AJWS Blog

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 — and meet the activists on the frontlines of the fight to build a better world.

A Message from Cynthia Nixon

  I’m Cynthia Nixon. As an actor, I’ve played the roles of many different women—from Juliet to Miranda Hobbes to Eleanor Roosevelt. I love bringing the stories and struggles of women to life, on the stage and on the screen. It’s a tremendous pleasure and privilege. Yet, there are millions of women all over the globe whose stories are never told on the world stage. These women suffer many forms of discrimination. They are victimized by sexual violence. And when they raise their voices in protest, too often they …

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Dvar Tzedek: Parashat Bereshit 5775

On the subway the other day, my four-year-old daughter piped up with the observation, “There are more white people than brown people on the train today.” I was immediately discomfited, looking around to see if anyone had heard and then probing to see if her comment had any valence beyond the simple truth that there …

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Dvar Tzedek: Parashat Bereshit 5775

On the subway the other day, my four-year-old daughter piped up with the observation, “There are more white people than brown people on the train today.” I was immediately discomfited, looking around to see if anyone had heard and then probing to see if her comment had any valence beyond the simple truth that there …

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Why Yom Kippur Tells Us To Fight Ebola

Originally published in The Jewish Daily Forward. As Jews around the world prepare for Yom Kippur — a day when we pray to be “sealed in the Book of Life” for the year to come — the people of West Africa are struggling to save the lives of their loved ones from the Ebola outbreak, …

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Reflections on India and Behind the Beautiful Forevers

I was drawn to Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, Katherine Boo, when it first appeared in 2012. Boo’s raw and vivid portrait of life in an Indian slum is 100 percent nonfiction, yet it reads like a novel. This past summer I returned to Boo’s book and was newly impressed …

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