Torture & Solitary Confinement
Torture is against Jewish values. Jewish tradition holds that every human being is created b’tzelem elohim (in the image of God), and is guaranteed humane and dignified treatment and basic human rights. T'ruah is the leading Jewish voice speaking out against the institutionalized use of torture by and in the United States.
T'ruah, the rabbinic conscience of the Jewish community, has long led the Jewish community in opposing the torture of detainees held in the U.S. War on Terror, through the Honor the Image of God: Stop Torture Now, A Jewish Campaign to End U.S.-Sponsored Torture Campaign. The campaign compels individuals and communities to fight torture as a Jewish moral imperative. Regardless of innocence or guilt, T'ruah firmly believes that all human beings must be guaranteed humane and dignified treatment and basic human rights.
For more information on Honor the Image of God: Stop Torture Now, A Jewish Campaign to End U.S.-Sponsored Torture, see:
Click here to read T'ruah's response to the film "Zero Dark Thirty"
On solitary confinement, T'ruah calls on Jews to join the growing movement demanding that the basic human rights of prisons be upheld by ending of the use of prolonged solitary confinement in American jails, prisons, and other sites of detention. Rabbis will meet with prisoners held in segregation to better make the world aware of their conditions, study Jewish values related to the treatment of prisoners, and support state efforts to close supermax prisons and reduce and reform the use of solitary confinement (especially for juveniles and the mentally ill). For more information on the Campaign to End the Use of Prolonged Solitary Confinement, see:
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