"Let the people vote!" If you're in the Washington, D.C. area, join us for an interfaith gathering bringing a moral voice in support of free and fair elections. Each Monday, we meet at 12:00 pm in Freedom Plaza with speakers, singing, and community-building. See you there!

The Rev. Robin Tanner prayed for the childhood moments detention will interrupt: "a familiar bedtime, a classroom full of friends, a meal around a family table." The Torah commands: "Do not subvert the justice due to the stranger or the orphan" (Deuteronomy 24:17).

The facility sits next to the busiest deportation-flight hub in the country. It will be run by an arm of a private prison company. Last week, Christian and Unitarian Universalist clergy held a vigil outside the fence.

Every child has the right to play, learn, and grow in freedom. In Alexandria, Louisiana, ICE is preparing to take that away. Inside fenced-off former military barracks, ICE is readying a facility to hold immigrant families and children who arrived without a parent.

Our "capacity for imagination is that it allows us to see beyond ourselves, both through connection to other beings as themselves, and by understanding the grandeur of Hashem’s world. To focus only on our own pain and suffering or to refuse to imagine the other worlds that are possible."

As we begin the Torah cycle this week and read about the creation of the world, Rabbi Jonah Winer asks in this week's installment of (M)oral Torah, "Why did Hashem make us?" He finds an answer in the words of the Hasidic master Reb Simcha Bunem of Przysucha (d.1827).

"Seek peace and pursue it." (Psalm 34:15) As the Torah says, we don't wait for peace. We actively pursue it: a ceasefire that holds, Israeli troops withdrawn, Gaza rebuilt, an end to the occupation, accountability, and a future of safety and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

We mourn all the lives lost in the 3 years that followed. We mourn the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in Gaza — children, parents, whole families — & cry out for the people of Gaza displaced, homeless, & hungry under a ceasefire that Israel is continually breaking.

Three years ago, our world was torn open. We mourn the Israelis and people of other nationalities murdered by Hamas, in their homes and at a music festival, and the hostages who never came home alive. Parents, children, grandparents, friends. Each person an entire world.

We can want a better future for Israelis and a better future for Palestinians. In fact, caring about both peoples makes perfect sense -- their future is wrapped up in each other. 🕊️

But this is a false binary. We can decry attempted terrorism against Israeli civilians even as we decry Israeli state terror against Palestinians in the West Bank. We can hold the pain of Israelis slain on October 7 by Hamas & insist that Israel stop bombing Gaza, leave the Strip, end the blockade.

We have seen people on both sides of this divide deny the evidence of their own eyes to stay loyal to their side. When antisemitism or anti-Muslim/anti-Arab hate are in the mix, the dehumanization becomes even worse.

These reactions are the result of a narrative that seeks to force us to choose sides and deny the humanity of the other: If we are "pro-Palestinian," we can never show care or concern for Israelis. If we are "pro-Israeli," we can never show care or concern for Palestinians.

We've also seen people celebrating this attempted attack on Israelis. These responses are horrifying. Attacks on civilians, no matter what their religion or nationality, are morally reprehensible and wrong. Every human being has infinite worth. Terrorizing families is never something to celebrate.

As we learn more about the security failures that led to the attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight, we're even more grateful that all passengers survived. Yet, in the past few days, we've seen conspiracy theories flooding social media, full of antisemitic tropes, to deny this attack was real. 🧵

Rabbi Jill Jacobs responds to a new investigation in Haaretz revealing the US-based Tikvah fund has invested millions in placing a settler elite in charge of Israel's military, perpetuating forever war.

Please join the New Israel Fund and Parents Circle - Families Forum in commemorating the 3rd anniversary and its aftermath by honoring both our shared pain and our shared humanity on Tuesday, October 6 at 1:00 pm ET | 10:00 am PT | 6:00 pm UK | 7:00 pm Central Europe | 8:00 pm Israel + Palestine.

October 7, 2026 marks three of the darkest years in recent history for Palestinians and Israelis alike. The pain and destruction are heavy in our hearts.