Human Rights Shabbat is an opportunity for reflection and celebration, a yom tov for human rights that has been inspired and nurtured by Rabbis for Human Rights. Human Rights Shabbat coincides, each year, with International Human Rights Day (December 10th), which marks the anniversary of the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Once again, The Little Minyan will join with over 100 communities around the world to recognize the connections between Jewish values and human rights, and pledge to manifest the value of k’vod habriot/human dignity in our communities. Join us as we look at the links between fair trade principles, Jewish values, and universal human rights, and delve into the different Jewish rationales for universal human dignity.
Consider this excerpt from an essay by David Spinrada, who traveled to Immokalee, Florida, with Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, to witness the conditions
surrounding the tomato harvest there. He writes that the trip triggered for him a passage from Pirkei Avot in which Ben Zoma asks four rhetorical questions:
“Who is wise?” He said it is one who learns from everyone. “Who is powerful?” One with self-control. “Who is wealthy?” Wealthy is the one who appreciates what he has. And finally, Ben Zoma asks, “Aizohu mechubad? Who is honored? Hamchabed et habriyot (Pirkei Avot 4:1). The one who is honored honors God’s creations, specifically, honors other human beings. The one who is honored honors and affirms human dignity in another.”
Spinrada reminds us that “neither mountaintop sage nor one on a high rung of the corporate ladder holds a monopoly on teaching us what we need to know. Wisdom is gained by talking to all kinds of people, by listening to what they have to say, be they the person next to you on the bus or those who help bring our food from the fields to our tables.”
For more information about Rabbis for Human Rights, please visit their website. For an opportunity to bring light to the darkness of a December Erev Shabbat, join Jessica Shimberg, Bill Cohen, and members of the Little Minyan as we welcome Shabbat with special attention to our responsibility to k’vod habriot/human dignity, on Friday, December 9, at 7:30 p.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Upper Arlington.
