Upcoming Events
Bay Area
Exodus and Revolution
Join
the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership in a new educational series,
Exodus and Revolution. Borrowing from Michael Walzer's book, Exodus and Revolution,
we will explore how the story of Exodus inspires our work for social
change throughout history and today. Additional Jewish and secular
texts and resources on revolution and responsibility will be provided.
Attend any or all of the remaining 3 sessions (the first was held on April 30).
Although reading the book is not a prerequisite, it will enhance your experience of the course. Buy or borrow it now!
When: May 7, 14, and 21, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., starting with noshing
and schmoozing. The last session will refocus on Revelation and
Revolution, just in time for Shavuot.
Where: The Women's Building, Room A (upstairs). 3543 18th St. between Valencia and Guerrero, SF
Who: Teachers include Rabbi Chai Levy, Associate Rabbi of Congregation Kol Shofar in Marin; Rabbi Dorothy Richman, Interim Executive Director Berkeley Hillel (and AJWS group leader); Professor Ari Y Kelman, Assistant Professor-American Studies, UC Davis; Daniel Sokatch,
CEO-Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin
and Sonoma Counties; former Executive Director and Founder, Progressive
Jewish Alliance
Cost: FREE! (other than the cost of the book)
To Register: Please click here.
Co-sponsored by: The Hub at JCCSF, Bureau of Jewish Education, Hazon, UpStart, and Young Adult Community of Congregration Emanu-El.
Social Change Book Group
Want to meet and be inspired by your peers who are working for
change? Want to discuss current issues facing our community, country,
and world? Want to read those important books you've been meaning to get to,
and talk about them with folks who also care about those issues? Join the Social Change Book Group!
The next book we are reading is Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. Dreams from My Father tells
the story of Obama's struggle to understand the forces that shaped him
as the son of a black African father and white American mother-a
struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral
home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego. Get the
book at your local library, independent bookstore, or borrow it from a
friend.
We'd love to have you join us for interesting conversation and
action around a variety of social justice, environmental, education,
human rights and health issues. Sessions alternate between fiction and
nonfiction selections.
When: Sunday, May 17, 6:00 p.m.
Where: In the Mission, SF - exact location provided upon RSVP
RSVP: jberger@avodah.net
Boston
Book Club
In May the book club revisits the world of their youths (at least for those who went to elite New England boarding schools). Prep is the debut novel by Curtis Sittenfeld and is a coming of age story that also addresses issues of class, race, and gender.
When: Sunday, May 10, 6:00 p.m.
Where: 365 Washington Street, Apt 403 in Brighton
Center, accessible via the 57 and 86 buses and a short walk from the B Line.
RSVP: To ssimons426@yahoo.com
***Feeling ambitious? Get a head start for June's Book Club meeting by reading The Guernsey
Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.
DC
DATE CHANGED: Board Service For Social
Change
The AVODAH-AJWS Partnership is
pleased to offer an intensive training to support you to use your talent and
passion to serve on the board of directors of a non-profit organization. Boards
of directors play a critical role in charting the course for an organization's
future and reach beyond the walls of the organizations they lead into the
community(ies) they serve.
If you are young, Jewish, and
committed to making change, and you currently serve on a board of directors or
hope to do so in the near future, we invite you to submit an application for
this training. You'll be exposed to a detailed overview of board service, gain
hard skills, and access a network of other Jewish change-makers looking to put
their passion to work.
Sessions will be held Sundays, May
17 and 31. Are you interested? Please contact Jessie (jposilkin@avodah.net) for details and an
application.
Shavuot on May 28th!
Stay tuned for details on a
AVODAH-AJWS Partnership co-sponsored Shavuot Tikkun/Night of Learning - information will
arrive in next week's regional e-mail.
New York
In the Boardroom:
Behind the Scenes of Successful Non-Profits
Successful non-profits are
driven by their hard-working staff as
well as their boards of directors.
But... unless you're sitting in the boardroom, it's sometimes hard to know what those boards of
directors are actually doing!
Come on out on May 20th
to hear from a panel of successful executive directors about their experiences working with the boards of
their organizations.
