Over 550 rabbis, cantors sign letter accusing Trump of ‘abusing’ antisemitism issue
American clergy, mostly from non-Orthodox movements, say US administration exploiting real threat ‘to divide Americans, undermine democracy, and harm other vulnerable communities
Over 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter criticizing US President Donald Trump’s administration for “abusing the issue” of antisemitism, joining a growing chorus of opposition from Jewish leaders.
The letter, published Monday and titled “A Call to Moral Clarity: Rejecting Antisemitism as a Political Wedge,” was organized by two progressive Jewish groups — the Israel lobby J Street and rabbinic group T’ruah.
It follows another letter published last Tuesday by the Jewish refugee aid group HIAS that included the signatures of over 560 Jewish religious leaders. That letter condemned the “immoral use of the law” by the Trump administration, specifically citing the administration’s deportation campaigns.
The letters have become the latest in a widening call from Jewish leaders who have accused the Trump administration of using antisemitism as a pretext to further its anti-higher education agenda and its crackdown on immigrants.
“The resurgence of this age-old hatred is alarming, and we unequivocally stand against it in all its forms,” the J Street-Truah letter reads.
“We must also be clear: the way in which the Trump administration claims it is combating antisemitism is not about protecting Jews — it is instead overtly abusing the issue to divide Americans, undermine democracy, and harm other vulnerable communities.”
A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism.
Also last week, five Jewish senators, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, signed a letter lambasting the administration’s crackdown on Harvard, which has seen $2.2 billion in federal funding frozen over its response to campus antisemitism.
The HIAS letter criticized the Trump administration’s revocations of over 1,500 student visas, including those of some anti-Israel student activists. The administration began rolling back the revocations amid a spree of lawsuits from affected international students.
“As Jews and as Americans, we refuse to remain silent at the co-opting of our nation’s statutes and express alarm about the path down which it leads. We demand that the administration abandon its manipulative interpretation of law and restore a commitment to the inalienable rights that are the source of our country’s greatness,” the HIAS letter read.
The J Street-T’ruah letter also denounced the Trump administration’s targeting of international students, which have included the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, who led a pro-Hamas student organization at Columbia, and Rumeysa Ozturk of Tufts, who wrote an op-ed criticizing her university’s response to a series of anti-Israel student resolutions.
“Defunding universities, threatening to deport student protesters, and using Jews as a justification for authoritarian tactics does not make us safer; it makes us more vulnerable. We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter read.
The J Street-T’ruah letter was signed by clergy from across the country, a mix of mostly Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis and cantors, along with a handful of Orthodox rabbis.
Several notable rabbis signed the J Street-T’ruah letter, including Sally Priesand and Amy Eilberg, the first Reform and Conservative women, respectively, to be ordained by their movements; and Deborah Waxman, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
The list also includes Sharon Kleinbaum, David Teutsch, Gordon Tucker, Arthur Waskow, Susan Talve, David Rosenn and Julie Schonfeld.
The letter begins and ends with a call for Jews to take seriously the threat of antisemitism, which has increased since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, while also “refusing to let the fight against it be co-opted for authoritarian ends.”
“Our community has endured a very real spike in antisemitism in recent years. We’ve seen bomb threats, vandalism and attacks on our schools and synagogues,” said T’ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs in a statement.
“It’s precisely because tackling this issue is so important that we can’t allow it to be hijacked by this administration to pursue an authoritarian agenda that puts us all at risk.”
The Times of Israel Community.