Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Toldot, includes a story filled with family strife, disguises, and deception. As this week’s dvar tzedek co-author, Lisa Exler writes, “At his mother Rebecca’s urging, Jacob covers his arms and neck with animal skin, disguising himself as his hairier brother Esau in order to fool their aging, blind father into giving Jacob the blessing of the first born.”
The “takeaway”: Exler writes that Jacob had the choice of whether or not to disguise his identity – and whether or not he made the right choice is up for debate. But “for many people around the world today, especially those who identify as LGBTI, disguising their true identities is not a choice, or a means to an end…but a necessity.” Sadly, when they reveal their true selves, like at the recent LGBTI Pride Parade in Uganda (the country’s first), they become more vulnerable to violence, discrimination, and oppression. The situation is dire: LGBTI people’s lives are literally at risk – just for being who they are. Most recently, a highly controversial anti-homosexuality bill was introduced in the Ugandan parliament. And yet for any change to happen, they and their allies must collectively stand up and stand out.
The “to-do”: Support the work of organizations in Uganda and abroad (like AJWS) that are working to create a safe, welcoming community for the country’s LGBTI citizens. And help put pressure on companies and governments around the world to lend their support.
Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website. And for more great texts, commentary and Jewish learning resources on social justice, check out the On 1 Foot database.
Steve Eisenbach-Budner was a social-justice minded carpenter working in Portland, Oregon when he had a big idea: what if there were a Jewish service organization that combined carpentry education, affordable housing, and Jewish tradition? From that seed of an idea, Tivnu (which means “we build” in Hebrew) was born: an organization where “you can learn how to use a table saw in the morning, see what an ancient Jewish text has to say about social justice in the afternoon, and celebrate Shabbat in the evening.”
Eisenbach-Budner, who is a participant of Repair the World’s technical assistance program, was recently named a Joshua Venture Group fellow, giving him funding and support to take Tivnu to the next level. As of next fall, the organization will launch a gap year program for recent high school grads to live together in a pluralistic Jewish environment in Portland, while learning hands-on carpentry skills and Judaism’s take on justice.
Eisenbach-Budner took the time to speak with Repair the World about the influence his father had on his social justice perspective, how Repair the World and Joshua Venture have helped him on his journey of building Tivnu, and the power of building something with one’s own two hands.
What is your background with service?
I had several experiences growing up that impacted my commitment to service and social justice. Growing up in Manhattan in the late 1970s and 80s, when the current homelessness crisis was taking root, I grew accustomed to seeing people who were homeless. I got involved with Young Judea, which meant friends from other cities would visit for events. While walking with a friend, I stepped near a homeless person without really noticing them and my friend said, “Steve, that’s a person!” I remember that conversation as being my first real awareness of the issue. My father was also a great role model for me – he taught me to see and treat everyone as a human being.
In college I was involved in a couple of service programs, though I wasn’t yet looking at the big political stuff. I worked in a sleep-over shelter, working the night shift. I brought meals to elderly people with Dorot – I would visit with them for a while because it seemed like that was almost more important than the food.
Did you begin working for a service or social justice organization right after graduating?
Actually, I wanted to be a carpenter first. I liked to build stuff and do useful things, so I started working for a contracting company. Eventually I realized that instead of building fancy kitchens and remodeling people’s homes, I really wanted to be helping people who needed it. So I started volunteering in Oregon with Portland Youth Builders, which is part of a national coalition of schools that work with at-risk kids through mentoring and carpentry. The kids work to get their diplomas or GEDs, learn job training and carpentry skills, and build affordable houses for the community in the meantime. I started working as a substitute trainer 10 years ago, then began working there full time 6 years ago.
So when did you get the idea for Tivnu?
About four years ago, I started to envision something that combined aspects of Youth Builders and Habitat for Humanity with Jewish organizations that work on social justice issues. I tried to ignore it for a while – I have three kids after all! But that didn’t work out very well. So I started talking with different service leaders in organizations like AJWS and Avodah, and the idea seemed to resonate with people.
