The American Jewish community stands united against the genocide of the Rohingya people and the persecution of all ethnic minorities in Burma. Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network (JRJN)* works to promote a robust U.S. and international response to the Rohingya genocide. Convened by American Jewish World Service (AJWS), …
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We can predict that President Trump’s State of the Union address will be rife with hyperbolic references to walls and refugees. But what about America’s obligation to uphold basic human rights around the world? To challenge strongmen, help democracies and uphold the human rights of every person on this planet?
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From Temple Emanu-El’s magnificent bima, Robert spoke about our shared obligation to live our Jewish values — to repair our broken world in difficult times.
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In response to the introduction of the Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality Act of 2018 (GLOBE Act), AJWS Director of Government Affairs Rori Kramer released this statement: “This bill sets the gold standard for America’s return to global leadership on human rights, including the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.”
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An entrepreneur is a person with an idea, whether that idea launches a tech startup or a social change movement. But if you’re a venture capitalist or a philanthropic funder, how do you know which fledgling enterprises to back? From our perspectives from years in the California tech world (Terry and Jocelyn) and in social change philanthropy (Robert), we see four basic principles that guide successful investing in both situations.
Read MoreEight years ago, while traveling in El Salvador with AJWS as part of a delegation of rabbinical students, I found myself in front of the main cathedral in San Salvador, the capital city. Surrounded by crowds of people in the busy plaza, looking at the massive church with its mix of Spanish and Native American décor, we heard about the Salvadoran people’s struggle to live in peace and to create a just society. I can still remember the moment when our guide, an activist and former priest named Chencho Alas, exhorted us to “be prophets” like his friend, the murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero. We looked at each other in bewilderment and may have even suppressed a giggle or two. We weren’t even rabbis yet; how could we possibly be expected to live up to the expectation of being prophets? The notion seemed wildly absurd.
Read MoreTorah—with its rich narratives and poetry, glimpses of the Divine and profound wisdom—is a text we turn to for inspiration, intellectual stimulation and meaning. Yet there are moments in the Bible when culturally located prejudices come to the fore and the reader is left struggling with the tension between timeless writing and context-bound oppression. One such moment is the law of the sotah—or wayward woman—found in Parashat Naso.
Read MoreTo the Burmese government, the Rohingya Muslims do not exist. This group of approximately 1.2 million people living in western Burma has been referred to by the United Nations as “one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.” The Rohingya consider themselves a distinct ethnic minority, but the Burmese government disputes this claim. In addition to refusing to recognize the group’s identity, the government has also inflicted widespread human rights violations against the Rohingya, including restricting marriage and child-bearing, depriving them of freedom of movement, and forcing them to live in deplorable conditions in internally displaced persons camps. The human rights organization, Fortify Rights, argues that the government intends “to make life so intolerable that they [the Rohingya] will leave the country.”
Read MoreWalking—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 there; and unless we’re on a hike, we rarely think of walking as an end in itself, or count it among our blessings.
Read MoreWhile the Israelites are still wandering in the desert, God instructs them in the laws of the shmita year, which will take effect once they enter the Promised Land. Once every seven years, instead of farming, they are to let the land lie fallow. The people of Israel will forage communally from the trees and the fields, eating the fruits that grow naturally in the land. The shmita year, we learn in Parashat Behar, parallels Shabbat—the seventh day of rest—on a grander scale: a year of rest for the land, once every seven years.
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