03/16/2026
"Can My Shabbat Observance Include Going to a Protest?"
It's a question many in our community have grappled with for centuries: how to balance their observance of Shabbat with the moral imperative to stand up against injustice.
And with the next No Kings rally scheduled for March 28th, it's a question that's been raised again: https://secure.everyaction.com/-yhQZhpITkyyEEoe1kbriw2
Our sages have long taught that pikuach nefesh (the preservation of human life) supersedes all other mitzvah. When human dignity, freedom, and safety are under threat, we have an obligation to respond, even if it means setting aside our normal Shabbat routines.
This is not to say that protest and religious observance are inherently at odds. On the contrary, Jewish tradition has long linked the two - when Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, he said: "For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship."
The truth is there's no one-size-fits-all approach. Perhaps we can choose to just be present, and march without our signs, or begin our Shabbat with study, reflection, and intention-setting, before transitioning into collective action.
