Rabbi Jill Jacobs is the CEO of T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization representing over 2,300 rabbis and cantors and their communities in North America.
Jill Jacobs
By Jill Jacobs
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Opinion Stop Looking For The Next Heschel. They Are All Around You.
In this week’s Forward, Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner looks for “a prophet who will speak out as a Jew.” She looks first for an elected official who will bring moral leadership to Washington, and then reminisces about prominent Jewish leaders from outside of the halls of Congress. “Where is our Abraham Joshua Heschel today?” she asks….
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Opinion Jews Should Be Horrified That Trump Is Revoking Latino Citizenship
In 1919, the United States deported Emma Goldman, along with nearly 250 other foreign-born radicals. This move became possible with the passage of the 1918 Immigration Act, which permitted the deportation of “aliens” who expressed support for anarchism. Goldman, however, claimed U.S. citizenship, acquired through her brief marriage to Jacob Kershner. The government’s response? To…
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Opinion 70 Years Represents A Lifetime
This piece is one of a series of pieces commissioned from leaders to speak to their feelings about Israel at 70. You will find the others here. Seventy years, in Jewish tradition, represents a lifetime. As the psalmist wrote, “The span of our life is 70 years.” At 70, one reaches seivah, meaning old age,…
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Opinion Why Are Orthodox Organizations Embracing Christian Values?
There is a talmudic story in Tractate Avodah Zarah in which the Roman authorities arrest Rabbi Eliezer on suspicion of heresy. He is acquitted through a lucky misunderstanding: when the rabbi declares his trust in the “Judge” — meaning God — the judge understands this as a vote of confidence in his own authority. Nevertheless,…
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Opinion David Friedman, What Do Your Donations to Radical Jewish Settlements Pay For?
Dear David Friedman, Congratulations on your nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel. I must say that I was alarmed to hear this news, as your rejection of decades of U.S. policy regarding a two-state solution and your smear of some liberal Jews as kapos should disqualify you from this position. T’ruah, the organization I…
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Opinion Why Andrew Cuomo’s BDS Law Should Worry All Israel Supporters
(JTA) — If you’re a supporter of Israel and of the Jewish community, you should be very worried about a new executive order issued by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on June 5. While billed as an initiative to prevent New York state from supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, the law actually constitutes…
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Opinion Why Your JNF Donation Might Be Used for Settlements
Ask any American Jew what the Jewish National Fund does, and they will most likely answer, “It plants trees in Israel.” But the reality is much more complicated. Even a close reading of JNF-USA’s tax forms and website does not reveal how much of the $100 million dollars American Jews donate each year flows to…
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Opinion Social Justice Is Not Just for Americans
This year will witness the reintegration, at long last, of a Jewish vision for social justice in both the Diaspora and in Israel. At the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, a recent gathering of Jewish social justice organization, Rabbi David Rosenn of the New Israel Fund and I co-led a conversation about how the situation in…
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