Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

Grief may shatter our hearts, but our ancestors passed on the traditions of Tisha B’Av so every generation can find strength, commitment, love, and vision in community together.

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This year, Bend the Arc has partnered with
@neveragainnw.bsky.social to amplify events around the country that say:

Not in Our Name: Our Collective Cry to Rebuild Sanctuary

secure.everyaction.com/p/ez7Ti3Ms0U...

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Through ritual and gathering we can turn our grief into shards of rainbow lights that create new possibilities and a world with less suffering for those who come after us.

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On Tisha B’Av, we allow ourselves to mourn, grieve, and cry together and publicly.

We mourn the destruction of the past, the destruction we see all around us today, and the destruction future generations will inherit.

It is through fully feeling our despair that we know our hearts have not hardened and we have not withdrawn from the world around us.

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The world recently lost artist and poet, Andrea Gibson, who says in their poem “Good Grief”,

“Let your heart break, so that your spirit doesn’t.”

This beautifully reflects the spirit of Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of collective mourning this weekend known as the saddest day of the year.

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Rabbis sitting in and being arrested

A statement from Bend the Arc CEO @jamieberan.bsky.social:

Food aid to Gaza is critical. And it won’t be enough.

Yesterday, 35 rabbis were arrested in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

A day prior, another eight rabbis were arrested. Tens of thousands of Jews have taken action. 🧵

Over the past couple years, @bendthearc.bsky.social's stances and messaging on Israel-Palestine have evolved in a way I very much welcome. For an org that has the ear of power players in DC, these words and deeds are notable and admirable. Bravo.

Food aid to Gaza is critical. And it won’t be enough. We as Jews are not only commanded to feed the hungry, but to repair the conditions that create the hunger

Read the statement here:
www.bendthearc.us/food_aid_to_...

Jews for Food Aid for Gaza Jewish people support food aid for families in Gaza and an immediate end to the Israeli government’s food aid blockade. #JewsForFoodAidForPeopleInGaza

We urge you to continue signing up your Jewish friends, congregations, and organizations to end the blockade of food and aid at foodaidforgaza.org.

Real lives depend on it.
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People of every faith should be demanding action, but Jews — whose safety is being co-opted in order to justify what is happening — must be the loudest.

This is the time to insist with moral clarity.

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Hunger in Gaza is a deliberate strategy by those who control every aspect of Palestinian life: the Israeli government, its primary (often solo) global backer, the Trump regime, and the lawmakers enabling the situation.

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Since Jews for Food Aid for People in Gaza began months ago, the Israeli government itself confirmed what we all already knew:

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We as Jews are not only commanded to feed the hungry, אם היה רעב, יאכילוהו, but to repair the conditions that create the hunger — in this case, U.S. support for the Israeli government’s siege of 2.2 million Palestinians.

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While Bend the Arc’s work is focused here in the United States, the urgency of this situation — and my Jewish values — make it a moral imperative for me as a Jewish leader to speak out, especially because devastation abroad threatens everything we’re fighting for here at home.

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This is why, when we call for resumption of food aid, we must also demand an immediate ceasefire and medical access for the world’s doctors and health professionals to the whole of Gaza.

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Experts call this “refeeding syndrome," and teams of medical professionals and working hospitals are needed to prevent it from causing paralysis, respiratory distress, heart attacks, brain damage, and organ failure.

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Doctors tell us that food itself cannot save those already impacted by starvation. In fact, sudden intake of food without sophisticated medical care could put victims at even further risk of permanent disability and death.

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Adding our names to the voices demanding a return of food aid will help prevent more famine. www.foodaidforgaza.org

But we also implore you to do more.
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Today, as images of emaciated children become shockingly common, we are seeing fellow Jewish institutions and leaders, who had previously either denied the facts or sat on the sidelines, finally speak up.

To stop this crisis, everyone is needed.

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Jews for Food Aid for Gaza Jewish people support food aid for families in Gaza and an immediate end to the Israeli government’s food aid blockade. #JewsForFoodAidForPeopleInGaza

And Bend the Arc — along with 100 Jewish congregations, synagogues, and organizations — keeps sounding the alarm as part of Jews for Food Aid for People in Gaza.
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Rabbis sitting in and being arrested

A statement from Bend the Arc CEO @jamieberan.bsky.social:

Food aid to Gaza is critical. And it won’t be enough.

Yesterday, 35 rabbis were arrested in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

A day prior, another eight rabbis were arrested. Tens of thousands of Jews have taken action. 🧵

Brad Lander, NYC comptroller and a Mamdani ally, responds to PA Gov. Josh Shapiro, who said Mamdani hasn’t condemned antisemitic rhetoric:

“Josh Shapiro won’t help keep Jews safe in NYC or Pennsylvania by feeding Trump’s narrative about our Democratic nominee for mayor.”

Video: We Get There Together For too long, immigration has been used as an issue to divide working people and protect the interests of corporations, billionaires, and politicians who profit from fear and division. Our new video, ...

Across the U.S., people can't afford to pay rent, buy groceries, or see a doctor. And yet, Congress just gave ICE a budget bigger than most militaries.

-How’d we get here?
-Who benefits from keeping us divided?

A better future is still possible. Watch, learn & share ⬇️
www.nilc.org/articles/vid...

Cuomo is out here literally blaming Jews for losing the New York election.

He does not care about Jewish safety. He's using antisemitism as a smokescreen for his own political gain.

We won't be divided.

PS: Many Jews support Zohran Mamdani, even when there is disagreement, because his policies actually keep us safe.

Cuomo is out here literally blaming Jews for losing the New York election.

He does not care about Jewish safety. He's using antisemitism as a smokescreen for his own political gain.

We won't be divided.

Thank you @maxwellfrost.bsky.social for visiting and speaking out.

Millions of families will suffer so billionaires can get another tax break. We’re proud to stand with @aftunion and 140+ orgs calling out this cruelty. Join us: organize, vote, fight back. https://www.aft.org/they-betrayed-us Trump and Congressional Republicans passed a cruel budget that guts healthcare, education, and food aid—just to give billionaires another tax break. We won’t forget. https://www.aft.org/they-betrayed-us This #BigUglyBill will leave families sicker, hungrier, and poorer—all to fund tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. That’s not policy. That’s cruelty. We’re organizing, voting, and fighting to undo the damage. Join us.

We joined many of our partners and signed on to this powerful
@aft.org ad in the New York Times today because we believe working families deserve better.

Trump and Republicans in Congress betrayed us.

We won’t forget.

www.aft.org/they-betraye...

We must dismantle antisemitism, and we will do so alongside all systems of oppression.

Learn more at www.dismantlingantisemitism.org

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Whether excusing antisemitism on the right, manufacturing antisemitism on the left, or when presented with real antisemitism, anywhere, abusing it for its own separate agenda rather than fighting it, the ADL has abandoned its stated mission to make Jewish people safer.

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