Originally published on Pursue: Action for a Just World. If you are of a certain age (let’s say born between 1970 and 1985), I suspect there’s a better than average chance that your introduction to the American lawmaking process came courtesy of an animated and singing piece of legislation. This plucky bill overcame his fear of …
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Contradictions are popping up a lot around here lately: By now, you’ve likely heard AJWS say “U.S. food aid saves lives but it’s also causing more hunger.” We’re often uncomfortable with contradictions like these, and instead, crave clear messages that we can embrace: hunger is bad. Aid is good. Too bad things can’t be that …
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Through its description of the devastating famine in ancient Egypt, Parshat Vayigash suggests two models that can inform our response to hunger today. By this point in the biblical narrative, Joseph, Pharaoh’s trusted vizier, has been reunited with his brothers in Egypt. The rest of his family, however, is still suffering from terrible famine in Canaan. …
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In modern-day America, Thanksgiving is not usually about thanks. It is about food. Families come for the turkey, the pumpkin pie, the cranberry sauce and the company. If there is a time for reflection, it takes second billing to football, chatting and dessert. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But what if we made …
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AJWS has been saying for a while that shipping surplus U.S. food thousands of miles to developing countries is about as useless in ending global hunger as, well, sending them our old T-shirts. According to this article in Foreign Policy Magazine, here’s a great acronym for the leftovers people send to the poor under the …
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