Upcoming Alumni Events
National
Save the Date - October 7th -
for Debate Watch 2008!
According to the
generation, so goes the leader. (Arakhiu 7a)
On October 7th, millions of viewers worldwide will tune into the second U.S. Presidential Debate. Where will you be?
Put on your pundit hat and come hear Democracy roar on the big screen with two-hundred other civic-minded people at the best debate watch party in four years!
Move to the movement as you shake your fist at the screen, cheer when candidates mispronounce words, and sing along to commercials. It's time to reinvigorate the true spirit of our electoral system! Show your stars and stripes as we rally together to watch history in the making - and create some celebratory noise for a Jewish community that will stay tuned and continue our tradition of taking action on critical issues once the election is over, no matter who is in office.
Parties will take place in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Los Angeles, as we come together one-thousand strong across the nation to watch the debate. The evening will include speakers on electoral topics, election trivia, a showcasing of local social justice opportunities, voter registration tables, and a strong community of over two-hundred local Jewish movers and shakers committed to putting their values into action!
This is an initiative of the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership in close collaboration with regional organizations. Emails will be sent to regional listservs with location specifics. AVODAH-AJWS Micro-Grants Available for Non-Partisan Election Civic Engagement Efforts!
As
part of our ongoing work to engage our community in social policy,
education and outreach, the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership is pleased to offer
a small number of modest micro-grants to alumni working on non-partisan
civic engagement efforts related to the upcoming elections. The grants
will be no greater than $500 per person. If you have a compelling idea
or are already engaged on a project that is non-partisan in nature and
is in compliance with IRS regulations regarding non-partisan civic
engagement work, please send an email of inquiry to Rachel Chertok. Applications will considered and micro-grants will be made on a rolling basis.
AVODAH Alumni Retreat - January 2009
We are pleased to announce that our 2009 AVODAH
Alumni Retreat will be back at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat
Center. Last year seventy alums gathered together for an amazing
weekend! This year we expect an even greater turnout. Please help us
make this retreat awesome - please email Rachel Chertok with your ideas about
what you want to see happen at the January retreat.
Save the Date: Friday, January 9th - Sunday, January 11th 2009.
Bay Area
The Story of Stuff
The AVODAH-AJWS Partnership is
thrilled to welcome Annie
Leonard, creator of "The Story of Stuff" as she helps us
kick-off our 2008-09/5769 programming about how we make meaningful and
intentional choices about how we use our time and resources.
Join other conscious folks in the
Bay Area community to watch "The Story of Stuff," a 20-minute, fast-paced,
fact-filled, humorous look at the underside of production and consumption. After the film, we'll break up into
small groups for conversation, inspiration, and insight into solutions
happening right now. The evening will culminate with Annie speaking and
answering your questions about the film and sharing her visions and hopes for
change. Kevin Danaher from Global Exchange will also speak briefly about his efforts in reducing waste at the
current Democratic National Convention.
We
hope you'll find the evening particularly relevant as we approach the Jewish
holidays and prepare for how we want to live intentionally during this upcoming
year.
When: September 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: The Women's Building, 3452 18th Street, San Francisco
RSVP: Heidi Winig
Discussion
facilitators and event planners: Jeff Levy, Joel Snyder, Betsy Uhrman, Rae
Abileah, Lauren Berkman, Seth Garz, Ilana Gauss, Joanna Levitt, Roni Ben David,
Yaron Milgrom-Elcott, Sarah Rich, Sarah Shulman, Naomi Starkman, Sharon Turner,
Ariel Vegosen, Heidi Winig.
Co-sponsors:
Bay Area Hazon (EcoJews of the Bay), Progressive Jewish Alliance, and The Hub of JCCSF.
Board Service for Social Change
We are pleased to announce that we have a FABULOUS group of twenty Bay Area
leaders who will be participating in our local version of the Board
Service Training that happened last spring and summer in New York and DC.
Our group will meet September 14 and 21 and will continue with follow up throughout the year as well.
Alums new to the Bay Area!
A
few alums have recently relocated to the Bay Area! We'd love to
welcome them and plan a time for folks to meet each other. If you are
interested in hosting and/or planning, please contact Heidi Winig. Thanks!
DC
Community Shabbat Potluck
Join the DC
Alumni Community for a Shabbat Potluck to welcome new DC residents and
newly graduated Corps members to the community!
When: September 5th at 7:00 PM
Where: Moishe House DC (address provided upon registration)
RSVP: Contact Jessie Posilkin or Rivka Burstein-Stern for the evite.
