Prison and Police Abolition

Safety cannot be built through cages, surveillance, and violence.

Our Jewish tradition teaches that every person is created b’tzelem Elohim—in the image of the Divine. Yet policing and incarceration routinely strip people of dignity, separate families, criminalize poverty and disability, and inflict disproportionate harm on Black, Indigenous, immigrant, queer, trans, and poor communities.

We reject the idea that punishment creates safety. Prisons do not heal harm. Police do not address the conditions that produce violence. Systems rooted in control and confinement cannot give us the justice and belonging our communities need.

Abolition asks us to imagine, and build, something better.

It means investing in housing, healthcare, education, mental health support, food security, transformative justice, and community-led responses to harm. It means creating the conditions in which people can live with dignity and conflicts can be addressed without punishment, disappearance, or death.

Our Jewish memory calls us to oppose systems that divide people into those considered worthy of protection and those marked as disposable. We refuse the weaponization of Jewish safety to justify racist policing, state violence, or the repression of movements for liberation.

At Taste of Olam Haba, we transform grief and fear into collective care. We support people directly impacted by policing and incarceration, follow the leadership of abolitionist organizers, move resources, and work toward communities where everyone has what they need to thrive.

We choose repair over punishment, care over control, and liberation over cages.

Together, we can build a world where safety is created through relationship, accountability, and justice—and where no one is treated as disposable.

Our Guiding Values of Abolition

Stopping the harm: Pikuach nefesh / Protecting life

We have to keep the safety of our communities primary. Jewish tradition teaches that protecting life and preventing danger are sacred obligations. When harm is happening, the first responsibility is to interrupt it and protect those at risk.

Centering those impacted: B’tzelem Elohim / Human dignity

People who have been harmed or abused are people created b’tzelem Elohim, in the Divine image, with needs, agency, and wisdom about what safety and repair require. We need them in positions of leadership and for them to guide our processes of safeguarding.

Rejecting disposability: Teshuvah / The possibility of return

Jewish tradition refuses the idea that a person is only the worst thing they have done or only the worst thing that has happened to them. Teshuvah teaches that people can change, return, repair, and become responsible for their actions.

Creating meaningful accountability: Tzedek / Justice

Accountability is not just apology or removing someone. It can require changed behavior, restitution, education, stepping back from leadership, etc. It's not only about punishment; it is about restoring right relationships wherever possible.

Building conditions for transformation: Arevut / Mutual responsibility

Transformation does not happen in isolation. People need structure, support, feedback, consequences, and a sense of community responsibility. Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, we are responsible for one another.

Distinguishing consequences from punishment: Din v’rachamim / Judgment and compassion

Consequences can protect people, clarify boundaries, and support repair/shuva. Punishment often isolates, humiliates, or disappears people. Jewish tradition holds together din and rachamim: accountability and compassion, boundaries and mercy, truth and care.