Jill Jacobs (rabbi)

Jill Jacobs (born 1975) is an American Conservative rabbi who serves as the executive director of T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights,^[1] formerly Rabbis for Human Rights-North America.^[2] She is the author of Where Justice Dwells: A Hands-On Guide to Doing Social Justice in Your Jewish Community and There Shall be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law and Tradition.^[3] This book includes chapters on tzedakah, poverty, health care, housing, labor, criminal justice, and environmental justice in America, seen through a Jewish viewpoint. She has served as the Rabbi in Residence of Jewish Funds for Justice and as the Director of Outreach and Education for Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.

Jacobs is also the author of a teshuvah (legal position), passed by the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards that says that Jews should pay their workers a living wage, create dignified workplaces, and hire union workers when possible.^[4] She was named to Newsweek's list of the fifty most influential rabbis in 2009 and 2010;^[5] to The Forward newspaper's list of fifty influential American Jews in 2006,^[6] 2008,^[7] and 2011;^[8] and to The Jewish Week's list of "thirty-six under thirty-six" in 2008.^[9] She was also named to Newsweek's list of the 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America in 2009,^[10] 2010,^[11] 2011,^[12] and 2012, and to the Jerusalem Post’s 2013 list of “Women to Watch.”^[13][14] She has written many articles on issues relating to Judaism and social justice. She has covered topics including Jewish social justice, education,^[7] and tzedakah.^[15][16] She is a former columnist for The Forward.

A contributor to The Washington Post, Jacobs has written on antisemitism, the Donald Trump administration’s equation of antisemitism with disagreements toward the Israeli government and the funneling of American tax dollars to Israeli "extremist" groups.^[17][18][19]

In 2014, Jacobs was arrested with Rabbis Sharon Kleinbaum and Shai Held, along with Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, for blocking traffic to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict the New York police officer who choked Staten Island resident Eric Garner to death.^[20]