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
Raising Voices for in a Call for Justice
Thoughts on Parashat Vayeira / Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David
In this week’s Torah portion, we find Abraham’s conversation with God about the destruction of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah along with its inhabitants. God agrees if there are ten zadikim (I interpret the word “zadikim” – from the root z.d.k, just – as “pursuers of justice” because I do not believe people are inherently just or unjust but can rather be “pursuers of justice” and “pursuers of injustice, or wickedness”) in the city, the entire city will be saved.
In the end, there are, it seems, not even ten residents of the city who are willing to raise a voice of justice to save the angels amidst the mass raucous of Sodom (in my opinion, Lot also failed the test because he was willing to throw his daughters into the crowd of Sodom instead of the angels), but the principle remains. If they had raised their voices in the name of justice, God would have saved them. There is always benefit in raising a voice for justice, even if you are in the minority.
Humanity First
Thoughts on Parashat Lech Lecha / Rabbi Eyal Yashfe
We might have expected Lech Lecha, the portion that opens the national story of the Jewish people, to be the first portion in the Torah. But that is not the case. The first eleven chapters of Genesis deal with all of humanity, and only in chapter 12 does Abram appear, beginning the story of the founding ancestors of the nation. The Torah’s decision to delay the story of Israel in favor of focusing first on the origins of humanity teaches that the people of Israel grew out of the human experience and remain an inseparable part of it.
Still Waters Run Deep
Thoughts on Parashat Noach / Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger
After two years of a strong sense of flood – perhaps we are beginning to see some ‘dry land.’
The return of the living hostages filled our hearts with gratitude, and we will continue to pray for the return of the remaining 13 killed captives; only then will we know rest regarding this deeply painful issue that has accompanied us since the disaster of October 2023.
The return of the living hostages filled our hearts with gratitude, and we will continue to pray for the return of the remaining 13 killed captives; only then will we know rest regarding this deeply painful issue that has accompanied us since the disaster of October 2023.