January 26, 2026
Dear Friends,
We are horrified as we process the news coming out of Minnesota and other cities where ICE is operating with heightened force—including by the murder of Alex Pretti this past Shabbat.
As Rabbi Slakman shared in her Friday night remarks,
“This moment in our country’s history should strike us to our core. We—who are commanded to always remember—are witnessing unjust violence carried out by the government against our own communities. Agents enter homes without warning, tearing families apart, detaining people with no notice, swiftly and with little recourse. Neighborhoods brace themselves in fear. Entire cities live in fear. People are dying in detention. People are being murdered in the streets. Remember. Remember. Remember…
…Burned into our collective memory are images of the hundreds of refugees aboard the S.S. St. Louis, actively escaping Hitler and turned away by the United States and Cuba. Instead of being offered a haven from the storm, they were sent back to Europe under the watch of US Coast Guard boats, which patrolled to ensure no one slipped off to freedom. And the Torah is here to tell us that this memory is not just theoretical. It’s visceral. We remember that knock on the door: in Egypt, Spain, Germany, and even in the United States. We remember what it feels like to be outside the gates, to be at the mercy of someone else’s borders, someone else’s rules. We remember the human cost of indifference.”
We must not be indifferent. As Rabbi Tuling noted in her Saturday morning remarks, “What’s needed in this moment is the bold risk-taking courage of the midwives” who acted quickly to save Israelite children from the Pharaoh’s terrible edict.
Our tradition calls on us to witness, to listen, and to act.
In Genesis 4:10, after Cain kills his brother Abel, we read, “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” (קוֹל דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ צֹעֲקִים אֵלַי מִן־הָאֲדָמָה)
In this moment—from Minneapolis to detention centers around the country—blood cries out from the ground.
In Solidarity,
Rabbi Josh Beraha
Rabbi Healy Slakman
Rabbi Dr. Kari Tuling