Statement on the Death of George Floyd
The Torah unequivocally calls out to us: "do not stand idly by [when] the blood of your fellow [human being is spilled]” (Leviticus 19:16).
We want to express our heartbreak and outrage at the murder of George Floyd. The most recent example of an appalling pattern of hundreds of years of violence perpetrated on the black community, we also mourn the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, as recent victims. Police brutality and institutional racism are primary contributors to Black Americans being more than twice as likely to be killed by police than are White Americans.
We condemn this behavior as an assault on the dignity of human beings, created in the image of God; a breakdown of the Torah’s prime command “Do not murder”; and a blasphemous disregard of the Torah’s sacred commitment to justice. It is a gross violation of American values that proclaim that we all are equal and endowed with an inalienable right to life and liberty.
As the recently-deceased leader of Modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Norman Lamm Z”l preached, “...This crime of shefikhat damim (homicide) is exceeded by the greater blot on our record: the methodical economic exploitation of one segment [African-Americans] of our population.” This pandemic has shown us the tremendous health disparities between communities that reflect unacceptable deep inequities that must be remedied by national policies.
To our fellow People of Color and to all minority communities who confront discrimination on a daily basis, we express our solidarity. America cannot go on being America, aspiring to be a model of democracy and an inspiration to the world, until it stops such repeated degradation and denial of the value of your lives. We are with you.
Our Orthodox Jewish community must join with fellow Americans of good conscience in confronting the reality of racism in our society and investigate how we are responsible to bring about much needed systemic change. We have an additional responsibility towards Jews of Color in our communities who we know have not always been treated in ways that embody how our Torah and Jewish community belongs to all of us, regardless of race or ethnicity.
We, the signers of this statement, commit ourselves to root out racism in our own communities in the following ways:
- We will work to fight the racism found in the Orthodox communities we lead. We will show zero tolerance for racist stereotypes and outright bigotry. Change has to start with our own communities, synagogues, and schools.
- We agree to give sermons and divrei Torah about racism, especially structural racism, in the immediate weeks to come and across the year, raising the issues that arise nationally as well as in our own communities.
- We will organize community members to participate in Uri L'Tzedek's anti-racism campaign and sign the anti-racism pledge.
- We will stand with our fellow citizens of color and listen to what they are asking from us, not just in today’s crisis, but will reach out and build relationships that will continue as we do the work to make our nation a more just and equitable place for all. We will seek out organizations like The Poor People’s Campaign, that make clear the connections between poverty, racism, and militarism in policing and that also put people of color and other impacted people in leadership.
- We will act in concert with the needs expressed by communities of color: Specifically, to contact Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman to arrest and charge all four officers involved in George Floyd’s death and sign the “Run with Ahmaud” petition to get justice for Ahmaud Arbery.
- We commit to putting money towards fighting structural racism.
- We will talk about why too many interactions with police are terrifying to Black Americans and are too often legitimately dangerous (an experience that white communities today largely do not share).
Please call on us to help in any way that we can. Together all of us must dig deep, vet our public processes and our discourse, and hold everyone - including ourselves - accountable until we bring all racism and abuse to an end. The soul of America is at stake.
Signers:
Rabba Dr. Carmella Abraham
Rabbi David Jonathan Almog
Rabbi Dr. David S. Bauman
Rabbi Yonah S. Berman
Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz
Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill
Rabbi Avraham Bronstein
Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger
Rabbi Shamir Caplan
Rabbi Barry Dolinger
Rabba Yaffa Epstein
Rabbi Michael Feuer
Rabbi Aaron Frank
Rabbi Daniel Geretz
Rabbi Adam Gindea
Rabbi Daniel Goodman
Rabbi Dr. Mel Gottlieb
Rabbi Steve Greenberg
Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg
Rabbanit Goldie Guy
Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy
Rabbi Dr Joel Hecker
Rabbi Tyson Herberger
Rabbi Avram Herzog
Rabba Sara Hurwitz
Rabbi Lev Eliezer Israel
Rabbi David Jaffe
Rabbi Michal Kahane
Rabbi David Kalb
Rabbi Ysoscher Katz
Rabbi David Kasher
Rabbi Fred Klein
Rabbi Bini Krauss
Rabbi Dr. Sam Lebens
Rabbi Asher Lopatin
Rabba Claudia Marbach
Rabbi Dr Yehudah Mirsky
Rabbi Avram Mlotek
Rabbi Dina Najman
Rabbi Marianne Novak
Rabbi Micha Odenheimer
Rabbi David K. Polsky
Rabbi Rachel Rosenbluth
Rabbi Avi Rosenfeld
Rabbi Tali Schaum Broder
Rabbi Dr. Shalom Schlagman
Rabbi Gabriel Nachman Kretzmer Seed
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller
Rabbi Ezra Seligsohn
Rabbi Benji Shiller
Rabbi Aaron Shub
Rabbi Ami Silver
Rabbi Yair Silverman
Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein
Rabbi Aliza Sperling
Rabbi Mikey Stein
Rabbi Alana Suskin
Rabbi Zach Truboff
Rabbi Nahum Twersky
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Rabbi Dr. Alan Yuter
Rabbi Harry Zeitlin
Resources:
The Minnesota Freedom Fund
The Louisville Community Bail Fund
Run With Maud - Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight 2020 - Voting rights are an enormously significant issue right now: please support the fight against voter suppression. https://fairfight.com/fair-fight-2020/
Southern Poverty Law Center
Call for Justice for George Floyd: Call scripts from the ACLU to ask Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman at 612-348-5550 and Mayor Jacob Frey at 612-673-2100 or email him at [email protected] to demand all four officers involved in Floyd’s death are arrested and charged.