Confirmed panelists
include:
Rabbi David Rosenn
- Founding Executive Director of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps
Rabbi Joy Levitt
- Executive Director of the JCC in Manhattan
Charles King -
President and CEO of Housing Works
You'll find out, among other things, what non-profit
organizations generally look for in prospective board members (such as
yourself, potentially!). You'll hear, straight from the proverbial horse's
mouth, about some of the nitty-gritty decision-making processes that ultimately
inform how non-profit organizations function. And you'll have an opportunity to
get your many questions about those elusive boards of directors answered by
experts in the field!
This session is for you if...
You work in the non-profit sector
and are curious about everything from staff-board relations to how the board of
your organization makes its decisions; You currently sit on a board and
are looking for information on best practices; You're seeking out board service
opportunities and want to know which skills you should be honing.
Don't miss this great opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes
glimpse of the work that guides such an important part of the non-profit
sector!
Date: Wednesday,
May 20th
Time: 7pm-9pm
Place: Revealed
upon registration
To register:
Click here
This session is the
first in a series of follow-up sessions to our successful training, "Board
Service for Social Change." The sessions are designed to build on the "Board
Service for Social Change" curriculum, however, you do not need to have
participated in the training in order to attend this program - all are welcome!
AVODAH-AJWS-Hazon Book Club
The next book club selection is Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile
Parkin and the discussion will take place in early June. Stay tuned for
more details on the exact date and how to get a copy of this
soon-to-be-published novel!
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What's Been Happening in the Community
Bay Area
The AVODAH-AJWS partnership was pleased to co-sponsor the 2nd Annual Not-A-Seder Passover Cabaret on April 2nd in
Berkeley. Amelia Mae Paradise performed a burlesque show quite unlike
anything we'd ever seen at our bubbe's seders! Local comedienne
Heather Gold managed to laugh about her relationship struggles while
tying in PJA's work for marriage equality, and we also heard from local
activists involved with other campaigns. This entertaining and
informative evening also featured a guest apperance by visiting AVODAH
alums Zach Strassburger (NY 06-07) and Rachel Bennet (NY 06-07), and our very own Program Officer Jocelyn Berger took first prize in the kugel throwdown!
Also on April 2nd, the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership co-sponsored a Jewish Community
Federation program, The Road to Freedom, celebrating the modern
liberation of Ethiopian Jews. The event
attracted around 80 people to honor pilot Ra'anan Kesar, who was
personally responsible for transporting numerous Ethiopians to Israel. Attendees also heard about the Federation's work in creating economic
opportunity for Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as local work
with new Jewish immigrants. DJ Cheb I Sabbah provided world beat
entertainment for the crowd.
We
joined with PJA and Sweat-Free Communities on a worker tour featuring
speakers from garment factories in Honduras and Puerto Rico on April
6. The program also educated participants on the current campaigns to
pass sweat-free ordinances in the cities of San Francisco and Berkeley,
and included a performance by the Berkeley Labor Chorus.
On
April 13, former AJWS Western Region director Rabbi Lee Bycel led a
Social Justice Seder for the people of Darfur at the University of San
Francisco, a local private Jesuit institution with the nation's first
program in Judaism and Social Justice. Learning about the struggles
for freedom in Darfur, Burma, Tibet, and other areas inspired and
challenged participants to apply the story of Passover to our modern
time.
The new AVODAH-AJWS Bay Area City Team for
2009-2010 has officially begun its work! On March 8th, 6 of the 8 team
members came together for a kick-off retreat in order to start thinking
about how they are going to use their time together this coming year.
Like last year's team, the new AVODAH-AJWS Bay Area City Team will
coordinate three community-building events over the course of the year
and will make an effort to meet with individuals in the community (such
as yourself!) on a one-on-one basis. This year's team includes Emily
Kates (NY 04-05), Jennifer Baxter, Roni Ben-David, Lauren Greis, Oren
Kroll-Zeldin, Jeff Levy, Dave Lichtman, and Maya Trabin. Stay tuned for
more info about these community connectors and their first event which will be happening very
soon.
Boston
In April, the Book Club met to schmooze and discuss The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike. Ari Shapiro (NY 02-03) played host to alumni and friends including Sara Simons (DC 03-04), Ariadne Mueller (NY 00-01), Amy Horning (DC 04-05),
and Elesheva Soloff (DC 03-04).
