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Human Rights Shabbat 5783

22 Nov, 2022 | Latest, Resources

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Celebrating the Jewish legacy of human rights

Welcome to the Human Rights Shabbat 5783 (2022). For this year’s Human Rights Shabbat (9-10 December) our chosen topic is celebrating the Jewish legacy of human rights. It is at the core of our work to ‘make the Jewish case of human rights in the UK’.

This year, Human Rights Shabbat falls on December 10th, International Human Rights Day, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948. The Declaration was a response to the horrors of the Holocaust. It was drafted by Monsieur René Cassin – a French-Jewish lawyer and formed the basis for an international human rights framework shaped by other Jewish lawyers such as Raphael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht responsible for the principles of genocide and of crimes against humanity.

Human Rights Shabbat celebrates this unique legacy – inspired by Jewish lawyers, Jewish history and Jewish values. During Human Rights Shabbat, we encourage our community to be part of this important day – to learn, reflect and commit to the protection and promotion of human rights for the benefit of all people and groups. 

To help communities, groups and individuals mark this year’s Human Rights Shabbat, we have produced the Jewish Legacy of Human Rights resource, where you will find a set of facts and useful information on some of the most pertinent human rights issues in the UK today, a collection of Jewish texts and references, and suggested actions. We hope this enriches your celebration of human rights Shabbat. 

You can download the pack HERE.

To sign up to Human Rights Shabbat 5783 and receive further information, simply reply to info@renecassin.org and register your interest.

“Human rights are an integral part of the faith and tradition of Judaism. The beliefs that man was created in the divine image, that the human family is one, and that every person is obliged to deal justly with every other person are basic sources of the Jewish commitment to human rights.” (Monsieur René Cassin)

Today, 10th December, is International Human Rights Day – the 76th anniversary of the signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. 

 

 

The Declaration was a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust. So, for Jews, today has a particuar significance. 

Although rooted in response to atrocity, the Declaration was forward-looking and optimistic. It spoke for the majority of people who knew a better world was possible. The fact that it’s co-author , the French-Jewish lawyer Monsieur Rene Cassin, could draft such a hopeful document so soon after 26 members of his family were murdered by the Nazis is a testament to his humanity and the power of human rights in general. 

Today, as the organisation that works in Cassin’s name, we are determined to ensure his Declaration’s vision of human rights for all is fully realised. Central to that work is a focus on so called ‘socio-economic rights’ – rights to everyday essentials like food, housing and health. This vision was best articulated in Article 25 of the Declaration: 

‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control’.

Bolstering these rights would ensure everybody has access to the foundations on which to build a dignified, prosperous and meaningful life. They have been neglected for too long.

 

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