The Poor People’s Campaign
Uri L'Tzedek anti-racism campaign
We want to express our heartbreak and outrage at the murder of George Floyd. The most recent example of an appalling pattern of hundreds of years of violence perpetrated on the black community, we also mourn the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, as recent victims. Police brutality and institutional racism are primary contributors to Black Americans being more than twice as likely to be killed by police than are White Americans.
We condemn this behavior as an assault on the dignity of human beings, created in the image of God; a breakdown of the Torah’s prime command “Do not murder”; and a blasphemous disregard of the Torah’s sacred commitment to justice. It is a gross violation of American values that proclaim that we all are equal and endowed with an inalienable right to life and liberty.
As the recently-deceased leader of Modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Norman Lamm Z”l preached, “...This crime of shefikhat damim (homicide) is exceeded by the greater blot on our record: the methodical economic exploitation of one segment [African-Americans] of our population.” This pandemic has shown us the tremendous health disparities between communities that reflect unacceptable deep inequities that must be remedied by national policies.
To our fellow People of Color and to all minority communities who confront discrimination on a daily basis, we express our solidarity. America cannot go on being America, aspiring to be a model of democracy and an inspiration to the world, until it stops such repeated degradation and denial of the value of your lives. We are with you.
Our Orthodox Jewish community must join with fellow Americans of good conscience in confronting the reality of racism in our society and investigate how we are responsible to bring about much needed systemic change. We have an additional responsibility towards Jews of Color in our communities who we know have not always been treated in ways that embody how our Torah and Jewish community belongs to all of us, regardless of race or ethnicity.
We, the signers of this statement, commit ourselves to root out racism in our own communities in the following ways:
- We will work to fight the racism found in the Orthodox communities we lead. We will show zero tolerance for racist stereotypes and outright bigotry. Change has to start with our own communities, synagogues, and schools.
- We agree to give sermons and divrei Torah about racism, especially structural racism, in the immediate weeks to come and across the year, raising the issues that arise nationally as well as in our own communities.
- We will organize community members to participate in Uri L'Tzedek's anti-racism campaign and sign the anti-racism pledge.
- We will stand with our fellow citizens of color and listen to what they are asking from us, not just in today’s crisis, but will reach out and build relationships that will continue as we do the work to make our nation a more just and equitable place for all. We will seek out organizations like The Poor People’s Campaign, that make clear the connections between poverty, racism, and militarism in policing and that also put people of color and other impacted people in leadership.
- We will act in concert with the needs expressed by communities of color: Specifically, to contact Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman to arrest and charge all four officers involved in George Floyd’s death and sign the “Run with Ahmaud” petition to get justice for Ahmaud Arbery.
- We commit to putting money towards fighting structural racism.
- We will talk about why too many interactions with police are terrifying to Black Americans and are too often legitimately dangerous (an experience that white communities today largely do not share).
Please call on us to help in any way that we can. Together all of us must dig deep, vet our public processes and our discourse, and hold everyone - including ourselves - accountable until we bring all racism and abuse to an end. The soul of America is at stake.
Signers:
Rabba Dr. Carmella Abraham
Rabbi David Jonathan Almog
Rabbi Dr. David S. Bauman
Rabbi Yonah S. Berman
Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz
Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill
Rabbi Avraham Bronstein
Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger
Rabbi Shamir Caplan
Rabbi Barry Dolinger
Rabba Yaffa Epstein
Rabbi Michael Feuer
Rabbi Aaron Frank
Rabbi Daniel Geretz
Rabbi Adam Gindea
Rabbi Daniel Goodman
Rabbi Dr. Mel Gottlieb
Rabbi Steve Greenberg
Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg
Rabbanit Goldie Guy
Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy
Rabbi Dr Joel Hecker
Rabbi Tyson Herberger
Rabbi Avram Herzog
Rabba Sara Hurwitz
Rabbi Lev Eliezer Israel
Rabbi David Jaffe
Rabbi Michal Kahane
Rabbi David Kalb
Rabbi Ysoscher Katz
Rabbi David Kasher
Rabbi Fred Klein
Rabbi Bini Krauss
Rabbi Dr. Sam Lebens
Rabbi Asher Lopatin
Rabba Claudia Marbach
Rabbi Dr Yehudah Mirsky
Rabbi Avram Mlotek
Rabbi Dina Najman
Rabbi Marianne Novak
Rabbi Micha Odenheimer
Rabbi David K. Polsky
Rabbi Rachel Rosenbluth
Rabbi Avi Rosenfeld
Rabbi Tali Schaum Broder
Rabbi Dr. Shalom Schlagman
Rabbi Gabriel Nachman Kretzmer Seed
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller
Rabbi Ezra Seligsohn
Rabbi Benji Shiller
Rabbi Aaron Shub
Rabbi Ami Silver
Rabbi Yair Silverman
Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein
Rabbi Aliza Sperling
Rabbi Mikey Stein
Rabbi Alana Suskin
Rabbi Zach Truboff
Rabbi Nahum Twersky
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Rabbi Dr. Alan Yuter
Rabbi Harry Zeitlin
Resources:
The Minnesota Freedom Fund
The Louisville Community Bail Fund
Run With Maud - Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight 2020 - Voting rights are an enormously significant issue right now: please support the fight against voter suppression. https://fairfight.com/fair-fight-2020/
Southern Poverty Law Center
Call for Justice for George Floyd: Call scripts from the ACLU to ask Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman at 612-348-5550 and Mayor Jacob Frey at 612-673-2100 or email him at [email protected] to demand all four officers involved in Floyd’s death are arrested and charged.
The Poor People’s Campaign
Uri L'Tzedek anti-racism campaign