DC
A group of DC alumni and friends finished up the final class of Exodus and Revolution, a four part series examining the story of the Exodus, biblical and modern
imperatives to make change, and the challenges we face in doing so. The classes were lead by local organizer Rabbi Erica Asch, with the final class co-led with educator and Jewish justice leader Rabbi Jason
Kimmelman-Block.
The pilot year of the AVODAH-AJWS DC
City Team has begun! The April 26th kick-off retreat was an opportunity for the 4 team members, including AVODAH alum Jeff Gluckman (DC 07-08), to get to know each other and to start thinking about how they will use their time together this coming year. The AVODAH-AJWS DC City Team will coordinate two
community-building events over the course of the year and will be meeting
with individuals in the community on a one-on-one
basis. Keep an eye on your inbox as an introduction letter from the city team will be arriving in a few weeks!
New York
On Wednesday, April 22, close to 60
alumni and friends gathered at the Jewish Community Project downtown for a panel
discussion entitled "From Guantanamo to Rikers: Do Prisons Work?". In addition to the people in the room, the
event attracted 17 'virtual' participants through a webinar set-up. The event was convened
by the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel in collaboration with the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership and Uri L'Tzedek. AVODAH's very own Aeli Gladstein
(NY 04-05) was among the distinguished panelists and did a stellar job
conveying his experience working in the community courts system. In
addition, AJWS alum Shmuly Yanklowitz delivered the opening remarks
which framed the evening's conversation from a Jewish perspective. All
of the speakers and panelists were poised, articulate, and extremely
well versed in the issues. It was a wonderful event!
On
Thursday, April 23, the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership was among the many
co-sponsors of "The Jewish Community Stands with Domestic Workers: The
Shalom Bayit Public Forum." The evening served as a kick-off event for a week of action in support
of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights - a historic piece of
legislation that addresses the longstanding, unfair exclusion of
domestic workers from labor protections. Over 200 allies came out to show their support for the legislation. The forum was Organized by Jews for Racial and Economic
Justice and hosted by Congregation B'nai Jeshurun. Additional co-sponsors included the Met Council on Jewish Poverty, Uri L'Tzedek, The
Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition, United Hebrew Trades - New
York Jewish Labor Committee, The Actor's Temple, Congregation Kolot
Chayeinu, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah and a
number of political representatives, including Assemblymember Linda
Rosenthal, Assemblymember Micah Kellner, and Senator Eric Schneiderman.
The AVODAH-AJWS-Hazon
Book Club met on Tuesday, April 28 to discuss Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion,
which attempts to explain the problems facing "failing states" and
economic solutions to pull them up from this status. The AJWS education
department facilitated the discussion using their brand-new book guide,
posing questions about Collier's intended audience, the importance of
whether or not readers agree with him, and Jewish sources on supporting
problematic systems. AVODAH staff in attendance included Ari Shapiro
and Annie Schiff, CLI Fellow.
Pacific Northwest
Alumni from four program years gathered in Vancouver for a weekend of singing, Jewish practice, skill-sharing, volunteering, enjoying the outdoors and
just being together. Vancouver based alums Yael Tischler (NY 07-08) and Rachel Gold (NY 02-03) were instrumental in planning the gathering and alums Eli Pristoop (NY 02-03), Natalie Stahl (DC 05-06), Margaret O'Connor (DC 07-08), and Noah Barish (NY 04-05) all crossed the border to join in on the fun.
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AVODAH News
AVODAH Partner in Justice Events
Please join
us for our annual
events in June to celebrate the work of AVODAH and honor our Partners in
Justice. We would be thrilled if you would join us for the events. Please make a
personally significant donation to attend the events (at minimum we ask alumni to make a $36 donation
to AVODAH). The events are an important way for AVODAH to raise much needed
funds and come together to celebrate our work. To buy tickets please go to http://www.avodah.net/annual-events for more information and to buy tickets.
CHICAGO
On
June 3rd, the Chicago AVODAH office will be honoring Lorie Chaiten and Rabbi
Brant Rosen.
NEW YORK
CITY
On June
4th, the New York City AVODAH office will be honoring Alan Cohen and Robert
Bank, and recognizing AVODAH alum
Ayala Livny.
