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Posts by author:
Ilan Caplan
This post originally appeared on Global Voices, the blog of AJWS.
When I say “Weekend In Vegas,” what do you think of?
Jews? Really? Me, too!
(And social justice, of course.)
I was on the scene this weekend with fellow AJWS employees and full-time Jewish young adults, Dahlia Rockowitz and Matt Balaban, at TribeFest. The Jewish Federations of North America’s annual convention of Jewish young adults hosted over 1400 participants at the Venetian to learn, teach, network, reconnect, exhibit, drink, laugh and party.
And party we did. Dahlia lost a dollar to the slot machines before we even left the airport. I became personally acquainted with more varieties of Italian wine than I care to admit. And Matt managed to rub elbows with SNL star and special TribeFest speaker, Rachel Dratch.
But our focus, as always, was global justice. Read more →
Tagged as:
AJWS,
community,
events,
food justice,
partners
This post originally appeared on The Jew and the Carrot.
 “This just makes common sense, and—I think—it makes Jewish sense.”
That is how Timi Gerson of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), closed the House of Representatives policy briefing organized by the Jewish Working Group for a Just Farm Bill.
I was privileged to watch this briefing in action. The panelists, Barbara Weinstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the RAC); Josh Protas of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA); Mia Hubbard of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger; and Timi Gerson of AJWS, had addressed an audience earlier that day in the one of the Senate conference rooms: a spacious, red-carpeted room bedecked with large portraits of senators past and present. This second briefing was in a smaller, more intimate room, not substantially different from the Multi-Purpose Room of my childhood synagogue in suburban New Jersey. Read more →
Tagged as:
action,
campaigns,
food justice,
partners,
washington d.c.
This post originally appeared on Global Voices, the blog of AJWS.
In celebration of AJWS’s “Where Do You Give” Design Competition, and in honor of the successful slew of “Sh** People Say” videos, we present:
 Sh** Jews Say About Philanthropy… brought to you by members of the AJWS staff:
“Yes, dear, it has to be in multiples of 18.”
“I shouldn’t talk about it on Shabbos, but…”
“Is it Super Sunday? Again?”
“… and so your Uncle Morrie finally made it to America. And that is why we give money every year to those going through tough times.”
“Why get them something off the registry when we could get them a mezuzah? Everybody needs a mezuzah!”
“It was a good year. I even gave to the temple across the street.” Read more →
This post originally appeared on Global Voices, the blog of AJWS.
 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 our Thanksgiving meal an opportunity to give real thanks – or, even better, to give back?
What if, in addition to enjoying full plates of food, we placed a single empty plate on our table to remind ourselves of the millions of people who cannot feast like us? What if, in addition to swapping family stories and jokes, we took a moment to remember stories like that of Jonas Deronzil, a Haitian farmer who struggled to feed his family after cheap rice imported from America with the best of intentions undercut his profits and put his livelihood at risk?
And what if, as we think about thanks, we also consider how we can spread thanks beyond ourselves? Read more →
Tagged as:
food justice,
holidays
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Jewish change-makers are inspired, motivated and fiercely smart. Jewish values urge us to question injustice, act, and take collective responsibility. Pursue sparks and sustains social change by channeling the unlimited passion and potential of Jewish change-makers
in their 20s and 30s into action for a more just world. Copyright 2010
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