The Jewish value of continuous practice to create change in ourselves and our communities – The Forward

By Rabbi David Jaffe and Yehudah WebsterJune 19, 2024

The Jewish people’s covenant relationship with HaShem in the Torah and in our tradition is founded and built upon the ethics and ongoing practice of justice and equality. It is clear that justice and equality should be an ongoing practice for all Israelites, for HaShem did not create the world as a utopian society, but as an invitation to be partners in healing brokenness, ending poverty and exploitation, and resisting oppression. Israelites are given numerous instructions on how to show up in a holy partnership with HaShem.

For example, as an agrarian society, we were commanded not to mow the edges of our fields so that the hungry could gather food for themselves and their families on their schedule, preserving their well-being and dignity. We were instructed to lend without interest, and: “If there is a needy person among you, one of your brothers in any of your towns…you must not harden your heart or shut your hand from your needy brother. Rather, you must lend him as much as he needs.” (Deut. 15:7-8) Indeed, the common refrain of the prophets sent to rebuke the Israelites for breaking the terms of our holy covenant is: “Share our bread with the hungry, clothe the naked, and break the bonds of the oppressed.” (Isaiah 58:6-7)

This covenant command to continually practice communal justice and equality applied not only to fellow Israelites, but also to the “strangers” in their midst, who can be compared to those in our society today who are not part of the dominant culture. In the Torah, we are instructed 36 times with variations to “not oppress the stranger, because we know the stranger’s feelings” (Shemot 23:9) and to “love our neighbor as ourselves” (Vayikra/Lev 19:18). This means that just as we cry out to HaShem to support us because we love ourselves, we must also listen to the cry of our neighbors and “strangers” who are suffering and/or oppressed.

A key feature of these guidelines for justice is that they are not just about changing social conditions, but also about changing the character of those who practice them. HaShem knows that an oppressed people will quickly turn around and oppress those who are more vulnerable. The Torah’s program for justice is also a program for internal healing of those places within us that are broken and vulnerable. Through the communal practice of equality and justice, the Israelites and the Jewish people are to continually transform, creating not only a holy society, but becoming a holy people living in partnership with HaShem.

“Moving Through the Wilderness: Recommitting to Equity After 10/7” is a collection of short essays that grew out of Elevate: An Executive Leadership Equity Accelerator. Elevate launched in May 2023 and its first cohort consisted of eleven CEOs of influential Jewish institutions committed to Jewish value and the responsibility of equity within our community. The idea for this project was born in Montgomery, Alabama, during one of Elevate’s in-person gatherings in early 2024. To learn more about Elevate and the program’s co-founders and leaders, Gamal J. Palmer and Catherine Bell, click here Here.

Moving Through the Wilderness is presented in partnership with Forward, the leading voice in Jewish journalism.