Press Releases

AJWS president Ruth W. Messinger has been appointed to serve on the Obama administration’s Task Force on Global Poverty and Development. The task force was created by the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which is working to identify areas in which improved, expanded and innovative partnerships between government and faith-based community organizations will yield results in serving individuals, families and communities.

AJWS has announced that Barbara Dobkin will serve as its new board chair, the organization’s principal lay leadership position.

AJWS, long involved in the fight against the genocide in Darfur, expressed concern today that the Obama administration is sending contradictory signals in recognizing the magnitude of what has taken place and continues to occur on the ground in Darfur.

AJWS has named Aaron Dorfman its new Vice President for Programs. As AJWS’s Director of Education since 2005, Dorfman has created and implemented educational programs and resources that encourage American Jews to think critically about and engage in the pursuit of social justice for all, worldwide.

AJWS President Ruth W. Messinger delivered a riveting commencement address yesterday at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) calling on the graduates — Rabbis, communal workers and Jewish educators — to embrace a 21st Century Judaism that emphasizes global citizenship and the pursuit of social justice for all people.

AJWS has officially launched a searchable online database of Jewish social justice texts designed to support rabbis and Jewish educators who want to teach about Judaism and social justice.

AJWS has launched the Global Circle, a community of young professionals dedicated to supporting AJWS’s mission to alleviate poverty, hunger and disease in the developing world.