First Nail in the Sukkah, 5766

The First Nail in the Sukkah: a statement to be read immediately after the shofar at Neilah

Lest there be useless time between one mitzvah and the next, it is customary to hurry home from shul after neilah and immediately drive the first nail for one's sukkah into the ground. In that spirit of hastening to construct a sukkat shalom, Jews all over the United States are joining together at this most holy and hopeful moment. We will drive that first nail together by calling on our government to take an essential first step of teshuvah in the direction of abolishing torture.

Even when we have been wronged by others, we are commanded to take stock of our own behavior, to clarify which of our own responses were less than godly. Through teshuvah -- self-reflection, contrition, confession and repair -- we are liberated from the weight of sin and brought close to the Divine Presence.

Teshuvah is a national as well as a personal mandate. We recognize that the attacks of September 11, 2001, wrought devastating injury upon the people of the United States and that urgent and effective response was called for. Still we are called to act with integrity, even when defending ourselves. We are very concerned about evidence of torture, extraordinary rendition and indefinite detention of detainees. Where such allegations turn out to be true there must be acts of repair -- to make right, if possible, those who have been injured and to prevent further inhumane treatment. In this spirit we call on our elected leaders to lead us in self-examination through the creation of an independent, bipartisan Congressional Commission empowered to examine all allegations of torture and inhumane treatment of detainees under United States authority.

The letter:

Dear Senator/ Representative:

Please take leadership in calling for the creation of an independent, bipartisan Congressional Commission empowered to examine all allegations of torture and inhumane treatment of detainees under United States authority. As a Jew, I believe that honest self-examination, confession and repair of wrongful acts are the only path to justice and wholeness, for society as well as for individual souls. I am very concerned about the evidence which has arisen recently of torture, extraordinary rendition and indefinite detention of detainees. I am joining with my congregation, with Jews all over this country and with over five hundred rabbis who have signed the Rabbis' Statement Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of Detainees in calling for this Commission. For reasons both moral and pragmatic, we must model to the world that we will take responsibility for wrongs we have committed, even while we defend ourselves.

With best wishes for peace and wholeness in this Jewish year 5766.