T'ruah

The new issue of Fragments, T'ruah's thought leadership journal, is here!

The issue explores democracy through a Jewish lens, gleaning insights from Jewish texts and historical Jewish struggles for social justice.

Guest edited by April Rosenblum, the issue features articles, essays, poetry, and art that answer the pressing question: How can Jews help build a vibrant multiracial democracy?
https://buff.ly/3zeXNeN

Moved by this bereaved father's courage in speaking the truth directly to Netanyahu: "You’re a leader, you were elected, you were sent to lead... Stop concerning yourself with winning [Knesset] seats, with polls, stop it."

Bereaved father of hostage to Netanyahu: ‘My son was murdered in a tunnel you built’ In recording from condolence visit, Rabbi Elhanan Danino, father of slain captive Ori Danino, implores PM to stop stirring division and prioritizing his own political survival

For this week's (M)oral Torah on Parshat Ki Tetze, Rabbi Francine Roston reminds us of "our responsibility to remember that when we take action to serve our own needs, we cannot forget the impact we could have on others."

Read more: https://buff.ly/3XnwGWN

T’ruah is seeking a quarter-time Rabbinic Educator in Israel who is responsible for building relationships with American rabbinical and cantorial students, supporting their learning and growth through educational programming and text studies, and collaborating with the Israel Program Manager and U.S. staff to develop and facilitate seminars focused on human rights and engagement with Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Find the full job description here: https://buff.ly/3TksOEU

Hersh. Eden. Ori. Alex. Carmel. Almog. 💔

T'ruah is growing! We have three new staff members to introduce:

📋 Bella Orden (she/her) has a background in trauma-informed healthcare. As T'ruah's programs assistant, she provides logistical support across our Programs department with care and compassion. Bella holds a B.A. in Animal Behavior and Cognition and a Master of Occupational Therapy.

🤝 Alex Druzbanski (he/him) is T'ruah's new development assistant, supporting our Development department by building and maintaining strong relationships with donors. With a background in the arts and fitness, he brings a creative side to the analytic work of the job. Alex was previously a professional modern dancer for five years in NYC.

⚙️ Aaron Fellows (he/they) worked for the exoneration of wrongfully incarcerated people at the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project prior to joining T'ruah as our operations assistant. As a kid, he liked to take things apart to figure out how they worked. Today, rather than dissecting radios from the town dump, Aaron prefers to take apart spreadsheets, operating procedures, and organizational systems.

Welcome to the team, Bella, Alex, and Aaron!

(M)oral Torah: Rabbi Robert Tabak dives into the topic of Jewish superiority through the lens of being chosen and treasured by God, as found in Re’eh.

What does this mean for Israel today and the continuing war and violence against Palestinians?

Read on: https://buff.ly/4dVRfAg

We want every hostage family to get their loved ones back. That’s why we desperately need a hostage deal that will end the war.

We’re thrilled Qaid Farhan al-Qadi has been rescued and is safely back with his family. ❤️

We echo the words of his brother Khatem al-Qadi who told Israeli TV the family hopes for a ceasefire: “We are wishing for all of the hostages to be released & for there to be a deal now.’’

Israeli hostage held by Hamas rescued by IDF from Gaza ***

(M)oral Torah: When retelling the story of the golden calf, Moses shifts the blame for his own benefit, Rabbi David Chapman recalls.

By doing this, Moses "presages today’s gaslighters around the globe," both leaders and those who elects them.

More: https://buff.ly/4dzIZGt

Today we're saying thank you and good luck to our Chief Strategy Officer Rachel Lerner, as she moves on from T'ruah to pursue her dream of being a therapist. As the head of our programs department, Rachel has done so much to advance T'ruah's mission through the challenges of the last three years. Her wisdom, wit, and caring will truly be missed. Todah rabah, Rachel, for everything! 🌟

For this week's (M)oral Torah, while preparing to return to the U.S. from a summer in Jerusalem, Rabbi Maya Zinkow wonders what stories she will tell.

"We are not just meant to see the good land, but the whole of it," she writes.

Read more: https://buff.ly/3M3DsMr

Over 100 community members gathered yesterday in Brookline for Tisha B’Av with T'ruah. The event, led by T’ruah clergy, created an expansive and welcoming space for all to reflect on themes of exile and groundless hatred, to share their pain and sorrow, and to name the ways that they have experienced exile within their own communities. Together, we grieved the loss of Jewish and Palestinian lives and committed to taking action for hope and peace.

Rabbi Alex Weissman, Director of Community Life and Mekhinah at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, reflects on visiting Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories with T'ruah and J Street: "Part of my motivation for this commitment includes the desire to make change. As one of our speakers said, 'If you can’t comprehend, you can’t correct.' If I am going to try to persuade others to act for what I believe is right, I first need to understand where they are coming from. Persuasion can only happen from this place.

Processing the RRC Faculty Study Tour to Israel and Palestine - RRC Returning from a week of learning and conversation as part of the RRC Faculty Study Tour, Rabbi Alex Weissman reflects and processes his time in Israel and Palestine.

"Reem Abu Hayyah, just three months old, was the only member of her family to survive an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip late Monday. A few miles (kilometers) to the north, Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan lost his wife and their twin babies — just four days old — in another strike."

Stop the killing. End the war.

Israeli strikes on Gaza leave children without parents and parents without children A 3-month-old infant was the only member of her family to survive an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip late Monday.

