by Gitahi Githuku and Caroline Kouassiaman For over a month prior to President Obama’s visit to Kenya, “POTUS” was the hot topic of conversation, as much of the country was captivated by Obama’s first visit to his father’s homeland as President. The fact that President Obama had kin in Kenya coined the popular term “Our …
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Reporting from El Salvador In recent months El Salvador has been torn by a surge in deadly gang violence and a heavy police response—yielding greater insecurity than we have seen since the end of the country’s civil war in 1992. Gangs and their supporters continue to promote violence, and the government has increased military presence …
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Fewer than 800 miles from our shores, a deeply disturbing crisis is unfolding as tens of thousands of citizens of the Dominican Republic face deportation from their country simply because of their heritage. Tragically, people of Haitian descent who were born in the Dominican Republic have been stripped of their rights and their citizenship, and are …
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Washington, D.C. – American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading Jewish international development and human rights organization, applauds U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the State Department on the release of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. This report helps guide U.S. government and foreign policy assistance and also underscores threats …
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“We are asking for your help,” said Jenny Moron. “We feel a tremendous sense of frustration when we use all of the political levers and nothing works.” With this call to action, Jenny, a Dominican legal advisor for AJWS grantee MUDHA (Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitiana or the Movement of Haitian-Dominican Women) closed a June …
Read MoreIn many biblical stories, women are not named. While we know her salty fate, we never learn the name of Lot’s wife; and despite her central role in the Joseph story, Potiphar’s wife remains nameless. However, five women—Machla, Noa, Chogla, Milka and Tirtza—are named in Parshat Pinchas and again and again in the Bible. These …
Read MoreA specter of violence and conflict hangs over Parshat Balak. Fearing attack by the approaching Israelite nation, Balak, king of Moab, hires the prophet Bilaam to curse the Israelites. Balak entreats Bilaam: “come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me… for I know that he whom …
Read MoreWe are pleased to welcome guest writer, Lisa Exler, senior program officer at American Jewish World Service. Walking—putting one foot after the other—is, for many of us, our most basic vehicle for navigating the world. Yet we probably don’t put much thought into it. We’re more concerned with where we’re going than how we’re getting …
Read MoreEveryone is crying out for peace None is crying out for justice I don’t want no peace I need equal rights and justice.[1] -Peter Tosh Peter Tosh’s revolutionary lyrics in his 1977 song “Equal Rights” challenge some of the core assumptions of social justice activism. Critical of the tendency of his era’s dominant activist culture …
Read MoreAfter describing a series of laws dealing with property, damages, injury and other torts, our parsha concludes the section with a final warning: “Do not oppress the stranger; you know the feelings of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.[1] Explaining the seemingly odd placement of this verse, Rabbi Shimshon Refael …
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