I started doing one day and one week programs – events for people in their 20s or 30s, or for a particular synagogue or community that worked across the age spectrum. And we would also partner with a non-Jewish organization to do the building projects – for example, we worked with the Oregon Farm Workers Union to help build a 2,600 square foot leadership institute. Meanwhile, we had educational programming about farm worker issues, and also Jewish study that focused on relevant topics. What I found was, the programs built relationships within and beyond the Jewish community, and across ages. And because we would bring real construction experience as well as willing volunteer labor, we were able to make a real difference.
And now you’re about to pilot a new program, right?
Yes, we’ll be starting a gap year program for recent high school graduates in the coming year. The program will start next fall and be based in Portland, Oregon. The participants will live together and work together learning construction, building affordable housing, and studying Judaism’s perspective on what traditionally has been the obligation of a community to help people have a roof over their heads. The Jewish learning will focus on traditional texts, but also more modern texts and literature like Yiddish poetry about tenement living. That program will become Tivnu’s cornerstone, but it will also strengthen our capacity to offer one-day or one-week programs for synagogues, BBYO groups or other community groups.
Congratulations on being named a Joshua Venture Group fellow! What will that allow you to do?
Until last month, everything I’ve described – putting together the organization, finding a board, running the programs, dealing with legal issues – has happened on the side of my job with Portland Youth Builders. Joshua Venture has helped me go full time with this work and really make it happen at another level.
How are you connected with Repair the World?
I’m part of Repair the World’s technical assistance program, which means they provide professional support and training to help me do my work better and more effectively. Early on, I attended a logic modeling workshop, which was really helpful and helped me pull together my model for the gap year and have something professional and thought through that I could share with people. Repair the World holds webinars and training phone calls, and is helping Tivnu spread the word about the program.
How can people find out more, or apply for the Tivnu gap year program?
Applications will be available soon for the coming year. People can learn more on our website and sign up for our newsletter so they’ll be the first to know when applications are out. We’re also on Facebook.
Any last thoughts to share?
Tivnu is the first domestic Jewish service learning program for gap year participants, and it’s one of the first ones based on the West Coast. Through our programs, whether a day program or the year program, people gain real skills, help others and build community – we are excited to keep moving forward.
Do you know where you’re having dinner on Friday, November 2nd? (Because, doesn’t everyone coordinate their Shabbat dinner plans two weeks in advance?) If you don’t have a firm plan yet, that’s great – seriously! – because now is the perfect time to start inviting people to your place for Global Hunger Shabbat.
Sponsored by Repair the World partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Global Hunger Shabbat is one of the core aspects of their Reverse Hunger campaign. All year round, Reverse Hunger aims to reform our country’s international food aid policy, create a fair food system that reflects our community’s values, and spark the Jewish voice for change by reforming the United States Farm Bill, which is up for renewal this year.
Global Hunger Shabbat is a weekend of nation-wide solidarity, learning and reflection around food justice. And it’s your opportunity to get involved in this super important work – to spread the word and take stock in the ways our tradition can inspire us to make a difference, while enjoying good friends and good food.
The fun all begins with dinner on November 2nd. Interested, but not sure how to plug in? Or do you want to attend or host a Shabbat dinner, but not sure where to start? AJWS has made it easy to get involved, providing educational materials to bring to the Shabbat table and resources linking food justice and Jewish global citizenship.
Click here to find a Global Hunger Shabbat meal with an open seat at the table near you. Or click here to access all the resources you need to plan and host an amazing, educational and empowering dinner.
Are you hosting or attending a Global Hunger Shabbat dinner? We want to interview you about it! Let us know in the comments below or email editor[@]werepair.org.
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Va’etchanan seems to ask the question, who are we responsible to? Are we supposed to look out for just ourselves and our own interests? People in our family or community? Just other Jews, or the whole world? Where, in other words, are the boundaries of our obligation?
Dvar Tzedek author, Wendi Geffen believes that the parsha – at first – seems to argue for a narrow field of obligation, saying: “Be careful, then, to do as Adonai your God has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or the left: follow only the path that Adonai your God has enjoined upon you.”
