RHR is so proud of Rabbi Idit Lev, head of RHR’s social justice department, who was chosen by Haaretz newspaper for their symbolic choices for this year’s Yom HaAtzmaut torch lighters. Please find the original Hebrew article on Rabbi Lev (unofficially) translated below:
You shall pursue social justice
Idit Lev, Department Director of Rabbis for Human Rights
Lev primarily works on issues and struggles connected to living in poverty and the State budget. According to her way of thinking and operating, every voice – including Palestinians in the Territories and people who live in poverty – need to be heard.
By: Or Kashti
Photo credit: Rami Shalosh for Haaretz newspaper
During the long weeks last year in which the “Commission on the Fight Against Poverty headed by Eli Alaluf (now new Member of Knesset for Moshe Kahlon’s “Kulanu” party, ) Rabbi Idit Lev of “Rabbis For Human Rights” made a point of attending every open meeting, and some that weren’t. She sat to the side, behind the Commission members, and recorded the discussions-tens of thousands of words about poverty, on the measures that should be taken and the policies that should be adopted-on her notebook computer. Shortly after they were recorded they were published on new media networks.
This documentation of the internal Commission battles was an essential starting point for monitoring and critiquing the process. Lev and additional volunteers (first among them Natan Shkartzi) became a sort of civil guard, that didn’t rest or let up during the entire time the Commission functioned. Neither did they let up when the partial implementation of the recommendations became apparent. Lev was among those that pointed out the gap between Alaluf’s dramatic declarations and the then welfare mimister Meir Cohen, and the fragmented and minor implementation until this day. The ongoing failure of the political echelons over many years, and crossing party lines, to truly work to reduce poverty, increases the importance of this type of social activism. This is the power of the alternative, even if implementation is delayed. This is the meaning of Tikun Olam…
During her BA studies in social sciences at Ben Gurion Universtiy, Lev (45) became aware of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement and made the choice to observe mitzot according to the Movement’s principles. She went on to a MA in Cognitive Psychology and afterwards worked in marketing research. While working in the private sector, she decided to change direction and began to study at Shechter Rabbinical training Beit Midrash. IN 2004 she was ordained, and has been working with RHR ever since.
Lev directs the organization’s social justice programming, and works primarily on struggles connected to living in poverty and the State budget. According to Lev, the base for her work of the last 11 years is the first creation story in the Book of Genesis, appearing before Adam and Eve: God created the human being in God’s Image, in the Image of God, God created the human, male and female God created them(Genesis 1:27). It is difficult to separate the religious understanding from the wider social context, and it isn’t clear that there is any need: It seems that there it no is less important that she is committed to the principle that human beings-regardless of gender, nationality or class, were created equal.
Everybody has their voice that needs to be heard. This is true for Palestinians in the Territories, although the aid that Rabbis For Human Rights provides them has cost the organization because it has led the Tax Authority has decided to deny it tax exemption. It is also true for those who live in poverty, whom Lev’s department helps to actualize their rights and with their struggle to survive that they wage with the Housing Ministry, repossession authorities or cell phone companies. These bodies sometimes behave relentlessly towards those who are weakened. These are individual struggles, but many times they reflect a wider injustice. They are a result of policy, not an isolated mistake.
The struggles of Lev and other social activists have contributed greatly to concrete achievements. Among them, the cancellation of the Israeli Wisconsin Plan, reducing the use of the “Economic Arrangements Law,” and raising the awareness of the need for programs to fight poverty. There is no lack of work. Much remains to be fixed.
Click to read more about RHR’s social justice department
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