As someone who has spent the past four years reporting in Southeast Asia, I want to make a suggestion: this Passover, put down the Haggadah for a few minutes and read aloud from an essay by actor Mandy Patinkin about his trip to Cambodia. On the Showtime series “Homeland,” Patinkin plays Saul Berenson, a senior …
Read MoreSeveral months ago, I felt the power of the thousands-year-old Passover story as palpably as I ever have, when I travelled with American Jewish World Service (AJWS) to Cambodia. My sense of what it means for a people to go from slavery to freedom deepened when I spent time listening to the modern-day narratives of …
Read MoreWe all know that adolescence is, by definition, a time when children begin to mature into adults: physically, mentally and emotionally. In many communities, it’s also a time fraught with anxiety about the emerging sexuality of adolescent girls—a time when, driven by fear, some families exert tight control over where girls can go, who they …
Read MoreAfter nearly 20 years as the president of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Ruth Messinger is retiring. She joins us to reflect on her career in humanitarian aid and the work of AJWS, which bills itself as “the first and only Jewish organization dedicated solely to ending poverty and promoting human rights in the developing …
Read MoreRuth Messinger was one of New York City’s most prominent politicians in the 1980s and 1990s before she took the helm of a respected but low-profile nonprofit focused on international development: the American Jewish World Service. After 18 years, Messinger is giving up the presidency of AJWS, which grew into a major player in the fight against …
Read More“I don’t often speak publicly about my religion,” retiring California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said on the evening of March 13 as she took the stage to be honored at “AJWS at 30: Celebrating Our Global Leaders.” Boxer went on to describe how she inherited her drive for social justice from her mother, an immigrant …
Read MoreAfter 17 fruitful years serving as president of American Jewish World Service, Ruth Messinger will step down later this year. But she’s not retiring.
As she noted, “I’m not the retiring type.”
On July 1, Messinger will hand the reins to current executive vice president Robert Bank. Messinger will then take on the role of global ambassador for the venerable Jewish social justice nonprofit.
Read MoreAs a city council member, Manhattan borough president and then mayoral candidate, Ruth Messinger’s focus was New York City. But after leaving local politics, she embarked on a new career, one that has taken her around the world. “I would start my speeches by saying ‘Let me introduce myself, I’m a recovering elected official,’” Messinger …
Read MoreMandy Patinkin, stage, screen and television actor (Che Guevara, Inigo Montoya, Saul Berenson), and Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service and democratic mayoral challenger to Rudy Giuliani in 1997, talk about their recent trip to Cambodia to meet with human rights and labor activists.
Read MoreThe conversation started with a simple question: how do you celebrate your birthday? Go drink beers with friends, enjoy some cake, they answered. And the birthdays of their friends? Again, cake, beer, gifts. But when asked about the birthdays of their sisters, the men, ages 19 to 20, didn’t have as much to offer. Most …
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