Guiding Jewish Concepts

B’tzelem Elokim / Divine Image

All people are created in the image of the Divine. We all carry a spark of divine goodness as well as the capacity for creative action and transformation.

Panim-el-Panim/ Face to Face

We seek “face-to-face” interactions, despite difference, distance and bars; approaching one another as equals and striving to work in genuine relationship.

Teshuvah/ Return and Restoration

We believe in human resilience and transformation, in our ability to make amends after experiencing and/or perpetrating harm. We practice this relationally as conflict arises within our organizing, and also strive to create a world that uplifts restorative accountability processes rather than punishment.

Lemad Mikol Adam/ Learn from Every Person

Learning from every person requires honoring the contributions and voices of people who have been systemically silenced, including through incarceration. In our conversations, we strive to hold awareness around differences in identity and power dynamics.

Refuah Shleimah/ Complete Healing

We work towards collective healing and wholeness, striving to restore balanced relationships within the broader interconnected web of creation and to heal the traumatic effects of white supremacy, colonization, and other systems of oppression that affect our minds and bodies.

Kol Yisrael Aravim Zeh Bazeh/ Communal Responsibility

Jews have many universalist obligations, but we also have a special duty to other Jews.

Matir Asurim’s Guiding Jewish Concepts were updated in January 2024. You can explore the source texts and expanded explanations of each concept here.