Shared Principles

We are the home for Jewish clergy to organize with our neighbors and allies for a New York City with freedom, opportunity, & dignity for all.

We are building an inclusive and pluralist home for New York rabbis and cantors committed to building a more just city. We draw meaning and power from a plurality of relationships to Judaism, and most of us source inspiration from intersections of several –historical, cultural, religious, political, familial.

We believe that to be a rabbi or cantor is to be a moral leader, and that clergy have a crucial role to play in the movement to protect and advance human rights. We organize rabbis and cantors to live out our Torah in the streets, and to bring the wisdom of Jewish teachings and the power of Jewish ritual to working for racial and economic justice in our city.

We show up for others and for ourselves. We understand that antisemitism, racism, gender discimination, and other forms of oppression uphold one another, and that our safety lies in solidarity. When we fight for ourselves as Jews and our neighbors across New York, we recognize that we are all in this together.

We take care of ourselves and each other. Our community aspires to move at a collective pace and in the rhythms of our ancestors and traditions. Shabbat offers a glimpse of the world to come, and demands that we stop to rest and nourish ourselves and each other. We do not organize or co-sponsor events on Shabbat or major Jewish holidays.

We recognize everyone has experience and skills to contribute to our movement. We need people to organize, to plan, to hold us together, and to simply show up. We welcome all rabbis, cantors & clergy students, of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Together, we are working towards building an open, accessible, participatory, and leaderful network. We invest in the leadership of women, non-binary, queer, and trans clergy as well as rabbis and cantors of color.

We create the world we want through how we act right now. We are committed to being and building a community that is blessedly human; we aim first to prevent harm; we welcome healthy conflict and disagreement; we approach honest mistakes with curiosity and generosity. When harm happens, we commit to teshuva as a roadmap toward accountability and repair.

We hold sacred the value of makhloket leshem shamayim: principled disagreement for the sake of heaven. Our desire to be part of a robust community of progressive organizations across New York City requires that we form broad coalitions among those committed to taking nonviolent action to protect the human rights and dignity of all New Yorkers. We believe that our communities are strengthened by vigorous debate, and we support our members in all of our diversity of opinion. We uplift those in our communities who engage in debate and disagreement for the sake of greater truth, justice, and peace.