AVODAH News
Celebrating Partners in Justice Across the Country
Each year AVODAH honors individuals who emulate AVODAH's vision in the
world at our Partner in Justice events. This year we will have events
in New York, Washington, DC and Chicago in Spring, 2010. Click here to find out how to celebrate with us.
To me, AVODAH Means...
Tell us how AVODAH has impacted your life through images, videos, audio clips or written messages! In honor of David Rosenn's work, we are compiling an electronic scrapbook of how AVODAH has affected our lives. In blog format, this scrapbook will be unveiled at the New York City Partners in Justice event on Tuesday, May 25th. David will be honored at the event along with our outstanding Board Chair, Steven Koppel.
Send all materials to Mollie Spevack and keep checking the blog to see when your message is posted.
Spring is in the air and new growth is in the works...
After four rich years of community-building and growth, the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership is in full bud - and will soon bloom with a new look and new name. The AVODAH alumni announcements are changing too, as a result of the incredibly thoughtful feedback you shared via your participation in our recent survey. Watch your inbox over the next month for more details on all of the above!
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Alumni In Action
Charles Dabah (NY 08-09)
Charles Dabah just moved to Chicago on March 17th. He's starting a new job in several days working as a Career Specialist for Inspiration Corporation, doing job training and employment readiness work with homeless adults. The bulk of his professional experience is doing leadership development work with high school aged students (during his AVODAH year). He would always be happy to share and talk with anyone about that experience. Email Charles.
Meredith Levy (DC 04-05)
Meredith now lives in Denver, CO with her husband Benjamin. She enjoys exploring her new city, but has not yet participated in snow sports on the Rockies (!). Meredith is working for a Jewish education non-profit, stays busy coordinating a new Hazon CSA, and has recently joined the board of an independent minyan. Meredith and Benjamin will also be joining a community garden at Ekar, a new Jewish urban farm in Denver and look forward to a summer and fall abundant with fresh local produce. Email Meredith.
Anna Schwartz (NY 05-06)
Anna is part of a coalition of agencies that do anti-violence work planning a conference for teens in NYC this spring. This year the conference is on Friday, May 21 and the theme is "Transforming Media Into Action." If you work with teens who would be interested, please get in touch so Anna can send you registration forms. Click here for more information. Anna is involved with the Healthy Teen Relationships Coalition through an internship with Safe Horizon. The internship is part of field education at the Hunter College School of Social Work where she is studying to achieve a Master's in Social Work. Email Anna.
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Upcoming Events
Bay Area
Justice and Jewish Thought
We are excited to announce the launch of Justice and Jewish Thought, a
city-wide study group that will meet in weekly in small groups from
late April through June 2010. The groups will engage with a challenging
curriculum that explores how various systems of race, class, gender,
sexual identity, and anti-semitism intersect with and affect our
identities as Jews, our Jewish practices, and our work for justice.
How to register: Click here by April 19. If you'd like to apply to be a participant leader, contact Jocelyn at jberger@avodah.net.
Bay Area City Team
Community Connectors (noun): a group of individuals who are excited to take on ownership, leadership and accountability for growing and shaping a strong and active Bay Area Jewish social justice community! Help create events, including our successful Social Change Shabbat series, and get to know folks in the area through outreach activities. The City Team will consist of 8-12 members and applications will be accepting on a rolling basis until April 16.
For more information, contact Jocelyn at jberger@avodah.net, 415.593.3284.
Boston
AVODAH and Friends Book Club
Join AVODAH Alumni and friends for the April edition of the Boston-area book club.
What: Gather to discuss The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
When: April 5th
Where: Jamaica Plains, address upon RSVP
RSVP: Email Amy Horning
DC
Justice and Jewish Thought
With our partners Jews United for Justice, we are excited to announce the re-launch of Justice and Jewish Thought, a city-wide study group that will meet in weekly in small groups from late April through June 2010. The groups will engage with a challenging curriculum that explores how various systems of race, class, gender, sexual identity, and anti-semitism intersect with and affect our identities as Jews, our Jewish practices, and our work for justice.
How to register: Click here, by April 9th! If you'd like to apply to be a participant leader, contact Jessie at jposilkin@avodah.net
In Darfur
Written by Winter Miller, based on travels with Nicholas Kristof, this researched chronicle of the unfolding genocide in Sudan asks difficult questions about humanitarian urgency and compromised journalistic ethics. Join with us for the afternoon showing -- and stay to debrief with Ruth Messinger!
