We’re at a political moment in the U.S. where we have to make difficult choices on the ground to defend our neighbors. The Halakhah is CLEAR – One MUST defend the downtrodden, the refugee, the “stranger” – both Jew and Gentile. We must follow “the ways of peace” – but doing so often is not peaceful. Ecclesiastes makes clear that there is indeed “a time for hating and a time for loving, a time for war and a time for peace.”

We have a communal responsibility to protect the stranger among us; to not to separate ourselves from our fellows in times of distress. And yet – we must not coddle the wicked or tolerate them among us. We must “separate from them,” because it is to our benefit – “when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.”

I’ve provided a key to the placement of the texts, which I tried to organize visually and categorically in a coherent but artistic manner. Obviously, this is a shofar that appears to be mid-blast – as if shouting forth the text to heed. One must “sound the trumpets,” as Maimonides wrote, and “rebuke one another.”

The time for collective action is now. Because as Hillel posed – “If Not Now, When?”

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• Measures 12″ x 18″
• Paper thickness: 10.3 mil
• Paper weight: 189 g/m²
• Opacity: 94%
• ISO brightness: 104%
• Paper is sourced from Japan