Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the President & Dean of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute, the Founder and President of YATOM, and the author of thirteen books on Jewish ethics. Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America and the Forward named him one of the 50 most influential Jews. The opinions expressed here represent the author’s and do not represent any organizations he is affiliated with.
Shmuly Yanklowitz
By Shmuly Yanklowitz
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Community We Need Another Justice Brandeis
77 years ago today, Justice Louis Brandeis died. In his monumentally consequential life and career, Brandeis proved to be one of the most gifted and precocious jurists to ever sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. A relentless pursuer of justice, Brandeis threw away the image of a judge as fettered to the…
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Life The Invisible Ones Among Us
“Know that everything is according to the reckoning.” (Ethics of our Fathers 4:29) A fundamental tenant of Jewish faith is that the universe will ultimately become just. Now, we ought to be able to look at the world and see its chaos, injustice, and brokenness. But that is not all we should see. We need…
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Community The Proposed Farm Bill Is Unethical
Whether through unforeseen circumstances or the perpetual cycle of poverty, millions of Americans depend on the modest support of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to afford food for themselves and their families. While SNAP benefits do not cover every nutritional guideline, the program provides a mechanism for families to purchase enough food to keep…
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Community Over 200 Rabbis Affirm The Need To Protect The Adoption Tax Credit
The Torah is rooted in a belief of embracing community and family, celebrating diversity and inclusiveness, and upholding traditions. A constant thread throughout these beliefs is our work to improve the lives of children in the U.S. and across the world. As the Talmud says, “Whoever raises an orphan in their home, scripture considers them…
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Community Jews Must Defend The DREAMers
On September 5, after weeks of speculation, the Trump Administration announced it will begin to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an Obama-era initiative meant to stave off the deportation of millions of undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children. The demise of the program ends the legal protections…
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Community Over 100 Rabbis Denounce The Death Penalty
We, the undersigned Rabbis across denominations, express our opposition to the use of the death penalty in America. As Jews and citizens, we believe that governments must protect the dignity and rights of every human being. By using the death penalty, our country fails to live up to this basic requirement. Too often, the wrong…
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Community What Does It Mean To Be A Religious Jew Today?
To me, being religious, in our contemporary conception of society, means making the invisible person visible and the unheard person heard. It means that in the constant journey to learn, one seeks moral refinement in each moment, all the while acting with kindness and humility towards all. One boldly leads from the inside out: inner…
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Community How Fostering Children Is Uprooting My Unconscious Racism
It is not hard to look out on the landscape of America today and see the consequences of latent racism. Despite all the progress of activists, community and religious leaders, and politicians, racism remains deeply ingrained and systemic in American society. Whether through our prison industrial complex, staggering rates of poverty within minority communities, employment…
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