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
Valuing Life
Thoughts for Parashat Chukat / Rabbi Rachel Druck
This week’s Torah portion, Chukat, contains instructions for the purification ritual for a person who has had contact with a dead body and is therefore rendered impure. According to the Torah, a red heifer “without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid” (Numbers 19:1)
For This Time – Be Korach
Thoughts for Parashat Korach / Rabbi Nardi Grun
In the final episode of Game of Thrones, the chief scholar, Samwell Tarly, proposes that the rulers choose the king through equal elections in which every person has a vote. He is met with scorn and ridicule along the lines of: “Why not let the dogs decide as well?”
In our own mythology, that is, in this week’s Torah portion, Korach dares to do much the same thing, though in a far more challenging context.
A Land that is Compassionate
Thoughts for Parashat Sh’lach / Rabbi Mori Lidar
In this week’s Torah portion, Sh’lach, Moses sends twelve scouts to explore the land of Canaan before its conquest.
Upon their return, the scouts summarize their impressions with two seemingly contradictory descriptions of the land:
On the one hand: “The country… is one that devours its settlers”
On the other: “The land… does indeed flow with milk and honey”
How can this contradiction be resolved?
Upon their return, the scouts summarize their impressions with two seemingly contradictory descriptions of the land:
On the one hand: “The country… is one that devours its settlers”
On the other: “The land… does indeed flow with milk and honey”
How can this contradiction be resolved?