On Mitzvah Day 2024, we, René Cassin, Mitzvah Day and JW3, stand together to affirm our commitment to dignity and integrity.
In June 1948, Monsieur René Cassin, the son of a Jewish merchant, co-drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food.” This is the vision in which we are collectively invested, in enshrining the Declaration and realising dignity and integrity for all of us. And we do that by standing together.
Today, rates of poverty are alarming. By the end of 2023, 4.7 million adults and 2.5 million children faced food insecurity1, a stark reminder of the deepening inequalities in our society. Guided by the principles enshrined in the Declaration, we believe that the provision of food and other essentials are not only necessities but cornerstones of human dignity and communal care.
As a collective of Jewish organisations invested in improving the material conditions of human lives, through engagement with human rights, food provision and facilitating opportunities for meaningful connection through social action, we are compelled to reassert dignity as an imperative, and as a hope.
Our rich Jewish tradition offers a robust, in-built frame for understanding dignity. Whether through ensuring ‘there shall be no more needy among you’ (Deut. 15:4), ‘Send portions [of food and drink for Festive days] to whoever [is poor and] has not prepared…’ (Nehemiah 8:10), and the obligation on Purim to send food and to care for the needy – access to food and other provisions are central to Jewish life. Our Jewish faith values dignity – enshrining human rights promotes dignity and liberty for all. When René Cassin co-wrote the UDHR over 75 years ago, he wrote our collective legacy – work in pursuit of justice, respect and dignity.
As we stand together as a community, in the uncertainty of this current moment, in the heart of so much loss, fear and instability, this legacy is our anchor. Through seeking structural solutions to food poverty through The Right to Food and foregrounding collaborative work to encourage awareness of human rights, we face lives as they are lived: with faith, with hope, and everything in between.
We strive for dignity through human rights. May this be our legacy, our hope and our success.
1 https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/food-insecurity-tracking