and pain of the crying mother. But we must also be Rachel, weeping not only for her children, but naming the more compassionate way of being that we know, that we remember is possible.
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