Shomer Shalom Network for Nonviolence

Our Community

Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence offers Jewish Interfaith Fellows an opportunity to study the Torah of Nonviolence and celebrate Sabbath and Holy Days at the Shomer Shalom House at Stony Point Center. The Shomer Shalom House features a beautiful sanctuary with a Torah and arc, a kosher kitchen and access to a Jewish library. Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb guides Jewish programing and cultural events at the Shomer Shalom House.

Our Guiding Principles

“In all cases, study the Torah personally, not in order to twist, distort, and make of it a permit to carry a rifle.”- Rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamaret,1906.

Shomer Shalom is a Network of Jewish people and allies who interpret Jewish life and practice through the lens of religious and strategic nonviolence. We value the diversity of the Jewish community and work to affirm the many faces of Jewish life, even as we ground our work and study in the precepts of nonviolence, restorative justice, hospitality and loving kindness. We are especially interested in the Occupy Movement and other movements of social transformation spreading throughout the world. We cherish multifaith relationships with other faith based and secular groups committed to nonviolence and live in community with the Muslim Peace Fellowship and Luke 6 Project at The Community of Living Traditions where our engagement is daily.

Shomer Shalom is a dynamic brand of Judaism. We pursue environmental justice, earth based Torah and the transformation of all forms of structural violence such as sexism, homophobia, racism and classism. We try to live into the values we cherish.

Shomer Shalom is committed to building a peaceful future for all people living in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel based on these same principles. Shomer Shalom supports nonviolent civil initiatives including Friday protests, inter-religious pilgrimage and dialogue, the art of resistance, women’s leadership projects, Palestinian and Jewish cultural preservation. A shomeret shalom follows a path of non-cooperation with governments, institutions and corporations that cause harm. Our activism includes the use of nonviolent civil disobedience, lobbying, boycott, divestment, and conscientious objection to war.”

More can be learned about Shomer Shalom and our work on our website.