When: Sunday, April 11th 3pm. We'll head out together from the reception to the JUFJ labor seder.
Where: Theatre J, at the DC JCC
RSVP: Buy your tickets through the JCC here.
Meet the Change: What Happens Next is Up to You!
Meet the Change is an open invitation to change-makers from across the spectrum seeking co-conspirators for activating their Jewish and social justice values. At this launch event, join us to hear from Boaz Frankel, founder of the Un-Road Trip, about what it takes to build a network to actualize a vision.
When: Thursday, April 8th, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Asylum - Adams Morgan
Why: To meet Boaz Frankel who will share his philosophy of change-making and his insights on the power of community
Why else: To meet a bunch of other awesome change-makers, such as yourself!
RSVP: Register here.
NYC
Brooklyn Bridge CSA - Registration Open!
Sign up now to purchase a share of The Brooklyn Bridge CSA! The AVODAH-AJWS Partnership is sponsoring a Jewish and justice-oriented CSA in Brooklyn (Community Supported Agriculture). You can reach the organizers at brooklynbridgecsa@gmail.com and you can
learn more about the initiative here.
The deadline to purchase a share is April 15th.
Uri L'Tzedek Beit Midrash - Ethics of Consumption and Meat Production
Join Rabbi Ari Weiss from Uri L'Tzedek and Devora Kimelman-Block from KOL Foods to explore challenging questions surround consumption in America.
When: Tuesday, April 13th from 7:30-9
Where: Drisha (37 W. 65th St, 5th Floor)
People of the Book Club: The Sabbath
Have you heard a lot about activist rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, but never read any of his books? Read The Sabbath, but never had a chance to discuss its ethical components before? Been meaning to read or re-read it altogether? Join us for a discussion of one of Abraham Joshua Heschel's most popular works.
When: Thursday, April 15 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: 45 West 36th St.
RSVP: To slipkin@ajws.org. Inexpensive copies available at Amazon.com.
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What's Been Happening in the Community
National
Global Hunger Shabbat
The Shabbat of March 19th-20th, over thousands mobilized across the country to educate and activate work in the Jewish community around global and domestic hunger. Over 800 of these individuals were hosted in the homes of AVODAH-AJWS Alumni and Friends. Among them were Chicago Corps members (in partnership with Moishe House Chicago) and AVODAH Alumni including: Noah Barish (NY 04-05), Elana Brochin (DC 06-07), Yael Bronstein (NOLA 08-09), Jennifer Bloustine (NY 00-01), Miriam Eisenberger (NY 02-03), Janna Rosenberg (DC 02-03), Elissa Vinnik (NY 08-09). If you didn't get to attend or host a dinner, you can still Global Hunger Shabbat resources here.
Bay Area
Young Adult Feast of Jewish Learning
Over 350 young adults gathered for this annual Bureau of Jewish Education event on Sunday, March 7, cosponsored by the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership and numerous other local organizations. Check out all the fun they had here here.
AVODAH-AJWS Social Change Book Club
Our small but mighty group met on Sunday March 14th to discuss Finding Manana by Miguel Ojito. Next up is Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of Bones on Sunday, June 13.
Meet the Change
A group of 30 enthusiastic people came out to Zebulon Bar and Restaurant on Tuesday, March 23 for the Bay Area launch of Meet the Change - What Happens Next is Up to You! Featured change-maker Joshua Kahn Russell, Grassroots Action Manager at the Rainforest Action Network and Ruckus Society strategy and direct action trainer, offered insights about historical social movements and shared examples of story-based strategies for affecting change, while leading interactive exercises introducing participants to one another. We're looking forward to our next social change networking event with Meet the Change on Wednesday, May 26th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, featuring David Evan Harris from the Global Lives Project.
Boston
NY '05-'06 Alumni Retreat
The '05 - '06 New York alums had a retreat Feb. 26-28 in Boston, MA. Eleven of Alumni gathered, including Alana Alpert, Jessica Beitch, Genia Blaser, Sarah Dandurand, Aaron Lawee, Beile Lindner, Claire Michaels, Arash Nafisi, Sarah Novick, Anna Schwartz, and Sarah Sorscher, traveled from New York, DC, San Fransisco, and San Diego. According to Sarah Novik, the retreat included Shabbat dinner, a walk around the Jamaica Plain pond, yoga, havdallah, a Purim party (which was attended by other Boston-based AVODAH alumni), and more games of Mafia than any of the attendees wish to count.