New York
Eating Our Values: A Three Part Series Inspired by the New Jewish Food Movement
This series
will provide opportunities to investigate the politics of Kashrut, explore your
personal food choices, and get your hands dirty through service at a local
urban farm. Mark your calendars and be in touch if you're interested in joining
us for one, two, or all three programs!
Session 1 - Choices at the Check-Out Line: Roundtable Discussion and Communal Meal
This
roundtable discussion and communal meal will answer the burning foodie question
for the social justice minded out there: How to make ethical, informed, and
intentional decisions about your food consumption?
The program
will feature fresh and tasty local treats as well as participation from the
following foodies: Judith
Belasco (Hazon); Elizabeth
Fassberg (Eat Food); Adam Gordon (Farm to Chef Express); Deborah
Greig (East NY Farms!); Kara Rubin (Whole Foods).
Ian
Hertzmark (Jewish Farm School) will moderate
the discussion from a Jewish perspective.
When: Tuesday, September 9th @ 7pm
Where: Details provided upon registration
RSVP or for more info: Audrey Sasson
Session 2 - Digging in the Dirt
Spend your
Sunday communing with nature --- in the city! Come out to meet the volunteers who
run Hands and Heart Garden in East New York.
Hands and Heart (H&H) is one of three of the largest undeveloped city-owned
lots in Brooklyn and is the first time the
Department of Housing Preservation and Development has designated urban land
for food production. H&H has 23 members, four of whom are regular vendors
at a weekly farmers market. Come join H&H members in their efforts to
maintain their communal land.
Ian
Hertzmark (Jewish Farm School) will lead the
service learning component for the day.
When: Sunday, September 14th
Where: Hands and Heart
Garden, in East
NY, Brooklyn
(L train to New Lots Ave)
RSVP or
for more info: Audrey Sasson
Session 3 - The Politics of Kashrut: Kosher Meat Boycotts Then and Now
This
interactive
salon-style program will investigate the intersection of immigrant
rights, labor rights, and Jewish law by looking at the most recent
Kosher meat
boycott in historical perspective as well as exploring current
initiatives within the Jewish community to reframe Kashrut in ways that
reflect contemporary ethical considerations.
Featuring Professor
Hasia Diner, Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish
History; Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and History; Director of the
Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History at New York University.
Speakers from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Uri L'Tzedek and Hekhsher Tzedek will also present.
When: Monday, September 15th at 6:30pm
Where:
Details provided upon registration
RSVP or
for more info: Audrey Sasson
Save the date for our FIRST ever High
Holiday
book club:
The Sunflower: On
the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon
Wiesenthal
Our book club discussion will focus on the Jewish high
holiday themes of repentance and forgiveness as they relate to domestic and
international political issues. As you may know, the second half of the book is
a compilation of short essays. Please read a few that speak to you and bring
your
thoughts!
When: Monday, September 22nd, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Where: AJWS office, 45 West 36th St., 10th Floor
RSVP: Suzanne Lipkin by September 19th. You are also invited to send suggestions for the next book selection.
Save the Dates!
Tuesday, September
23rd - The AVODAH-AJWS NY City Team will be hosting its second event
of the year. Stay tuned for details for a pre-High Holiday gathering and reflection opportunity. For more
info, contact the NY City Team.
Tuesday, October
21st - The annual Simchat Torah shul-hopping celebratory extravaganza
with the AVODAH community in NYC. For more info, or to volunteer to host,
contact Audrey Sasson.
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What's Been Happening in the Alumni
Community
Bay Area
Three Creating a Life Worth Living Workshops took
place through the month of July and were so inspiring. Due to the
success of those initial workshops, we have decided to extend the class
through the fall. The first session of "Part II" meets September 3
with Certified Life Coach Laura Sari Geduldig.
DC
On Tuesday, August 22, twelve alumni and friends arrived at Moishe House
Silver Spring for Olympic Watch '08. We heard from Jeremy Woodrum, the co-founder and
campaign director at the US Campaign for Burma. Jeremy gave us an
amazing history of Burma and ways for us to help act now, including
meetings with our senators (for those from enfranchised states). We
then finished the evening by watching a bit of the Olympics.
New York
On
Tuesday, August 5, fifty alumni and their friends gathered at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life to
participate in the AVODAH-AJWS NY City Team's inaugural event, Oy, Olympics! This
event was planned entirely by alumni themselves and is
the first of three events that the NY City Team has committed to organizing
during its full-year tenure. Three speakers contributed their perspectives
on the current Olympic Games and how people may want to respond to China:
Motasim Adam, the founder of the Darfur Peoples' Association of NY; Christina
Moon, the founder of 8808 for Burma; and Jeffrey Hellman, a documentary
producer for the International Campaign for Freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma.
