Arik Ascherman (; born 1959) is an American-born

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, and executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Torat Tzedek-Torah of Justice. For 21 years, starting in 1995, he served as co-director (1995–1998), executive director (1998–2010), director of special projects (2010–2012) and president and senior

(2012–2017) for Rabbis for Human Rights, an

i organization. As a

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, he has spearheaded activities to defend

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

against

Israeli settler violence Palestinians are the target of violence by Israeli settlers and their supporters, predominantly in the West Bank. In November 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed the steep rise in the number of incidents between settlers and Pal ...

, worked for socioeconomic justice for Israelis, and advocated on behalf of Israel's Bedouin citizens. He has been frequently attacked and subject to beatings by settlers,Judy Malt
'How a U.S.-born Rabbi Became the Nemesis of Radical West Bank Settlers,'

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

26 April 2021:'During nearly a quarter century of human rights work, Ascherman has been arrested, by his count, “dozens” of times and physically assaulted, including at knifepoint, “somewhere between 20 to 30 times.” He stood trial once for trying to obstruct a bulldozer that was about to demolish a Palestinian home in East Jerusalem, though his conviction was later overturned after he agreed to perform community service. He had another close call earlier this year when his car was sabotaged while he was out on patrol duty, and the wheels started to break loose while he was driving back home.' and has stood trial several times for acts of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

. He appears in the 2010 documentary '' Israel vs Israel''. He is fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic.

Biography

Ascherman grew up in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

, and attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Though he planned to attend rabbinical seminary immediately after graduation, he was not accepted, and encouraged to reapply after gaining some real-life experience. He joined Interns for Peace, a coexistence project which sent him to the

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

of Tamra and the Israeli Jewish city of Kiryat Ata to work from 1981 to 1983. After that, he returned to the United States to complete his rabbinical training. He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

to Israel in 1994. He attributes his interest in activism on behalf of universal human rights to the rabbinic concept of '' tikkun olam'' (lit. "repairing the world"), referring to universal human rights and social justice. He draws his inspiration specifically from a remark in the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

ic ethical tract

Pirkei Avot Pirkei Avot (; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth'', also ''Abhoth''), which translates into English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from Rabbinic Jewis ...

: "In a place where there are no men (decent people) strive to be a man." Ascherman actively protects Palestinian citizens and farmers against Israeli police and settlers. In 2002, he intervened in the questioning of two Muslim women representatives of the International Women's Peace Service in the Palestinian village of Haris. He accompanied them to an Israeli police station. Here they were accused of obstructing police activities and incitement to riot after they questioned Israeli soldiers who had fired live ammunition into the village. Ascherman translated documents for them and drove them back to Jerusalem after their release eight hours later. Ascherman and Rabbis for Human Rights were known for dispatching volunteers to act as human shields to protect the Palestinian

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

harvest from vandalism and assault by settlers living on nearby land; every year, clashes are reported between settlers and Palestinian farmers. In 2008, the volunteer effort encompassed 40 villages. The effort was launched in 2002 when a Palestinian peace activist solicited RHR's help to protect olive pickers against attacks by settlers living near the village of Yassuf. According to

Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof wa ...

, writing in ''The New York Times'', Ascherman's car has been stoned by Palestinian youths and he has been arrested and beaten up by Israeli security forces and settlers. In 2004 to 2005, he was tried for

after obstructing a bulldozer as it was demolishing houses in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

. In March 2005, he was convicted, he agreed to 120 hours of community service, and the conviction was expunged. He was arrested again in March 2008 after witnessing an attack on Palestinians in Silwan. When he went to give testimony, he found himself accused of "inciting Palestinians to oppose the police" near the ongoing archaeological dig in the City of David. In 2006, Rabbis for Human Rights, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and five Palestinian local councils won a landmark Israeli High Court case requiring Israeli security forces to allow and protect the access of Palestinian farmers to all of their agricultural lands. As a result, many Palestinian farmers today work lands that settlers or the army had prevented them from working for many years. Rabbi Ascherman casts his position as a moral and religious one rather than a political one, as he stated at his 2005 trial:

That moral inheritance tells us that the policy of home demolition is immoral. It may be technically legal according to Israeli law narrowly interpreted. However, not everything that is legal is just. The policy is certainly illegal according to international law and tramples on the Torah, which I as a rabbi am sworn to uphold. The Torah commands us to love those different to us, not to have double standards and to have one law for all.

During his tenure at Rabbis for Human Rights, the organization expanded into the field of socioeconomic justice for all Israelis. RHR led efforts that ended of the "Israeli Wisconsin Plan" in 2010, was active in the social protest movement of 2011, and was instrumental in creating the "Public Housing Forum." RHR also began to teach in pre-army academies and created "human rights yeshivas" at Israeli universities and colleges. RHR also began to advocate for African asylum seekers in Israel. In August 2016, Rabbi Ascherman and two additional RHR senior staff people left Rabbis for Human Rights to found an interfaith human rights organization, "Haqel (The Field) – Jews and Arabs in Defense of Human Rights. In 2017, Rabbi Ascherman left Haqel, and founded "Torat Tzedek-Torah of Justice." Torat Tzedek is seeking to stop the chipping away at the 2006 High Court decision, accompany and protect Palestinian shepherds, advocate on behalf of the "unrecognized" Israeli Bedouin villages in the Negev, and for public housing for Israelis. Rabbi Ascherman continues to be active in "HaMaabarah", a public housing advocacy collective he helped found in 2011.

Awards

* 2002: Torch Lighter in the Yesh Gvul Alternative Israeli Independence Day Ceremony * 2005: Abraham Joshua Heschel Award of the "Jewish Peace Fellowship" * 2006: Humanitarian Achievement Prize by the " Wholistic Peace Institute" * 2009: Keter Shem Tov Prize awarded by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College * In 2009, he was co-recipient (with Alice Shalvi) of the Leibowitz Prize, presented by the Yesh Gvul. * In 2011, he was co-recipient (with Rabbi Ehud Bandel, a co-founder of Rabbis for Human Rights) of the Gandhi Peace Award, "for their nonviolent methods of resolving human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories". * 2014: Honorary Doctor of Divinity from HUC-JIR * 2015: Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary * 2016: Tikun Magazine Award * In 2019 The Rabbi David J. Forman Memorial Fund awarded Rabbi Ascherman and Torat Tzedek the Fund's Human Rights Prize for the Jewish year 5779. * Under Rabbi Ascherman's leadership, Rabbis For Human Rights won the Niwano Peace Prize in 2006.

Publications

* "Born with a Knife in Their Hearts: Children and Political Conflict" in Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions edited by Yust, Sasso, Johnson and Roehikepartain, 2005 * "On the Human Rights of the 'Other" in Judaism: The Israeli Context" (Hebrew) in Human Rights and Social Exclusion in Israel edited by Ya'ir Ronen, Israel Doron, Vered Slonim-Nevo, 2008 * "Does Judaism Teach Universal Human Rights" in Abraham's Children edited by Kelly Clark, 2012 * "The Little Acts That Tip The Scales" in Defending Hope – Dispatches from the front lines in Palestine and Israel edited by Eoin Murray and James Mehigan, 2018

Personal life

Ascherman is married to Dr. Einat Ramon, the first Israeli-born woman ordained as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

rabbi. They and their two children reside in Jerusalem.

References

External links

Waging Peace: Rabbi Arik Ascherman: There are "Limits to Human Rights"
from the