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The Race for Justice is a Marathon

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December 12, 2018

Leading International Human Rights Group Supports Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality Act of 2018 in Congress

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.”

November 7, 2018

American Jewish World Service Responds to 2018 Midterm Elections

“We applaud the record numbers of Americans who exercised their rights and went to the polls, and we are gratified that they voted to end one-party rule by President Trump, whose corrosive blend of nationalism and xenophobia has undermined U.S. leadership around the world. Under the banner of ‘America First,’ Trump has inflamed hate and bigotry at home and abroad, abdicated American leadership on human rights worldwide and undermined key international institutions necessary to bolster democracy and achieve justice.

October 28, 2018

Statement of Robert Bank, President and CEO of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), on the Tragedy in Pittsburgh

The AJWS family mourns the tragic loss of life at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. This was the deadliest attacks on Jews in American history, rooted in virulent anti-Semitism and unvarnished hatred of immigrants and refugees. We hold the Jewish community of Pittsburgh in our hearts—mourning the dead and sending our hopes for recovery to the wounded and the traumatized. We shall never forget or forgive this crime.

October 22, 2018

Statement by Robert Bank, President and CEO of American Jewish World Service on Proposed Anti-Trans Policy

As the leading Jewish global human rights organization that supports and works with 34 organizations in eight countries to advance the full human rights and dignity of trans people worldwide, we express our complete opposition to this heartless policy which would end the legal recognition of transgender Americans by the U.S. government. Moreover, we are gravely concerned that this policy will undermine U.S. government programs that support transgender communities worldwide and will signal to repressive governments around the globe that they are free to violate the human rights of trans people in their own countries.

Dvar Tzedek

June 2, 2014 | 5774

Beha’alotcha

Eight 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.

May 26, 2014 | 5774

Naso

Torah—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.

May 19, 2014 | 5774

Bamidbar

To 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.”

May 12, 2014 | 5774

Bechukotai

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 there; and unless we’re on a hike, we rarely think of walking as an end in itself, or count it among our blessings.

May 5, 2014 | 5774

Behar

While 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.