The last two year have been deeply painful and horrific; the 10/7 attack, the kidnapped hostages, the unfathomable death and destruction of Gaza and the escalating violence in the West Bank. And this week we were tragically remined that violence - both random and targetted -

But in addition to these traumas many of us experience another pain, the pain of communal silences, lack of empathy and the use of Torah to promote racism and vengeance.

For me it felt like our Judaism was "Smotriched" from us.

This led a group of us, members of the Orthodox and observant community, to create Smol Emuni US, a space for compassionate Judaism that believe all humans are created in God's image. We join a fast growing grassroots movement, which started in Israel, to affirm our commitment to justice and peace.

In 2025 we held our inaugural conference, offered dozens of salon events, developed an online archive of talks, organized rallies and letters, facilitated a pilot cohort of Rabbis, started new national chapters, and created a fellowship for Gap Year students in Isreal.

It is clear that our voice, our Torah and our activism are urgently needed and are making an impact.