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AJWS Staff

Jewish Groups Deliver More Than 18,000 Signatures to House Leadership, Administration Calling for a “Just Farm Bill”

Coalition pushes for anti-hunger and sustainable agricultural policies in the United States and abroad WASHINGTON, D.C.; June 14, 2012—Today, seven national Jewish groups delivered a petition with more than 18,000 signatures to House Leadership and the Obama Administration demanding a focus on food justice in the next Farm Bill. The signatures represent a Jewish communal …

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AJWS Leads Delegation to Liberia Focused on Women’s Empowerment

Intergenerational Tour Will Include Visits with Nobel Peace Prize Winners New York, NY; June 13, 2012—American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, will lead an intergenerational trip to Liberia from June 17-24. The study tour, headed by AJWS president Ruth Messinger, with special guest and distinguished Jewish feminist and author, …

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Dvar Tzedek: Parshat Shlach 5772

When God tells Moses in Parshat Shlach, “Send for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan,” it sounds like the start of an exciting adventure. But what seems exhilarating soon becomes chilling—then downright devastating. Of the 12 men who are sent to scout the land, 10 return with a negative report: The people are …

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What's So 21st Century About Tzedakah?

Originally posted on the Global Circle blog. We know there just aren’t enough gallery openings in NYC these days, which is why we’re hosting one just for you. Earlier this year AJWS launched the Where Do you Give? National Design Competition, challenging artists to create new vehicles for giving tzedakah that reflect our increasingly interconnected, global …

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What Charles Taylor’s Sentence Means for Liberia’s Future

Last week, former President Charles Taylor of Liberia was sentenced by an international tribunal to 50 years in prison for his role in instigating murder, mutilation, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. This ruling against a former head of state is a major win for international justice since the …

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On Anti-Semitism and Human Rights for LGBT People

The following remarks were originally posted on the website of the U.S. Department of State and shared on May 30th with the Cream City Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a child of a Holocaust survivor, anti-Semitism is something very personal to me. I am the daughter of a man who was literally marked by a …

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Dvar Tzedek: Parshat Naso 5772 – The Law and Lore of the Wayward Woman

Torah—with its rich narratives and poetry, glimpses of the Divine and profound wisdom—is a text we turn to for inspiration, intellectual stimulation and meaning. Yet there are moments in the Bible when culturally located prejudices come to the fore and the reader is left struggling with the tension between timeless writing and context-bound oppression. One …

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Chag v'Chesed: Shavuot 5772

Judaism’s core lies in community. On Shavuot, the “time of the giving of our law,” we gather together to receive the Torah, making a covenant with God, in the name of the Jewish People. We are given the Torah and 613 commandments to build our community, our relationship with God and our relationships with one …

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