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Posts by author:
Suzanne Lipkin
- Not surprisingly, the food justice victory by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) last week—in which Trader Joe’s finally signed a Fair Food agreement after years of CIW organizing—has made big news in the Jewish social justice world. While we covered the story of the tomato rabbis who visited Immokalee just last week, you can read additional coverage of their visit and the victory in the Forward’s The Jew and the Carrot blog, the Bay Area’s J Weekly, and the Huffington Post. And what will change as a result of this victory? “This is nearly a 50 percent raise for the workers,” said Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland.
- There are just 12 days left to submit your brilliant new idea for reimagining the traditional tzedakah box to the Where Do You Give? design competition! For inspiration, turn to the Where Do You Give? blog: last week, professor Deborah Skolnick Einhorn wrote about the tension between philanthropic funding of social services versus social change work, which can often address the root causes that create the need for social services in the first place. Given the current small percentage of U.S. philanthropy devoted to social change, she raises a challenging question: “Are there enough resources to really cure the root causes of day-to-day problems?” Read more →
Tagged as:
food justice,
nu,
torah,
tzedakah
 In his recent piece on the Huffington Post, Max Klau of City Year (and former AJWS group leader) writes that “causes of justice and equality have always been advanced through the collective efforts of vast numbers of civic leaders working together for change.” He highlights one person in particular: Bayard Rustin, the man behind the hundreds of thousands of people who made it to the National Mall for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Without the crowd—and the organizers that got them there—the speech would not have had nearly as great an impact as it did, nor would the struggle for civil rights have been nearly as successful.
The relationship between leaders and participants in social justice movements can be tenuous. History remembers iconic figureheads, while behind the scenes, connections are quietly forged that bring change to fruition. On the other hand, the challenges of working within a large group of people can seem insurmountable. How can movements embody the kind of respectful and participatory decision-making and collective action that they hope to bring about in society? Read more →
Tagged as:
change-makers,
leadership,
meet the change
- This week, Jews around the world celebrated the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the New Year of the Trees. While Pursue sponsored seders in Brooklyn and the Bay Area, the meaning of the holiday was being passionately discussed in the blogosphere. Rabbi Noah Farkas in the Jew and the Carrot argued that, rather than focusing on reaching a spiritual union with God, we should remember the holiday’s social origins as a tax day and devote our energies to taking action on related issues, like a healthy food system. Meanwhile, Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center shared the text of the Eco-Covenant that calls on the Jewish community to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 14% by September of 2014.
- The Jewish community’s support for better U.S. food policies grows each day, and AJWS alumni are among those leading the public discussion on the Farm Bill. This week, Jennifer Schwarz published a piece in her university paper discussing the ways to improve U.S. food aid in the context of what she saw on her recent trip to Haiti. In the St. Louis Jewish Light, Rabbi Andy Kastner called for this Tu B’Shvat to be a “celebration of the natural world and an opportunity to ensure its health” by actually stepping into the nitty gritty of political debate about our relationship to the natural world and signing the Jewish Petition for a Just Farm Bill. Read more →
Tagged as:
ethical consumption,
food justice,
holidays,
nu,
partners
- In case you missed it, you can watch President Obama’s State of the Union address from this past Tuesday night on the White House website. But if you’re looking for Jewish justice insight into the state of the nation as Obama sees it, look no further than the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC). They put together a State of the Union resource center that includes a transcript of their live Twitter feed with RAC associate director Mark Pelavin and a series of bingo cards that you can use to track the key phrases Obama drops during his speech.
- On the heels of the two-year anniversary of Haiti’s earthquake, the Haiti Advocacy Working Group organized Haiti Advocacy Week this past week on Capitol Hill. Bringing together Haitians, organizations working on Haiti’s development, and government officials, events included policy briefings on issues such as gender-based violence, the cholera epidemic, and democracy within Haiti as well as discussions about how best to move forward in securing a strong future for the country. To see photos from the week’s events, click here. Read more →
Tagged as:
change-makers,
domestic policy,
haiti,
immigration,
nu
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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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