Economic Justice
On January 25, 2019, the staff of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism sent a letter to Congress urging them to immediately pass legislation to fully fund the government and end the partial shutdown, while also working toward comprehensive immigration reform that treats all people with dignity and respect. Read the full text of the letter. Hundreds of thousands of people and their families who rely on a functioning government for their paycheck or basic needs are unjustly bearing the consequences of this shutdown. And the harmful effects are being... Read More
As the Torah begins to recount the long-ago slavery of our people in Egypt, my mind and my heart turn to tomato farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida. Recently, I visited Immokalee for three days through a program sponsored by T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights that was led by Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster. Ninety percent of all tomatoes that are eaten fresh in the eastern United States are grown in Immokalee. It is one of Florida’s poorest cities and life for its farm laborers is mired in poverty – even after hours of back-breaking work in the vast tomato fields day after day. Until... Read More
Today, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism delivered a letter to every member of the 116th Congress outlining our 2019 legislative priorities and urging them to join us in the pursuit of a more just and compassionate world. Read the full text at rac.org/116th. Together, with leadership from our partners in the 116th Congress and an engaged base of committed citizens, we can build an immigration system that treats all people with dignity and respect, including asylum seekers, Dreamers, and holders of Temporary Protected Status. Together, we can urge the administration to... Read More
Take a moment to think about your mother or your father; your daughter or your son. Now, think of being forcibly separated from your loved one, without reasonable cause, without warning, without knowledge of where either one of you may be headed, and without a clue as to when you will see them again. All you can hear is the sound your loved one crying out your name. This scenario may evoke thoughts of one of the darkest times in Jewish history. Yet, this is happening today, in America. Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for... Read More
This Shabbat, as we prepare to march to demand justice for the immigrant families separated at our border, consider incorporating a reading of this prayer into your congregation's or community's observance. As Jews, we know what it is like to feel unsafe in your land of birth. We know what it is like to be oppressed, to be unwanted. We have vowed “never again” and so as Hillel would say – “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, Who am I? And if not now, when?” To those who would use religion to justify their bigotry we remind them of the Talmud’s... Read More