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Help Launch Torah Trumps Hate!
It started in 2016. A woman named Victoria Cook watched in pain many of her friends and family in the Jewish orthodox community in which she was educated and nurtured were celebrating the win of an authoritarian demagogue who had used his campaign to threaten minorities, Muslims, immigrants, and the very foundations of American democracy.
Feeling desperate and alone, she started a secret Facebook group that she called Torah Trumps Hate for others who were part of the orthodox world in some way. In a matter of months, the group had reached hundreds of other orthodox Jews and post-orthodox Jews who were anti-Trump, progressive, and shocked at their communities for their jubilation over Trump’s win. For many, it became a lifeline: one of the few places they could find other like-minded Jews.
A year later, Torah Trumps Hate had grown to over 2,000 members. Its popularity had grown so visibly, despite its status as a secret group, that it was starting to attract people outside the orthodox world, and was developing into a pluralist group devoted to fighting for progressive values. More and more people were organizing together, speaking up together, and planning together.
And that was when Torah Trumps Hate decided to go public. In only one year, we had gone from a group of scared, pained Orthodox Jews to a progressive activist movement informed by its deep commitment to Torah.
Almost overnight, we made our presence felt. From our first participation in the March for Racial Justice to our director of activism, Sara Atkins, getting arrested for health care , to our Moral Mincha protests against the Orthodox Union for its celebration of Jeff Sessions days after he instituted the family separation policy at the border, we have been working to give a voice and tools to the Torah-rooted Jew to fight for justice in the world.
All of this, until now, has been done without any funding and no staff.
Today, with your help, is the day that changes.
Recently, Torah Trumps Hate became fiscally sponsored by Jumpstart Labs , which means that we can now receive tax-deductible donations through Jumpstart. In other words: we are ready to enter the next stage of our growth. And this stage is the one where we can make more change than ever.
Our vision is simple: we want to make the voice of progressive Torah-loving Jews one that is as established, and as important, as those of the OU, the ZOA, and other such organizations.
In the wake of the horror of the Poway shooting, and the fear we have seen so many Jewish organizations show in the face of white nationalism and growing authoritarianism, we feel this is a need that must be filled, and fast.
But more important than that: we want to elevate the voices of our members, and all progressive Torah-centered Jews, to become elevated and centered. You, in other words.
What We’ll Spend The Money On
Our main focus as we begin our growth will be two main investments:
Our first Torah Trumps Hate shabbaton!
This has been talked about for ages, but without anyone devoted to making it happen or without the time or resources necessary for planning, we have not been able to realistically go about it. That changes today. From here on out, this will be one of our top priorities. We know how alone so many of our members feel, and how many other progressive Jews in traditional spaces feel. We want to bring you together. Not just for the sake of coming together, but to build skills, discover resources, deepen communication, and so much more.
More communal events
As an extension of our communal work with our shabbaton, we are deeply invested in growing our community outside of the Facebook group. There will never be anything quite as powerful as in-person get-togethers, and so a big part of our work will be in getting these communal events organized. We are deeply invested in doing this in as many areas of America as possible, and will be working with our group to find the most-needed areas for community.
Activism
Well, of course. This is the work that we will be building out more and more as time passes. Whether it is training for activism or activism itself, we will be doing much more of our work. This will be a combination of intra and inter-communal activism. Our goal: to break the hegemony of those who claim to fight for Torah values while demanding subservience to conservative politics.
More inter-communal work
Whether we are working to strengthen dialogues between orthodox communities and their neighbors in Brooklyn or working with Muslim organizations to fight the white nationalism that endangers both our communities, we will work to deepen connections with other communities in our work. More importantly, we will find more opportunities for our members to contribute to this work.
Expanding our online work
Social media and other internet outlets have allowed voices like ours, which are usually silenced by the majority in our communities. We will work to expand the voice of our members and remind the Jewish world (and the world at large) that it is not as neatly cut up into political pieces as it thinks.
Creating a social justice curriculum for day schools
This is one of our dreams, and will require significant funding to get off the ground, but we are deeply committed to making it happen. This would be a social justice curriculum which would teach from a distinctly Jewish perspective why we are obligated to work towards an inclusive society in which all people have the opportunity to fulfill their potential and where fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, and poverty are essential core components of living a Jewish life. The curriculum would be created by Orthodox rabbis and other Torah and rabbinic scholars and would be text-based.
Much more
There is so much to be done. And we are only beginning to imagine it all. If you have ideas, feel free to share them.
Read more about us
You can learn more about us on our website.
Here is a profile of our work in the Forward .
A profile of our Moral Mincha protest in Haaretz .
A profile of our Founder, Victoria Cook, in Tablet .
A profile of our Executive Director, Elad Nehorai, in JTA .
A profile of our Director of Activism, Sara Atkins, in the Forward .
A profile of our Head of Immigration and Voter Mobilization, Elias Rosenfeld (himself a Dreamer), in JTA .
A profile of our Rabbinic Advisor, Mike Moskowitz, in the Jewish Standard .
A writeup in the New Republic .
A writeup in Harvard Divinity Bulletin .
