Rabbi Stiefel's Monthly Article

Rabbi Sharon Stiefel
February 2026

No One Is Getting Left Behind This Time

On January 22 and 23, I joined more than 650 clergy from across the country who traveled to Minneapolis. Less than a week earlier, a call had gone out inviting clergy to come learn about, witness, and protest ICE activity here. This gathering was organized by Multifaith Antiracism, Change, and Healing, known as MARCH, and was met with such enthusiasm that hundreds of clergy who wanted to attend were turned away due to limited space.

Together, we bore witness, attended workshops, strategized, sang and acted. I was buoyed by the number of rabbis who came, including twenty Reconstructionist rabbis. I was also grateful for the chance to spend time with Rabbi Renee Bauer, Mayim Rabim’s former rabbi. Clergy came because they understand that what happens here will happen elsewhere, if it has not already, and they want to be prepared to resist in their own communities. We know we are in this for the long haul.

One of my strongest takeaways from the gathering was that the most effective resistance is not spontaneous. It must be learned, practiced, and sustained over time. It requires preparation, courage, and community, and it needs to move beyond single actions and moments.

I attended a powerful session on media and storytelling that focused on countering the narratives being used to justify ICE activity. We discussed the importance of demanding truth and challenging propaganda - - claims that portray immigrants as “un-American invaders” who steal resources, defraud the system, and threaten housing and national security. To flip this false narrative of danger and invasion, we must be clear: we all want safe communities, but ICE’s actions are not law enforcement that makes our communities safer. The real invaders are not our neighbors, but masked, armed agents entering our neighborhoods.

We were also reminded that this is not only about immigrant communities. What is happening here effects all of us. The erosion of rights and freedoms for one group places the rights and freedoms of all Americans at risk.

An interfaith service at Temple Israel reenforced our shared commitments. Nearly 600 people gathered, including elected officials and more than 100 clergy from a wide range of faith traditions. The service was a powerful reminder of the strength of people of faith standing together. Judaism, along with other faith traditions, calls on us to recognize the sanctity of life and to insist on dignity for every human being. One of the songs we sang captured that commitment with the refrain: “No one is getting left behind this time.”

We carry this intention as we remember Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Renee Good was killed prior to the gathering, and Alex Pretti was killed after it. We remember their lives with care and sorrow. May their memories be a blessing, as we honor the sacredness of every human life.

I came away feeling proud of my colleagues and deeply grateful for my community. I came away with a renewed appreciation for neighbors taking care of one another. I hear from so many Mayim Rabim members about their involvement, and I see from Mayim Rabim members, from my neighbors, and from our broader community a willingness to stand together, to show up, and to refuse to leave anyone behind.

And that, perhaps, is the most hopeful message of all.