The event
was followed by a Community Shabbat, on August 8, the night of the opening
ceremonies. Mark Greenfield, an alum of AJWS, hosted the dinner, while
AVODAH alumna Melinda Koster (NY 06-07) facilitated a discussion based on the
materials that she and the rest of the City Team compiled in advance. Close to thirty people attended the Shabbat program, which was a great success.
The AVODAH-AJWS-Hazon Book Clubbook club held its sixth session on August 13th, discussing Peter Godwin's When a Crocodile Eats the Sun.
The discussion began with a presentation from AJWS alum Gila Ward about
her time spent living in Zimbabwe in the past year. The group included
AVODAH alumni Lisa Ochs (NY 00-01) and Jessica Polansky (NY 99-00).
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AVODAH News
AVODAH in the News
AVODAH was recently featured in a JTA article about New Orleans. Click here to read the full article.
New Staff
Welcome!
We are pleased to announce some new additions to AVODAH's staff.
Sarah Bier
is AVODAH's new Chicago Program Director. Sarah has worked as a youth and community
organizer as well as a Jewish educator for the past four years. Sarah looks
forward to contributing her skills, experience and passion to the AVODAH
team.
Deb Sperling is AVODAH's new Administrative Coordinator in Chicago. Deb grew up in Manhattan and is a recent graduate of Oberlin College. Deb has
had significant community service experience.
Elizabeth Kalos is AVODAH's new New Orleans Office Manager. Elizabeth was raised in Cincinnati but has lived in New Orleans for over five
years. She is knowledgeable about the city, and is committed to working in its
rebirth.
Justin Rosen is AVODAH's new Recruitment Coordinator. Justin is an Insight Fellow; a fellowship from the Schusterman Foundation that places recent college graudates interested in working in the Jewish community at Jewish non-profit organizations.
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Alumni Highlights
Three AVODAH alums received
Double Impact Social Justice Grants. The AVODAH-AJWS Partnership Double Impact
Social Justice Grants were designed to broaden the experience and deepen the
skill sets of AVODAH and AJWS alumni committed to anti-poverty work, and offer
support to organizations working on anti-poverty issues domestically and
abroad.
Aaron Lawee (NY 05-06) currently lives in Washington, D.C. This summer, he interned with Ayuda in
D.C. providing immigrants with legal assistance relating to
citizenship.
Julie Lipson
(DC 06-07) lives in Portland,
OR. This summer, she interned with
Mercy and Wisdom
Healing Center, connecting low-income, uninsured
people with donated health care services.
Rachel Gold
(NY 02-03) lives in Vancouver,
British Columbia. This summer, she
interned with the British Columbia Non-Profit Housing Association/Society for
Affordable Housing Education, Awareness and Development, working on
strengthening community responsibility for housing.
Congratulations to Alana Alpert (NY 05-06) and Matt Carl (NY 00-01) who were both recipients of the 2008 AJWS Dvar Tzedek Torah Commentary: Lisa Goldberg Memorial
Writers' Fellowship. AJWS Dvar Tzedek is a weekly Torah commentary highlighting
global justice teachings that are deeply rooted in
Torah.
Do you have great
news that you want to share with the AVODAH alumni community? Do you want to
see your name in e-print? Please tell us about all the great stuff you are up
to so we can feature you in our alumni highlights.
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Awards and Fellowships
Gates Public Service Law
Scholarship Program (Seattle, Washington)
The Gates Public Service Law
Scholarship Program awards five scholarships on an annual basis to first
year students entering the UW School of Law J.D. program. Each Gates PSL
scholarship award covers tuition, books, costs of room and board and summer
stipends to support public service law work. Acceptance of a Gates PSL
scholarship represents a commitment on the part of each Scholar to work in
public service for five years following graduation.
For more information about the Gates Scholarship program,
including how to apply eligibility requirements, requirements for the Scholars
and more about programming, please click here.
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Programs
The
Livnot Journey - MASA (Israel)
The Livnot
Journey is a 5-month program, part of the Jewish Agency's MASA Israel Experience
Programs in Israel. The Livnot programs
concentrate on community service, hiking and study, seminars and workshops, and incorporate Livnot's elements of experiential activities of exploring Judaism and Israel
in an open and questioning environment. The program is centered in the Northern
Israeli town of Tzfat, with a 2-month kibbutz experience built
into the program. The cost of the program is $5400, of which you can apply for
a $3000 scholarship from MASA, and perhaps find more funding from local sources.
Find out more about the Livnot Journey here.
