Rabbi Simcha Y. Weintraub

Over 70 rabbis gathered on May 8th in New York to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut and the launching of the Planting Justice: Two Trees initiative. Rabbi Simkha Weintraub and singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman led the crowd in a special mincha for Yom HaAtzma'ut and Rabbi Gordon Tucker taught from RHR's Masekhet Ha'Atzmaut. View pictures of the event and read more about it.

The attached PDF was used as part of an alternative mincha service during the 2008 RHR-NA Yom Ha'Atzmaut celebration in New York, during which the Planting Justice: Two Trees initiative was launched. Rabbi Simkha Weintraub, who compiled these texts, led services with noted singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman.

This piece is a contemporary interpretation of the al chet prayer from the high holy day liturgy with its emphasis on our complicity to torture.