"Tisha B’Av is a time of mourning, but also the day when our tradition tells us the Messiah will be born. Even on our darkest day, we imagine the possibility of future redemption." -Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Stop the killing. End the war.

We’re so grateful for the courageous people who have already stepped up this week to support T’ruah’s critical life-affirming human rights work.

Tomorrow is your last chance to snag *free* T'ruah merch when you sign up for the Shofar Society for as little as $5/month.

buff.ly/46CNaP8

For this week's (M)oral Torah, Rabbi Suzie Jacobson reflects on Moses' words in Devarim as a warning: It is time to choose our leaders wisely.

"We need a leader who is both wise and experienced; discerning and focused on justice for all."

Read more: https://buff.ly/3WSFZz0

Torture happens behind closed doors. It is our responsibility—especially as Jews—to bring the facts to light and to ensure that all human beings, no matter who they are, are treated with basic human dignity. That is what this moment—and what our own humanity—demands.
.israel

"There’s no sugarcoating how difficult this moment is," writes T'ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs in a letter to our community.
https://buff.ly/3LR6WNo

Society is not built on individuals alone.

"When everyone is following their own individualist mandates without concern for the collective, societal collapse is inevitable," writes rabbinical student and T’ruah d'var torah fellow Emily Bell.

Read more: buff.ly/4d4HKPr

It’s Jewish Poll Worker Recruitment Day! 🎉🎉🎉

You—yes, you!—have the opportunity to help ensure our elections remain fair and free.

How? By becoming a poll worker.

Poll workers are often in the background, but their services are essential. That’s why T’ruah is proud to be part of a massive non-partisan effort today across the Jewish community to recruit poll workers.

Together, we can help ensure a free, fair, safe, and accessible election for all voters.

Learn more and sign up here: https://buff.ly/4dqc5HR

“The IDF is right to arrest those accused of torturing and sexually assaulting a prisoner in Sde Teman. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, and the IDF must also conduct a full investigation of the systems that allowed this to happen. This horrific behavior is an absolute violation both of international law and of the Jewish insistence on the dignity of every human being, created b’tzelem Elohim (“in the image of the Divine”)."

Rabbis Urge Accountability After Crowd Storms Sde Teiman | T'ruah Rabbi Akiva says: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself—this is the greatest principle of the Torah—that is, you should not say, “because I have been disgraced, let my fellow be disgraced alongside me; since I have been cursed, let someone else be cursed alongside me. Rabbi Tanchuma said...

Solitary confinement is torture. We stand with calling for a swift and complete implementation of NYC Local Law 42 - an end to solitary confinement in NYC jails. Mayor Adams's misuse of a state of emergency to stop implementation is misguided and dangerous.

NYC's mayor is blocking a law that bans solitary confinement in jails. Critics say he's being "irrational." Critics want Mayor Eric Adams to rescind an emergency order that is stopping a law banning solitary confinement from being enforced at NYC jails.

ICYMI: Last week's (M)oral Torah, in which rabbinical student Savannah Lipner discusses an unjust system that disenfranchised the daughters of Zelophehad, and how sometimes when the law is unjust, we have to change it.

Read more: https://buff.ly/3Wn3mPE

Today, around 200 rabbis and American Jews gathered by the Capitol to pray together for peace and justice, and for an end to the war.

Here's what our CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs said:
"We have really needed prayer these last ten months. From the moment grief and fear overcame our most joyous holiday, through our anguish at the atrocities of October 7, through the overwhelming deaths of Israelis and Palestinians, the devastation in Gaza, and our desperation about the hostages, we have cried, pleaded, and called out to God.

"We need prayer, and we need communities that pray together.

"But prayer is not enough.

"It would be the utmost hubris to believe that human beings can fix the problems of the world on our own. But we can’t just leave it in God’s hands either. It’s not enough to praise God who loves tzedakah umishpat– righteousness and justice–without ourselves pursuing righteousness and justice. It’s not enough to praise God as a healer without ourselves working to save lives.

"Our liturgy often describes God as לא ינום ולא יישן– one who neither slumbers nor sleeps. This image has stuck with me this year–of God keeping watch all night, desperately trying to protect humanity. Or perhaps of God having insomnia – tossing and turning (metaphorically that is) as so many of us have been doing for so many months.

"But God doesn’t like to be the only one awake. As our Shabbat liturgy puts it, God is also המעורר ישנים והמקיץ נרדמים– the one who awakens and arouses those who are sleeping.

"This is not the time to be complacent. It’s not the time to despair.

"We began this morning in prayer, and we are staying out here on the streets to protest Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has consistently blocked any deal that would end the war and bring home the hostages, whose government’s intelligence and security lapses allowed October 7 to happen, and who has carried out a war with utter disregard for Palestinians lives.

"We are here in solidarity with Israelis–including families of hostages, some of whom are with us today–who were out on the streets for nearly a year protesting this extremist government’s assault on democracy, and are now on the street calling for a deal.

"Thank you for being with us, both in prayer and in protest."

"Today, a small number of zealots wield power in Jerusalem and over the fate of the Jewish people. It’s time to stand up to them."

Some thoughts from our CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs, relevant to 17 Tammuz, about why American Jews should protest Netanyahu tomorrow.

Why American Jews must protest Netanyahu From the blog of Jill Jacobs at The Times of Israel