🕊️ Staying Human: Witnessing, Learning, Acting
בִּמְקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ
"In a place where there is no humanity, strive to be a human."
In moments of fear, grief, and moral strain, our tradition does not ask for certainty or unanimity. It asks us to remain human.
Staying Human is a series of programs at Temple Hillel B'nai Torah that invites our community to move through this moment together. Through film, music, conversation, and learning, we create space to bear witness to real lives, deepen understanding, and discern how we respond to suffering without perpetuating more suffering.
These programs are not about reaching consensus. They are about presence, responsibility, and staying in relationship with one another — and with our Jewish values — during a painful and complicated time.
The Arc: Witnessing · Learning · Acting
👁️ Witnessing
We begin by seeing and hearing human stories up close through film, music, and testimony — allowing ourselves to be present with grief, loss, and moral complexity.
📖 Learning
We deepen context through speakers, guided conversations, and shared study — asking hard questions and listening across difference.
🤝 Acting
We explore ways of responding rooted in care, responsibility, and Jewish values. Action may look different for different people, and participation is always invitational.
Two Tracks
Like the Mishnah's masekhtot — distinct paths of learning that each go their own way while belonging to the larger whole — this series has two tracks. Engage one, both, or move between them as programs speak to you.
🔹 IPPC Track
Bringing our whole Jewish selves to the hardest questions of this moment: Israel, Palestine, identity, and responsibility.
🔸 Tikkun Olam Track
Standing with vulnerable people in our communities through immigration justice, healthcare advocacy, peaceful protest, and defending democratic norms.
Different terrain, but the same commitment —
to witness suffering, deepen understanding, and act with responsibility.
National Day of Action: Jews Demand ICE Out
On April 30, Jews around the country are gathering to demand ICE Out — out of our schools and workplaces, our parks and streets, our places of worship, and our communities. Grounded in our sacred teachings, we make the moral case that this system is a failure of policy and of conscience.
HBT's Immigrant Support Team endorses these actions and encourages members who can make the time to attend one of the two local events below.
📍 Support for the De-ICE Citizens Bank Campaign
12:00–1:00 PM · Citizens Bank, 315 Harvard Ave, Brookline (Coolidge Corner)
📍 Jews Demand: ICE Out of Jamaica Plain
5:30–6:15 PM · 696 Centre St, Jamaica Plain
Past Programs
2026 Joint Memorial Ceremony · Combatants for Peace & Parents Circle – Families Forum
Each year, Israelis and Palestinians who have lost family members to the conflict gather together to mourn, remember, and affirm their shared humanity. This year's ceremony was held live in Jerusalem on the eve of Israel's Memorial Day — and streamed to communities around the world.
A local in-person viewing was hosted the following evening by Boston Standing Together and the Boston Workers Circle Israel Palestine Committee, at the Boston Workers Circle, 6 Webster St., Brookline (Coolidge Corner).
▶ Watch the recording:
Yuval Noah Harari: Israel, Gaza, and the Future of Judaism · Guided Discussion
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari argues that the period from October 7, 2023 to the present may be a defining turning point for Jewish history and Jewish identity — perhaps the most consequential since the Roman conquest of 70 CE. In a short segment from a public interview, he frames the danger not as military defeat, but as a spiritual and moral crisis: what we risk becoming, and what "Judaism" could come to mean if it is shaped by the worship of power and violence.
The transformation Harari invokes: Yavneh. Harari points back to a pivotal moment after the destruction of the Temple, when Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai asked for "Yavneh and its wise people." In Harari's telling, that request helped shape a Judaism centered on learning, debate, and wisdom — values that sustained Jewish life for two millennia. He then asks what it means if Jewish power in the land comes to be associated with domination rather than moral purpose.
What Harari is warning about. Harari warns about the possible emergence of a future Israel defined by supremacy, the breakdown of democratic norms, and the elevation of power and violence as core values — and argues that this would reshape Judaism globally, including for Jews who live elsewhere. He is not offering a prophecy, but sounding an alarm about a distinct possibility he believes must be taken seriously.
Rabbi Aliza guided the group in listening carefully, reflecting together, and discussing what Harari is claiming and what it raises for us as Jews and as a community.
- Jewish Voices Rising: A Benefit Concert for the Children of Gaza · Gaza Children's Village March 8, 2026 Held at Eliot Church of Newton. Together this concert raised over $50,000 to support education, nutrition, healthcare, and psychosocial care for orphaned and vulnerable children across Gaza. Thank you to all who attended, participated, and donated.
- Susannah Sirkin: Human Rights and the War in Gaza February 22, 2026
- Holding Liat · Film Screening February 19, 2026
- Staying Human in a Time of War · Yoav Peck · Video Recording November 12, 2024
About the IPPC
The Israeli-Palestinian Program Committee helps bring programs to Temple Hillel B'nai Torah grounded in human dignity, learning, and staying in relationship across difference. Many of the programs in the Staying Human series grew out of IPPC's leadership.
📬 Stay Connected
This page will be updated as new programs are added. Questions or thoughts? Reach out to a member of the organizing team.