Over forty years ago, I began discussions with leaders of major Jewish organizations, with synagogue Rabbis and their congregations, to organize the first Jewish organization dedicated to respond to world poverty, hunger and dehumanization. Eventually, and together with philanthropist Larry Phillips, I took a leap and founded American Jewish World Service (AJWS), stepping away from …
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American Jewish World Service (AJWS) strongly condemns the U.S. State Department for drastically limiting their reporting on human rights abuses documented in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and calls on Congress to act to safeguard global human rights. Expected reductions in the content of these reports narrowly define who is entitled to …
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Senseless executive order will destabilize countries in conflict, says leading Jewish human rights organization NEW YORK, NY – American Jewish World Service (AJWS) strongly condemns President Trump’s Executive Order banning travel from 12 countries, including several in which AJWS supports grassroots human rights organizations. This senseless and inhumane action fails at its ostensible objective of …
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The fellows include seven rabbis and one cantor who will travel to the Dominican Republic to meet grassroots activists and later to Washington, D.C. to advocate for U.S. foreign policies that champion human rights in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading Jewish organization committed to promoting global human …
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After the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, Parashat Yitro tells of the dramatic reunion between Moses and his father-in-law, Yitro, who is a Midianite priest. The parashah opens with the simple words “vayeshama Yitro—and Yitro heard.” We are not told what he heard, but we see that Moses’s father-in-law is quickly moved to action in support of Moses and the Israelite people. He gathers his daughter Tziporah (Moses’s wife) and her two children, and together they travel to meet Moses in the wilderness.
Read MoreI consider the most beautiful passage in the Torah to be found in Parashat Nitzavim:
Surely, this mitzvah that I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”….No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.
Read MoreI consider the most beautiful passage in the Torah to be found in Parashat Nitzavim:
Surely, this mitzvah that I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”….No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.
Read MoreParashat Ki Tetze contains 74 interesting and illuminating commandments—including one that, at first glance, gets my hackles up: “A man’s apparel should not be on a woman, and a man should not wear a woman’s clothing, for whoever does these things is an abomination before Adonai your God.” For many of us—and especially for those of us who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming—this apparent prohibition against cross-dressing feels problematic. Why should wearing clothes that are not “gender-appropriate” earn the harsh title of abomination?
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