WASHINGTON,
DC
On
June 16th, the Washington, DC AVODAH office will be honoring
Heather Booth and Rabbi Fred N. Reiner.
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Alumni
Highlights
Ann Finkelstein (NY 02-03) is graduating with an MD/MPH from the University of Southern California. Ann's residency will be in family medicine at Kaiser Los Angeles. Kol Hakavod Ann! Drew Himmelstein (DC 03-04) reported on Birkat HaChammah for the radio news program The California Report. You can listen to Drew's report here.
Do you
have 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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Programs
JDC
Jewish Service Corps
The JDC Jewish Service Corps (JSC)
is a paid, international, professional opportunity that empowers Jewish leaders
to create innovative programs in developing communities abroad. Global
placements include positions with a focus on Jewish identity building in
India, Turkey, and Ukraine, International development in
Rwanda and
Georgia, and Public Health
and Empowerment in Ethiopia. To learn more about the
JDC Jewish Service Corps, please visit http://www.jdc.org/help-jdc/get-involved.aspx.
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Jobs
AVODAH (New York)
AVODAH seeks a Rabbinic Intern who will work with AVODAH's National
Education Director to develop educational materials and to devise ways to
increase the accessibility of AVODAH's existing educational resources. The internship will be structured to allow
exploration of what it means to make social justice work a central part of
one's rabbinic career. The position runs from June-August 2009 and has a $5,000 stipend.
Please submit resume and cover letter to Rabbi Stephanie
Ruskay at sruskay@avodah.net. Due to the number of anticipated responses we
will only respond to finalists. No phone
calls please.
Breast
Cancer Fund (Bay Area)
The Breast Cancer Fund is the
leading national organization focused on preventing breast cancer by identifying
and eliminating environmental links to the disease. The Breast Cancer Fund seeks
a Policy Coordinator to work on state legislative and regulatory campaigns and
provide support for the Breast Cancer Fund's federal level legislative advocacy.
For the complete job description, please click here.
Center for
Justice and Accountability (Bay Area)
The Center for Justice
and Accountability (CJA) is an international human rights organization dedicated
to ending torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and
advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress. CJA has
two openings: a Legal Director, who will supervise the legal team and have
primary responsibility for overseeing the participation of pro bono law firms in
CJA's cases, as well as handle her/his own docket of investigations and cases;
and a Manager of Operations and Finance, who will have primary responsibility
for managing the finance, human resources, office management, facilities
management and information technology functions of the office. For the complete
job descriptions, please visit http://cja.org/.
Environmental Grantmakers
Association (NYC)
The mission of the Environmental
Grantmakers Association (http://www.ega.org) is to help
member organizations become more effective environmental grantmakers through
information sharing, collaboration, and networking. EGA seeks an Executive
Director who will be responsible for overseeing the organization's day-to-day
activities and operations and managing relationships with members, staff, and
the board. EGA's signature activity is an annual conference that provides
networking, education, and inspiration for its membership. For the complete job
description, please click here.
Limmud NY (NYC)
Limmud NY (http://www.limmudny.org/) brings
together Jews of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs to celebrate Jewish life and
learning in all of its diversity, through one-time and multi-day programs.
Limmud
NY's signature event is its annual
conference, held over Martin Luther King Weekend in the
Catskills.All of Limmud NY's programs are created by a grassroots
community of volunteers working in partnership with its staff of two full-time
professionals. Limmud NY seeks a project coordinator to work closely with the
executive director and approximately 100 dedicated volunteers to facilitate the
planning and implementation of the annual Limmud NY
conference. For more information or to apply, please contact search@limmudny.org.
Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (DC)
The mission of the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation is to help
community based organizations create healthy neighborhoods that are good places
to live, work, raise children and conduct business. LISC seeks applicants who
are currently in graduate school for its two summer internship positions: a
Neighborhood Based Internship, to provide support for LISC's targeted
neighborhood work in the Southwest neighborhood of Washington, DC; and a Community Development Internship,
to assist with the planning and coordination of various neighborhood events in
LISC targeted neighborhoods. For more information, please visit http://www.lisc.org/washingtondc/news.html.
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