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Marching into the future, toward justice

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August 27, 2020

Pompeo’s Commission is Purely Political and Endangers Human Rights Protections Worldwide, According to Leading Jewish Global Human Rights Group

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) decries report from Commission on Unalienable Rights Late last night, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Commission on Unalienable Rights issued the final version of its report on the role of human rights and U.S. foreign policy. Rori Kramer, Director of U.S. Advocacy at American Jewish World Service (AJWS), issued the …

January 18, 2018

We Too

Each day, it seems, brings new stories that prove that our workplaces are sites of violence against women, the silencing of women’s ambition, and discrimination in women’s compensation. For some of us, this is new information. For many of us, it rings true, but the extent of the problem and the graphic ugliness of the …

February 27, 2017

Here are 4 reasons Trump’s “global gag rule” on abortion will be a disaster

Within 48 hours of the historic protest for women’s rights on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump put millions of people around the world at risk with a stroke of his pen. Late last month, he reinstated the “global gag rule,” which forbids the U.S. from giving global health assistance to any overseas organization that provides abortions, counsels …

January 23, 2017

Jews Join 50,000 Others in Philadelphia Women’s March

From Chicago to Berlin, hundreds of thousands participated in marches tied to the Washington Women’s March on Saturday. Marchers of all ages and genders gathered at Logan Square early in the day, where health care and references to female anatomy dominated the most creative and sarcastic signs. Beth David Reform Congregation held what they called …

January 20, 2017

#WhyIMarch in the Women’s March Today

For me, history is about footsteps. Moving from one place to another. From one reality to another. As Jews, our ancestors moved from slavery in Egypt toward freedom. They were not freed by standing still; they had to walk toward their redemption, one step at a time. For those of us today who wish to …

March 20, 2015 by Andrew Blossom

Dominican-Haitian communities help earthquake survivors

Dominican-Haitian communities help earthquake survivors. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake, AJWS grantee Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitiana (MUDHA) organized Haitian communities in the Dominican Republic to rapidly respond to the immediate needs of disaster victims across the border. Just 48 hours after the disaster, MUDHA mobilized Dominican-Haitian communities to assist people in some …

March 20, 2015 by Andrew Blossom

Indigenous communities defend their land and way of life

Indigenous communities work together to defend their land and way of life. In Guatemala, indigenous people whose families have lived and farmed in one place for generations are now facing rapid encroachment on their land and way of life. Many Mayan communities lack official land titles, despite obvious historic and cultural ties to their land. …

March 20, 2015 by Andrew Blossom

Youth make strides for reproductive health in Guatemala

In Guatemala, very few young people have access to quality reproductive health care and sexual health education. Only 44 percent of women of reproductive age use any kind of contraceptives. The maternal mortality rate—the proportion of pregnancies that end in the mother’s death—is the second worst in Latin America and is especially high among indigenous …

March 17, 2015 by Leah Kaplan Robins

Supporting Women Peacemakers in Casamance

Thirty years of armed conflict in Casamance have left many people—especially women—feeling powerless: powerless to stop the frequent deadly bursts of guerilla violence, and powerless to feed and educate their children in the midst of the chaos of conflict. But one woman, Seynabou Male Cissé, a former high school teacher, saw the potential of women …

March 17, 2015 by Andrew Blossom

Tostan

Tostan—which means “breakthrough” in Wolof, the national language of Senegal—is among the highest-profile social change organizations working on the African continent. AJWS was one of its earliest supporters, first funding the organization just a year after its launch in Senegal in 1991. AJWS stood by Tostan and its founder, Molly Melching, as the organization grew …

Dvar Tzedek

March 24, 2014 | 5774

Tazria

Parashat Tazria opens with a passage that makes many contemporary readers bristle at its seemingly obvious gender discrimination. Describing a woman who has just given birth, the text relates that not only is she impure, but the length of her impurity doubles for a daughter in contrast to a son. While the gender-based distinctions in the text may arouse anger or confusion, they provide an opportunity to reflect on the topic of gender and they may also offer insights into how gender plays a role in our own lives and in the lives of people around the world.

March 17, 2014 | 5774

Shmini

Parashat Shmini begins as the week of inaugural worship in the Mishkan, the desert temple that enabled God to dwell among the Israelites, is coming to a close. But tragedy strikes when two young priestly acolytes, Nadav and Avihu, die at the altar. It is a brief and puzzling story: we are simply told that each brought his incense pan and offered incense on “strange fire,” even though God had not commanded it of them. And the next thing we know, they are consumed by God’s fire.

February 10, 2014 | 5774

Ki Tisa

What does it mean to “count”? To count can mean to tally items to determine the total—as in, the teacher counted her students. To count can also mean to have merit, importance or value—as in, every little bit of help counts. In Parashat Ki Tisa, God instructs Moshe to count the Jewish people. Men over the age of twenty are included in this census, and each is commanded to donate a half-shekel, which is used for the construction and upkeep of the Tabernacle.

November 18, 2013 | 5774

Vayeshev

Anu Mokal was four months pregnant the night policemen brutally assaulted her at a bus stop in Satara, India. They beat her so severely that she suffered a miscarriage. When she later filed a complaint against them, no investigation took place, despite the presence of witnesses. Why? Because she was a sex worker, and the policemen—who had charged her with soliciting clients at the bus stop—were just ‘doing their job.’

November 11, 2013 | 5774

Vayishlach

Parashat Vayishlach contains the harrowing story of the rape of Dina and its equally violent aftermath. Dina “goes out” to see the daughters of the town of Shchem. Instantly Shchem, the son of Chamor, sees her, takes her and defiles her. He then falls in love with her and asks for her hand in marriage. Dina’s father, Yaakov, is unable to offer a response, remaining silent and waiting for his sons to return home from the field. As a form of retaliation, two of Yaakov’s sons, Shimon and Levi, slay all of the men of Shchem and take the women and children as captives.