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As some of you know, I work for a Jewish publication. I received the following letter from a prison chaplain:

Dear Ms. ,

We just received your offer to receive a free subscription to . I would like to say that this came as quite a delightful surprise and prompted our membership to request that we receive a few copies so everyone can have the enjoyment of reading it in a timely manner.

We are a small (indigent) prison temple with a surprising history. Temple Bet'Herut [House of Freedom] as the second prison temple, located behind the walls of a maximum security prison, which was recognized by the Union for Reform Judaism. Over our twenty-five year history, our membership has grown to a maximum of twenty members and shrunk to as few as three. Nonetheless, our mission has remained the same: to provide a Jewish setting for any Jew entering the confines of this prison. Your offer to allow us to receive a free subscription will go a long way in helping us to accomplish this important mission. It will help to keep us all up to date and in touch with our People, and for that we cannot thank you enough. "Todah" [thank you] from the bottom of our hearts.

B'shalom, [In peace]


What can one possibly say to this? I'm so glad to hear that our publication means so much to the members of this congregation. I've put them down for twenty copies, free, each month.

But it's very hard for me to know that there are members of the family of Israel who are behind bars. What horrible things must have taken place in their lives, to turn them from the derech [the path] of Judaism and into criminal activities? My heart goes out to them. I hope that with each other's help, they can begin to strive towards their own finer natures, to make peace within themselves with whatever they've done, and to make amends to those they may have harmed. Though our prison system is far from perfect, I hope that these individuals will use their time there to grow as people and as Jews.

The season of Pesach, often called Z'man Cheiruteinu (the Season of Our Freedom) must be especially moving for them. Our people have been imprisoned before, both justly and unjustly. May these prisoners see freedom in their lifetimes, and may they make true teshuvah [repentence]. As the daily prayers say, "Blessed is Hashem our G*D, sovereign of the universe, who frees the captive."

So am I. I'm wondering if there's more that I could be doing for those prisoners. Anonymously, of course. I'm a woman; they're still in maximum security, so I assume that they've been convicted of some very serious crimes, most of which may have been violent. After all, white-collar crime doesn't land you in max-sec.

But I wonder if they've got a Torah scroll. Siddurim for all the members. Kippot. Tallitot. Chumashim. Tefillin. Subscriptions to other Jewish publications. The Bet Herut is a Reform congregation; I wonder if any of the members are not entirely Reform at heart, and might appreciate having access to Conservative, Orthodox, or Reconstructionist prayer books and materials.

Penance: penitentiary; penitent, penitence. Yes.

I don't want to get too far into the specifics, lest someone identify the magazine and then look and identify me. Let's say, there are offices for my 'zine in several US states and in Israel; that we handle contemporary issues and the Jewish responses to them; and that we tackle various types of Jews and how they deal with life cycle events, emergencies, ethical dilemmas, their connections to Judaism/Jews/Jewish-everything.