Equity and Justice Values from a Jewish Perspective: The Jewish value of ongoing practice to make change in ourselves and our communities

The Jewish people’s covenantal relationship with HaShem in the Torah and in our tradition is founded and built on the ethic and ongoing practice of justice and equity. It’s clear that justice and equity were meant to be an ongoing practice for all the Israelites because HaShem created the world not as a utopian society, but as an invitation to be partners in healing brokenness, ending poverty and exploitation, and resisting oppression. The Israelites are given numerous instructions for how to show up in a sacred partnership with HaShem.

For example, as an agricultural society, we were commanded to not reap the edge of our fields so that those who are hungry would be able to come gather food for themselves and their family on their schedule to sustain their well-being and their dignity. We are instructed to give loans freely without interest, and “If there is a needy person among you, one of your brothers in any of your cities …you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your needy brother. Rather,….you shall lend him sufficiently for whatever he needs” (Devarim/Deut 15: 7-8). Indeed, the common refrain of the prophets who are sent to rebuke the Israelites for breaking the terms of our holy covenant is to “share our bread with the hungry, clothe the naked, and break the bonds of the oppressed” (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 58:6-7).

This covenantal mandate to continuously practice communal justice and equity did not only apply to fellow Israelites, but also to the “strangers” in their midst, which can be likened to those in our society today who are not part of the dominant culture. We’re instructed 36 times in the Torah with variations to “not oppress the stranger because we know the feelings of the stranger” (Shemot 23:9) and to “love our neighbors as ourselves” (Vayikra/Lev 19:18), meaning just as we cry out to HaShem to support us because we love ourselves, so too do we need to heed the cry of our neighbors and “strangers” who are suffering and/or oppressed.

A key feature of these directives for equity is that they are not only about changing social conditions, but also about transforming the character of the practitioner. HaShem knows that an oppressed people will quickly turn around and oppress those who are more vulnerable. The Torah’s program for justice is also a program for internal healing of those places within ourselves that are broken and vulnerable. Through the communal practice of equity and justice, the Israelites and the Jewish people are meant to continuously transform ourselves and not only create a holy society, but become a holy people living in partnership with HaShem.

“Moving Through the Wilderness: Recommitting to Equity After 10/7” is a collection of brief essays born out of Elevate: An Executive Leadership Equity Accelerator. Elevate launched in May 2023 and its first cohort consisted of eleven CEOs of influential Jewish institutions, who are committed to the Jewish value and responsibility of equity within our community. The idea for this project emerged in Montgomery, Alabama during one of Elevate’s in-person convenings in early 2024. To learn more about Elevate and the program’s co-founders and leaders, Gamal J. Palmer and Catherine Bell, click here .

Moving Through the Wilderness is presented in partnership with the Forward, the leading voice in Jewish journalism. Read more essays in the collection.