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Jobs
AVODAH-AJWS Partnership Program Officer (Boston, part-time and San Francisco-Bay Area, full-time)
Are you committed to making the world a better place? Are you excited to meet with and bring together Jews in their 20's and 30's who care about social justice? Are you interested in helping young Jews put their values into action through intentional decisions about their careers, their volunteer experiences, their philanthropy, their political power, and their consumer choices?
As the AVODAH-AJWS partnership program officer in Boston or in the Bay Area you will help strengthen the community in a number of ways, including: nurturing networks of people with shared interests and values,
developing opportunities to celebrate and showcase local Jewish change-makers and the incredible work that they do, and providing
AVODAH and AJWS alumni and the broader community with opportunities to
build leadership skills and put them to use for the greater good. For the complete job descriptions, please click here.
Alumni are strongly encouraged to apply! For immediate consideration, please forward your resume and cover letter to opportunities@ajws.org and indicate your name and "AVODAH-AJWS Program Officer, Boston Region" or "AVODAH- AJWS Program Officer, Bay Area Region" in the subject line.
AJWS
(NYC)
AJWS seeks a Director
of Service with strong management and program development experience to guide
the further expansion of high quality AJWS Service programs. The Director of
Service will lead the team of managers responsible for the daily oversight of
existing service and alumni programs. The Director will work to ensure smooth
collaboration within and between the Service and other departments and will play
a lead role in representing AJWS in the growing field of Jewish service. The
ideal candidate will have a passion for and commitment to promoting Judaism's
imperative for social justice and an understanding of international development
issues. For more information about this and other positions available at AJWS,
please click here.
Corporate Accountability
International (Boston)
Corporate Accountability
International (formerly Infact) is a membership organization that protects
people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous
corporate actions around the world. Corporate Accountability International is
looking to hire a Communications Associate/Writer who will contribute to the
development of their marketing and online outreach plan. For the complete job
description, please click here.
Digital Divide Data
(NYC/DC)
Digital Divide Data (DDD) is an
internationally acclaimed non-profit organization based jointly in New York, Cambodia and Laos.
DDD provides a range of document digitization services to clients while creating
sustainable IT-related job opportunities and training for disadvantaged people
in the developing world. Three positions are available: Project Manager, Program
Manager, and Sales Associate. For complete job descriptions, please click here.
International Women's Health
Coalition (DC)
The International Women's Health
Coalition (IWHC) promotes and protects the sexual and reproductive health and
rights of women and young people worldwide. IWHC seeks a Director/Vice President
of Development responsible for the design, implementation and evaluation of
IWHC's strategy to move from a $8.5 million annual budget in FY2009 to $10
million in FY2010. S/he will build on a strong revenue base of private
foundations and European governments, while also growing support from
individuals and corporations in the United
States and Europe. (IWHC
does not accept funds from the United States government.) For the
complete job description, please click here.
LIFE
(Israel/India)
LIFE is an eight-month
service-learning program for Jewish college graduates (21-30 years old) from the
Jewish world and their Israeli peers. LIFE begins with a training and learning
period of six weeks in Israel. LIFE participants then
engage in internships and learning in India for almost four months, afterwards
returning to Israel for a second internship
and learning period of similar length. Internship positions advance a social
justice agenda through change-making programs in diverse fields. Training,
top-level learning and reflecting on their own work help participants develop
their social vision and their leadership abilities. A limited number of places
for the 2008-9 group, starting October 26th, are still available;
apply soon. For more information, please click here
or contact the Program Director Yonatan Glaser.
Progressive Jewish Alliance (Bay
Area)
The Progressive Jewish Alliance
(PJA), California's leading Jewish social justice
organization, seeks a Communications Manager. PJA is a dynamic and growing
organization, serving as a vehicle connecting Jews to critical social justice
issues. The Communications Manager is responsible for the development and
implementation of PJA's communications strategy and promotion of PJA's campaigns
and programs. This is a new position in a growing organization and an excellent
opportunity for someone in the field to expand her or his skills. For the
complete job description, please click here.
Transfair USA
(Bay Area)
TransFair USA
promotes sustainable development and corporate social responsibility through
Fair Trade. TransFair is an entrepreneurial,
non-profit organization and the only independent third-party certifier of Fair
Trade products in the U.S. Transfair seeks a Public Relations Manager to be
primarily responsible for internal and external written communications including
press releases, media advisories, FAQs, talking points, Q&As, opinion
editorials and articles that capture the positive impact of Fair Trade
Certified. This position proactively provides information about TransFair
USA and Fair Trade Certified in order
to secure positive coverage. For the complete job description, please click here.
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