JVP Rabbinical Council Condemns the Sale of Palestinian Land at Synogogues

כׇּל מִי שֶׁאֶפְשָׁר לִמְחוֹת לְאַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ וְלֹא מִיחָה — נִתְפָּס עַל אַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ. בְּאַנְשֵׁי עִירוֹ — נִתְפָּס עַל אַנְשֵׁי עִירוֹ. בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ — נִתְפָּס עַל כָּל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ.

Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 54b

The Rabbis of the Talmud teach that anyone who witnesses and is able to protest sinful conduct is obligated to do so, wherever it may occur — in our own homes, in our synagogues, in our communities, throughout the whole world. If we do not, it is as though we ourselves have committed the sin.

Recently, some synagogues have disgracefully hosted events seeking to enable American and Israeli Jews buy Palestinian land — land that is already illegally occupied by the Israeli military — as genocide rages on in Gaza. When this happens, we and our comrades are there to protest these events; as rabbis, we see it as our moral responsibility to do so.

The property for sale at these events is only available for Jewish people to purchase and is described in the event’s literature as being in “the best Anglo neighborhoods.” We commend our fellow activists for standing up to this blatant racism, lifting the veil on these banal-sounding “real estate events” to expose the violence and settler-colonial theft they actively facilitate. 

As a rabbinic council, we condemn the sins of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide. We denounce the misuse of our sacred spaces for this atrocious purpose and we support our comrades, including Jews, Palestinians, and allies, in fulfilling their moral duty by protesting this tool of the ongoing Nakba, wherever it rears its head. We reject the inaccurate and dangerous accusations of antisemitism leveraged against those protesting these “Great Israeli Real Estate Events.” 

We will continue to fight back against the relentless demonization of the millions of people demanding a ceasefire and an end to genocide and U.S. weapons sales to Israel. In the lineage of our Jewish tradition, we call upon all people of conscience to stand in solidarity with Palestine, continue the fight for Palestinian rights, and demand an end to the theft of Palestinian land.