The AJWS community has a lot to say about what's happening in the world. Read our insights about the struggle for justice and human rights around the globe.
As the festival of Shavuot approaches, I am reflecting back on the revelatory experiences in my life. This past spring, I was so frantically busy that it wasn’t until I slowed down that I realized I was having an experience that was changing me in a profound way. I know I’m not the only one …Read More
This month marks eight years since the end of the decades-long conflict in Sri Lanka. Although many of the physical, emotional and psychological scars left behind by the war have yet to heal, American Jewish World Service is working with local partners to ensure the rehabilitation continues as Sri Lankans take charge to rebuild their …Read More
In recent years, they helped create constitutional protections for LGBT people, launched a film festival at a prestigious national venue, and inspired the country’s first openly gay candidate to run for political office. But progress wasn’t always so close at hand for RevASA, a Dominican LGBT rights organization supported by AJWS and its parent organization, …Read More
Yesterday, President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson revealed their plans to implement the global gag rule, putting the health and lives of women and girls around the world at risk. In keeping with the far-right’s narrow vision of women’s rights and public health, they announced a policy titled “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” …Read More
Food sovereignty—people’s right to define their own food and agricultural systems—can be a matter of life and death.
Just Thought is a series of essays from AJWS applying Jewish wisdom to the pursuit of tikkun olam today. Drawing upon Jewish history, Torah sources and the latest headlines, we plumb pressing questions about human rights and global justice from a Jewish perspective through monthly essays by noted scholars, activists and AJWS staff. Last year, …Read More