The American people consistently demonstrate their values through generous private giving to lift up vulnerable people around the world. This giving funds programs that combat poverty and hunger, advance human rights, prevent disease and protect and educate children, among other laudable outcomes.
Read MoreIn total, 28 American rabbis and social justice advocates participated in a human rights lobbying day organized by American Jewish World Service. They urged officials to take action on three human rights issues. They are advocating for human rights in Guatemala; justice for the Rohingya people in Burma, who have suffered genocide; and an end …
Read MoreThe liberal Jewish community has been part of the so-called Trump resistance for two years now, especially on the immigration issue. Delegations of like-minded rabbis have traveled to the southern border to protest the administration’s policy of separating families and connect with activists there.
Read MoreWe can predict that President Trump’s State of the Union address will be rife with hyperbolic references to walls and refugees. But what about America’s obligation to uphold basic human rights around the world? To challenge strongmen, help democracies and uphold the human rights of every person on this planet?
Read MoreThe treatment of children on our southern border has many Americans asking why so many are being separated from their families, kept in detention and how 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, both from Guatemala, died in our custody on our watch.
Read MoreWhen you want to help the victims of injustice, it is not enough to hear about their suffering secondhand and then decide what they need, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster of Teaneck said. Instead, it’s more effective to speak directly with people who already are addressing these problems on the ground, and to find out what they are …
Read MoreThere’s a Jewish proverb that says “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when? Temple Beth-El Rabbi Michael Knopf takes the adage to heart and recently returned from an international trip that examined and embraced this concept of …
Read MoreB’reishit bara Elohim, in the beginning, God didn’t create the Land of Israel or the Jewish people. No, God created a wondrous universe, teeming with beauty, complexity, and possibility. Within this incomplete world, God created human beings to partner with God in shaping a world of justice and compassion. The sphere of divine concern includes …
Read MoreThe Rohingya are facing a “lost generation” as children both in Myanmar and in the refugee camps of Bangladesh struggle to get an education, a new report has warned.The Rohingya youth who remain in Myanmar’s Rakhine State have faced serious restrictions on access to schooling since the outbreak of violence there in 2012, with children often kept in separate facilities and …
Read MoreRobert Bank discusses his work in promoting Jewish values around the world in an attempt to positively influence public policy, thoughts, and the way the American Jewish community interacts with the world around us.
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