Territories Department
Protective presence for Palestinian farmers, assistance with access to land, and documentation of human rights violations.
Social Justice Department
Promoting social and economic rights, combating poverty and discrimination, and advancing equal opportunities.
Education Department
Designing and delivering educational programs on human rights, religious pluralism, and tolerance.
Interfaith Department
Dialogue and interfaith cooperation, development of joint initiatives, and the promotion of mutual understanding.
About the Organization
Rabbis for Human Rights is the Jewish voice on human rights.
Founded in 1988, it brings together more than 170 members – ordained rabbis and rabbinical students from across the denominations.
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Weekly Torah Portion
The King’s Impostor Syndrome
Thoughts for Haftarat Miketz / Rabbi John Franken
It is remarkable that so many significant events in the Book of Genesis occur during sleep. Jacob encounters God at Luz and a divine being at the ford of the Jabbok River. Joseph learns of his future position vis a vis his brothers. And Pharaoh, having twice dreamt, and twice awakened with an agitated spirit, discovers and alters (with Joseph’s assistance) Egypt’s fate. Long before Freud, the Torah was aware that sleep can not only reveal our deepest yearnings and anxieties; it can change our destiny.
And not just the Torah. As this week’s Haftarah relates, it is through a dream that the newly installed King Solomon confesses his deep insecurity in his new role׃
“You have made Your servant king in place of my father David; but I am a young lad, with no experience in leadership. Your servant finds himself in the midst of the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted.” (I Kings 3:7-8)
Repentance & Repair
Thoughts for International Human Rights Day / Lamma Mansour, Ph.D.
After two years of a brutal war, speaking about repentance and repair is both timely and fragile. Our faith traditions teach us that repentance is not only an individual, internal change of heart, but a collective shift and a movement towards repair, restoration, and reconciliation.
The Threefold Path to Transformation
Thoughts for Parashat Vayishlach
Parashat Vayishlach, along with the dramatic reunion of Jacob with Esau, presents us with a spiritual blueprint for navigating change and confrontation. In our Parsha, Jacob outlines a practical roadmap for genuine, lasting transformation—both personal and societal—rooted in a focus on Torah, Mitzvot, and Tefilah.
Before meeting with Esau, Jacob pauses, and begins with the crucial step of Limud (Study and Knowledge). Instead of acting on decades-old assumptions about his brother, he investigates Esau’s current disposition. From this we learn that profound change must be based upon intellectual clarity. Whether it is through the study of Torah or the intensive investigation of systemic injustice, effective tikkun (repair) demands that we first ask: What is the verifiable reality of the situation we face, and what is the knowledge required to meet it?