Torah of Safety, Respect, and Equity

Download the Torah of SRE | How to Use It | About the Creators

The “Torah of SRE” sourcesheet uses Jewish texts to deepen our practices of inclusion and belonging. This resource reflects on the core values of safety, respect, and equity through classic Jewish texts, and explores how contemporary Jewish thinkers have made these values their own.

The Torah of SRE was created in 2025 by Dr. Guila Benchimol (SRE Network) and Rabba Yaffa Epstein (The Jewish Education Project) to help our community use Jewish texts to imagine what it could look like if we treated each other according to the values of safety, respect, equity, justice, kindness, and humility.

This source sheet is rooted in the vision of SRE Network, which is to build a communal landscape that is safe, respectful, and equitable, where every individual thrives and organizations can achieve their missions.

Defining Safety, Respect, and Equity:

Safety: Environments are free from harassment, abuse, and violence.
Respect: People engage one another with the Jewish value of kavod habriyot, recognizing the inherent dignity of every person.
Equity: Meaningful pathways and access to opportunity are provided to close demographic disparities. All people are treated fairly.

Micah 6:8

Central Text in the Torah of SRE

"You have been told, Human Being, what is good, and what GOD requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God."

הִגִּ֥יד לְךָ֛ אָדָ֖ם מַה־טּ֑וֹב וּמָֽה־יְהֹוָ֞ה דּוֹרֵ֣שׁ מִמְּךָ֗
כִּ֣י אִם־עֲשׂ֤וֹת מִשְׁפָּט֙
וְאַ֣הֲבַת חֶ֔סֶד
וְהַצְנֵ֥עַ לֶ֖כֶת עִם־אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃

Read this article to learn more about how the Torah of SRE came to be, and its potential to inspire organizational reflection and renewal in.

How to Use the Torah of SRE

Host a bet midrash (Jewish study hall), chavruta (learning partner session), or group conversation in your workplace.

Chavrutah (Partnered Learning) Protocol:

Get into small groups of 2 or 3
If new to each other, introduce yourselves.
Read each source out loud, taking turns and rotating the reader.
After you read each section (eg. Section 3 - Justice), discuss the “Questions for Further Thought” that follow.

Group Conversations or Pair/Share:

Where do the ideas we have discussed come up in your work?
What would you need in order to implement these ideas in your work?

Review the Torah of SRE together with the SRE Standards.

Contribute to this resource.

"As we do the important work of creating and maintaining spaces that are safe, respectful and equitable, it is critically important to continue to return to ancient and modern Jewish wisdom to ground ourselves in our common language and heritage, so that our work becomes even more rooted and meaningful.”

Rabba Yaffa Epstein

The Jewish Education Project and co-author, Torah of SRE

About the Torah of SRE Creators

Dr. Guila Benchimol

Dr. Guila Benchimol (she/her/hers) is the Senior Advisor on Research and Learning with the SRE Network and was one of the key advisors who guided its launch in early 2018. As a researcher and public educator on sexual violence, she has crafted standards and policies for Jewish workplaces, institutions, and communal spaces and has been invited to address Jewish professionals and clergy across Canada and the US, as well as other faith communities. Guila is also trained in restorative and transformative justice facilitation.

Guila holds a PhD in Sociological Criminology and an MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

Rabba Yaffa Epstein

Rabba Yaffa Epstein is the Senior Scholar and Educator in Residence at the Jewish Education Project. Formerly, she served as the Director of the Wexner Heritage Program at the Wexner Foundation. Epstein has also served as the Director of Education, North America for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and was a member of the faculty. She has served on the faculties of Yeshivat Maharat and the Drisha Institute. Epstein has served as an Educator and Scholar in Residence for the Dorot Fellowship, Moishe House, Jewish Federation of North America, the Covenant Foundation, the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, Repair the World, and JPro.

She received Orthodox Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshivat Maharat, earned an additional private Orthodox Ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes, holds a Law Degree from Bar-Ilan University, and studied at the Talmud Department at Hebrew University.