The Faithful Left is a movement of activists across the religious spectrum who believe in advancing justice, peace and equality in Israeli society. We believe that God demands us to be charitable, just, and peaceful. We believe that we must emulate the qualities we expect from god, as it is written: “Just like the Holy One, blessed be He, is called merciful, so too you be merciful; just like the Holy One, blessed be He, is called compassionate, so too you be compassionate; just like the Holy One, blessed be He, is called righteous, so too you be righteous; just like the Holy One, blessed be He, is called holy, so too you be holy” (Sefer HaChinukh 611). Throughout the past few years, the dominant Israeli religious institutions have been pushing an agenda of supremacy and militancy; with little opposition, they have been able to make their voices heard loud and clear. The Faithful Left provides a home for those who have been educated differently – in the path of our forefathers and foremothers, to welcome the stranger and comfort the widow.

 

A core component of the Faithful Left’s work is our deep grounding in the work of generations past. We understand ourselves as part of a millennia-long tradition of Jewish ethical thought, practice, and ritual. The Faithful Left may be a new movement, but we draw on the works of our forebears; we know that our ideas are not innovations in Jewish thought, but instead a core component of who we are as a people. We take pride in the knowledge that we’re bringing a modern voice to this strand of our tradition.

At the Faithful Left, we believe that meaningful change requires using a range of tools and approaches. Each branch of our work focuses on different parts of society, engages different communities, and applies different methods. Together, these efforts are beginning to create a noticeable and growing impact.

The Faithful Left reaches deeply into various sectors of society through our four main organizations. Our activist arm is named Bnei Avraham, or children of Abraham, and works with Palestinians against the occupation as well as on justice issues within Israeli Jewish society. Our education sector, HaSadeh, brings humanistic teaching resources to teachers, bringing about a behind-the-scenes revolution in values education. Makom, our publishing house, puts a new generation of voices in conversation with millennia-old works. And The Midrasha, our activist incubator and political education department, enables the constant onboarding of people from cautious questioners to confident leaders.