More than 30 synagogues hang Stop Torture banners in honor of Torture Awareness Month

RHR-NA is pleased to announce that 32 Jewish communities are participating in Banners Across America, a critical interfaith witness against torture coordinated by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. These synagogues--of all sizes and across the denominational spectrum--are taking a public stand against the use of abusive interrogation techniques by the American military and intelligence community. With the 2008 election coming ever closer, it is important that candidates from both parties know that the voice of the religious community speaks out loudly against this shameful practice. We call on them to ensure that America's moral standing is restored and that we uphold the regulations against torture found in American and international law. A press release can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

Jewish tradition teaches that all human beings are created in God’s image, and obliges us to protect human life and dignity. The Talmud teaches that to shame and humiliate someone else is akin to spilling their blood, to killing them. The treatment of prisoners in American military detention centers seems uniquely tailored to inflict shame and humiliation on detainees. The Jewish Campaign Against Torture has been RHR-NA's effort to bring the Jewish message of compassion for the stranger and historical identification with victims of torture to the American public, and keep these questions at the front of the Jewish national agenda. Said Rabbi Joseph Wolf, rabbi of Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon, “We’re joining a chorus of voices that have long been kept quiet but now are singing out loud. We’re concerned that the country that historically represents the best hope for human rights in the world has become a bastion of silence, repression and even cruelty. When you feel threatened, you can’t become the threat. It’s time that we put not only an end to torture, but acclaim a higher truth about the dignity of all human beings.”

The 2008 Banner Project is a critical reminder of this message. As Rabbi Rolando Matalon, rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York, said: "We are putting the banner inside of our sanctuary so that we may be reminded as we pray and study Torah that working to abolish torture is a Jewish religious imperative."

See pictures of the synagogues with banners and read the JTA story!

You can still order a banner for your congregation. Learn how!

We are grateful to the following congregations, who are displaying either the RHR-NA or the NRCAT banner:

Netivot Shalom (Rabbi Menachem Creditor) and Or Hadash/Return to Daylight USA, Bay Area, CA
Temple Isaiah, Lafayette, CA (Rabbi Roberto Graetz)
Mendocino Coast Jewish Community, Mendocino, CA (Rabbi Margaret Holub)
Kehilla Community Synagogue, Piedmont, CA (Rabbi David J. Cooper)

Congregation B'nai Tikvah, Walnut Creek, CA (Rabbi Raphael Asher)
Temple Micah, Washington, DC (Rabbi Daniel Zemel)

Temple Israel of Greater Miami, Miami, FL (Rabbi Jody Cohen)
Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, IL (Rabbi Brant Rosen)

Jewish Community of Amherst, Amherst, MA (Rabbi David Dunn Bauer)
Temple Israel, Greenfield, MA (Rabbi Efraim Eisen)

Congregation B’nai Israel, Northampton, MA (Rabbi Justin David)
Agudas Israel Congregation, Hendersonville, NC (Rabbi Philip Bentley)
Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel, Maywood, NJ (student rabbi Jarah Greenfield)
Temple Beth Shalom, Santa Fe, NM (Rabbi Marvin Schwab)
Kolot Chayeinu, Brooklyn NY (Rabbi Ellen Lippmann)
Park Slope Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY (Rabbi Carie Carter)

Congregation Tikkun V'Or, Ithaca, NY

Temple Sholom, Floral Park, NY (Rabbi Shelley Kovar Becker)
Congregation Ansche Chesed, New York, NY (Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky)

Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, New York, NY (Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum)
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, New York, NY (Rabbi Rolando Matalon)
Congregation Shaare Zedek, New York, NY (Rabbi Julia Andelman)

West End Synagogue, New York, NY (Rabbi Yael Ridberg)

Temple Beth Torah, Upper Nyack, NY (Rabbi Brian Beal)
Congregation Kol Ami, White Plains, NY (Rabbi Shira Milgrom)
Temple Beth Israel, Eugene, OR (Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin and Rabbi Maurice Harris)
Havurah Shalom, Portland, OR (Rabbi Joey Wolf)
Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation, Fort Washington, PA (Rabbi Joshua Waxman)
The Shalom Center, Philadelphia, PA (Rabbi Arthur Waskow)

Mishkan Shalom, Philadelphia, PA (Rabbi Linda Holtzman)

Congregation Beth El, Bennington, VT (Rabbi Joshua Boettiger)

Havurah: The Addison County Jewish Congregation, Middlebury, VT

(As of 9/9/08)