Criminal Justice Reform

While the modern legal system has prisons at the core of its establishment, the Torah never features prison as a form of punishment, even as a deterrent. This, because the idea of locking someone up is antithetical to the nature of humanity. According to the Torah, a person was put on this earth for a purpose. Withholding one’s ability to achieve that purpose is the most inhumane treatment he can possibly suffer.

Under America’s criminal justice system, we have incarcerated more than two million of our fellow citizens in federal, state and county facilities. In contrast, the concept of prison does not appear anywhere in Judaism...

How do we identify the internal switches that operate the source of all actions, and do we have the mechanism to manipulate and control them?

Imprisonment is a fate worse than death, out of which the truly righteous squeeze an elixir more potent than life

Punitive incarceration robs people of their humanity and ability to be productive and live a meaningful life.

Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar is executive director of the Aleph Institute, which services the religious needs of Jewish men and women in prison. In 1985, they brought a group of prisoners to spend a weekend in Crown Heights, where they attended the Rebbe’s Shabbos Farbrengen.

Mitzvot for the incarcerated souls...in and out of prison

May you merit to be an Aleph; a leader. But don’t stop at Aleph; move onto Beis, then Gimmel, until Taf.

Jacob Worenklein, who was an intern at the office of the president of the New York City Council, recalls arranging a meeting between City Council President Francis X. Smith and the Rebbe at a time when New York City was facing a surge in crime. (1969)

New York City Mayor John Lindsay comes to visit the Rebbe in 770 to discuss crime and social issues in the Crown Heights community.

How communities can determine the priority of helping incarcerated Jews. Keynote speech at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference of Jewish Prison Chaplains.

When the prison officials makes it difficult for the Jewish inmates put on tefillin daily, to whom should the prisoners turn?

When we find ourselves in an “after unset” situation, strong faith will illuminate our lives.