NOTES:
1. Since we are fiscally sponsored, your donation will go to Jumpstart Labs. No worries, it's all coming to us :)
2. Your donations will all be tax deductible, through Jumpstart.
3. To donate regularly, you can go here .
Feeling desperate and alone, she started a secret Facebook group that she called Torah Trumps Hate for others who were part of the orthodox world in some way. In a matter of months, the group had reached hundreds of other orthodox Jews and post-orthodox Jews who were anti-Trump, progressive, and shocked at their communities for their jubilation over Trump’s win. For many, it became a lifeline: one of the few places they could find other like-minded Jews.
A year later, Torah Trumps Hate had grown to over 2,000 members. Its popularity had grown so visibly, despite its status as a secret group, that it was starting to attract people outside the orthodox world, and was developing into a pluralist group devoted to fighting for progressive values. More and more people were organizing together, speaking up together, and planning together.
And that was when Torah Trumps Hate decided to go public. In only one year, we had gone from a group of scared, pained Orthodox Jews to a progressive activist movement informed by its deep commitment to Torah.
Almost overnight, we made our presence felt. From our first participation in the March for Racial Justice to our director of activism, Sara Atkins, getting arrested for health care , to our Moral Mincha protests against the Orthodox Union for its celebration of Jeff Sessions days after he instituted the family separation policy at the border, we have been working to give a voice and tools to the Torah-rooted Jew to fight for justice in the world.
All of this, until now, has been done without any funding and no staff.
Today, with your help, is the day that changes.
Recently, Torah Trumps Hate became fiscally sponsored by Jumpstart Labs , which means that we can now receive tax-deductible donations through Jumpstart. In other words: we are ready to enter the next stage of our growth. And this stage is the one where we can make more change than ever.
Our vision is simple: we want to make the voice of progressive Torah-loving Jews one that is as established, and as important, as those of the OU, the ZOA, and other such organizations.
In the wake of the horror of the Poway shooting, and the fear we have seen so many Jewish organizations show in the face of white nationalism and growing authoritarianism, we feel this is a need that must be filled, and fast.
But more important than that: we want to elevate the voices of our members, and all progressive Torah-centered Jews, to become elevated and centered. You, in other words.
What We’ll Spend The Money On
Our main focus as we begin our growth will be two main investments:
Our first Torah Trumps Hate shabbaton!
This has been talked about for ages, but without anyone devoted to making it happen or without the time or resources necessary for planning, we have not been able to realistically go about it. That changes today. From here on out, this will be one of our top priorities. We know how alone so many of our members feel, and how many other progressive Jews in traditional spaces feel. We want to bring you together. Not just for the sake of coming together, but to build skills, discover resources, deepen communication, and so much more.
More communal events
As an extension of our communal work with our shabbaton, we are deeply invested in growing our community outside of the Facebook group. There will never be anything quite as powerful as in-person get-togethers, and so a big part of our work will be in getting these communal events organized. We are deeply invested in doing this in as many areas of America as possible, and will be working with our group to find the most-needed areas for community.
Activism
Well, of course. This is the work that we will be building out more and more as time passes. Whether it is training for activism or activism itself, we will be doing much more of our work. This will be a combination of intra and inter-communal activism. Our goal: to break the hegemony of those who claim to fight for Torah values while demanding subservience to conservative politics.
More inter-communal work
Whether we are working to strengthen dialogues between orthodox communities and their neighbors in Brooklyn or working with Muslim organizations to fight the white nationalism that endangers both our communities, we will work to deepen connections with other communities in our work. More importantly, we will find more opportunities for our members to contribute to this work.
Expanding our online work
Social media and other internet outlets have allowed voices like ours, which are usually silenced by the majority in our communities. We will work to expand the voice of our members and remind the Jewish world (and the world at large) that it is not as neatly cut up into political pieces as it thinks.
Creating a social justice curriculum for day schools
This is one of our dreams, and will require significant funding to get off the ground, but we are deeply committed to making it happen. This would be a social justice curriculum which would teach from a distinctly Jewish perspective why we are obligated to work towards an inclusive society in which all people have the opportunity to fulfill their potential and where fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, and poverty are essential core components of living a Jewish life. The curriculum would be created by Orthodox rabbis and other Torah and rabbinic scholars and would be text-based.
Much more
There is so much to be done. And we are only beginning to imagine it all. If you have ideas, feel free to share them.
Read more about us
You can learn more about us on our website.
Here is a profile of our work in the Forward .
A profile of our Moral Mincha protest in Haaretz .
A profile of our Founder, Victoria Cook, in Tablet .
A profile of our Executive Director, Elad Nehorai, in JTA .
A profile of our Director of Activism, Sara Atkins, in the Forward .
A profile of our Head of Immigration and Voter Mobilization, Elias Rosenfeld (himself a Dreamer), in JTA .
A profile of our Rabbinic Advisor, Mike Moskowitz, in the Jewish Standard .
A writeup in the New Republic .
A writeup in Harvard Divinity Bulletin .
NOTES:
1. Since we are fiscally sponsored, your donation will go to Jumpstart Labs. No worries, it's all coming to us :)
2. Your donations will all be tax deductible, through Jumpstart.
3. To donate regularly, you can go here .
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