Torture

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? 

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

T’ruah’s growth over the last 20 years is intertwined with the events of September 11, 2001. We asked three writers who represent three “generations” of T’ruah leadership — Rabbi Gerry Serotta (founding), Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster (maturation), and rabbinical student Becky Jaye (future) — to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the attacks. As 9/11 recedes...

This is T’ruah’s primary resource booklet on government-sponsored torture, originally published in 2005. It includes the shorter versions of Rabbi Melissa Weintraub’s articles on torture and Jewish law, insertions for High Holidays services, materials for study and discussion, and the original public letter to the Bush Administration, signed by over 800 rabbis and cantors. The full-length versions...

May the One who blessed our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah— Who was with our brother Joseph in the pit and in prison, and with Miriam when she was isolated from the camp for seven days— bless and heal all those who are engaged in hunger strikes against torture and...

Transcript of presentation by lawyers Tom Wilner and Gita Gutierrez from Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s 2008 conference. They discuss their work on behalf of detainees currently held in Guantanamo. They offer solutions for how to better bring some of these men to justice, and meditate on the values that inform their work.

You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. -Ex. 23:9 You were strangers in the land of Egypt reminds us that we have experienced the great suffering that one in a foreign land feels. By remembering the pain which we...

In this 2005 article, Rabbi Melissa Weintraub analyzes and ultimately rejects the defense of torture based on the idea that the use of torture will save lives because it will prevent terror attacks.