Chicago
Wormward Ho!
Chicago AVODAH Alumni are engaging in food justice issues in a variety of ways, both personally and professionally:
- Uri Pachter (CHI 06-07) organized an "Anti-Hunger Advocacy Summit" in February at Anshe Emet Synagogue
- Hollen Resicher (CHI 06-07) is the new Assistant Director of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance and Editor of the Journal of Ordinary Thought and is coordinating an upcoming screening of Food, Inc. on Wednesday, April 7th
- Cara Gold(CHI 08-09)recently departed Chicago to participate in Eco-Israel and to learn about Jewish permaculture.
- Wendy Mironov, Hannah Gelder, Sarah Miles, and Kelly Viselman (All CHI 08-09), hosted an Eco-Justice Tu B'Shevat Seder in January, which included a worm composting workshop led by Julia Leis (CH 07-08). Click here to view photos of the event! Julia also participated in Hazon's Sustainable Food Tour in Israel in November 2009.
- Current AVODAH Corps Members and alumni are participating in a "Compost
Challenge" until April. In all, there are now more than eight worm
bins in the Chicago AVODAH alumni community, which means over 250 lbs
of food waste has been saved from landfills in the past TWO months!
If you're interested in learning more about ways to engage in food justice and environmental stewardship work in Chicago, contact Julia Leis or any of the Chicago alums mentioned above.
DCTikkun Leil Shabbat PurimThe AVODAH-AJWS Partnership was amongst the fabulous co-sponsors for Tikkun Leil Shabbat's Purim Spiel. Nearly 150 people came out to celebrate purim and learn about the creative problem solving of Kids on the Block, Inc, which uses puppet theatre to teach tolerance and conflict resolution.
New York
Welcoming the new NY City Team!
The new AVODAH-AJWS NY City Team for 2010-2011 has officially begun its work! On March 14th, 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. This year's team includes Leia Grossman (NY 02-03), as well as Shelley Buchbinder, Abigail Ellman, Samarrah Fine, Michal-Anne Fox, Allyna Steinberg, Jordan Steiner, and Laura Vernikoff.
People of the Book Club
The book club met on Wednesday, March 3rd to discuss The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat. Partnership staff Audrey Sasson led a thoughtful discussion that covered the history between Haiti and DR, class and racial issues, the beauty of the text, the relationship between poverty and natural/human disasters. AVODAH staff Mollie Spevack (NY 08-09) and Karen Elam attended as well as AVODAH alumni Jess Polansky (NY 99-00) and Hilary Winn (DC 08-09).
Meet the Farmer
On Monday, March 22nd, the Brooklyn Bridge CSA hosted a Meet the Farmer event at Congregation Mt. Sinai. Over 20 interested and curious Brooklynites gathered to hear from Fred and Karen Lee of Sang Lee Farms about the farm's history, its produce, and how it conducts its business with CSAs. AVODAH alumni Matt Carl (NY 00-01) - who is taking a leadership role in this initiative - and Aeli Gladstein (NY 04-05) were both in attendance. The presentation enticed several people to register for a share immediately!
Meet the Change with Sara Horowitz
On Tuesday, March 23rd, close to 30 people joined the AVODAH-AJWS Partnership for the first Meet the Change event of 2010. Sara Horowitz, Founder of the Freelancers Union, set the tone by sharing her own philosophy of change-making and the importance of strong networks in working towards social change. It was a dynamic evening with many people exchanging ideas (and contact info!). AVODAH alum Laurie Paul (DC 06-07) was in attendance. To see pictures, click here. Stay tuned for information about the next Meet the Change event!
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Professional Development
AVODAH-AJWS Partnership, Social Media Project Manager. More information
AJWS, Summer Program Associate. More information
National Women's Law Center, Online Outreach Associate. More information
National Youth Rights Association, Outreach Director. More information
Trust for America's Health, Policy Development Professional. More information
UPROSE, Environmental Justice Organizer. More information
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Rachel Chertok, National Director for Alumni and Leadership Development
AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps
phone:
212-545-7759 ext 307
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