But on closer inspection, she said, the scope is actually wider than it first appears. A little later the parsha reads: “You should surely keep the mitzvah of Adonai your God; God’s testimonies and statutes that God commanded you. You should do what is hatov v’hayashar (good and right) in the eyes of God.”
The “takeaway”: Geffen writes that most Jewish commentators see that commandment to do what is “good and right” as going beyond the specific commandments, to be just in all of one’s actions and interactions with others. She goes onto explain that the notion of hatov v’hayashar offers a “compelling argument that Jewish sources indeed endorse and mandate our global justice pursuits.”
The “to-do”: Doing service and helping others – both in your community and beyond it – is a “good and right” thing to do, no matter what your personal justification for doing so is. But to have backing and support from the Jewish texts makes the work all the more meaningful and powerful. While there’s no specific “to-do” action step for this week, the parsha serves as a reminder of the importance of examining why we do what we do, and the importance of helping others, no matter who they are.
Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website. And for more great texts, commentary and Jewish learning resources on social justice, check out the On 1 Foot database.
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Shlach tells the story of God instructing Moses to send men to the land of Canaan – the Israelite’s future home – to scope out the situation. Unfortunately they come back with a mostly negative report – of fierce people, fortified cities, and an inhospitable land. Not surprisingly, the report discourages the Israelites from entering Canaan and God punishes them with 40 years of desert wandering.
According to 16th century commentator, Kli Yakar, the tragedy might have been averted if Moses sent women spies instead of men. Why? As Dvar Tzedek author Sigal Samuel writes, “The Kli Yakar’s reasoning is simple: whereas the male Israelites show a lack of investment in the land, the female Israelites show great love for it. Had Moses sent female spies, the Kli Yakar suggests, they would have seen the same terrifying sights as their male counterparts; but, driven by their love for the land, they would have focused on long-term solutions instead of becoming discouraged in the face of difficulty.”
The takeaway: Samuel writes, the parsha reminds us that “like the Israelite women, the women of today’s world [ed. note: and particularly in developing countries] show a great aptitude for creating and implementing the future-oriented plans their nations need—when they are given equal opportunity to do so.” They tend to invest in education and long-term strategies for the health of their communities. (Read more evidence about that here.)
The “to-do”: Invest in the world’s shared future. Donate to micro-loan organizations that support the work of women (and men!) farmers, small business owners and entrepreneurs in the America and across the developing world. Orgs to check out: KIVA, WomenVenture, and Accion.
Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website. And for more great texts, commentary and Jewish learning resources on social justice, check out the On 1 Foot database.
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Shlach tells the story of God instructing Moses to send men to the land of Canaan – the Israelite’s future home – to scope out the situation. Unfortunately they come back with a mostly negative report – of fierce people, fortified cities, and an inhospitable land. Not surprisingly, the report discourages the Israelites from entering Canaan and God punishes them with 40 years of desert wandering.
According to 16th century commentator, Kli Yakar, the tragedy might have been averted if Moses sent women spies instead of men. Why? As Dvar Tzedek author Sigal Samuel writes, “The Kli Yakar’s reasoning is simple: whereas the male Israelites show a lack of investment in the land, the female Israelites show great love for it. Had Moses sent female spies, the Kli Yakar suggests, they would have seen the same terrifying sights as their male counterparts; but, driven by their love for the land, they would have focused on long-term solutions instead of becoming discouraged in the face of difficulty.”
The takeaway: Samuel writes, the parsha reminds us that “like the Israelite women, the women of today’s world [ed. note: and particularly in developing countries] show a great aptitude for creating and implementing the future-oriented plans their nations need—when they are given equal opportunity to do so.” They tend to invest in education and long-term strategies for the health of their communities. (Read more evidence about that here.)
The “to-do”: Invest in the world’s shared future. Donate to micro-loan organizations that support the work of women (and men!) farmers, small business owners and entrepreneurs in the America and across the developing world. Orgs to check out: KIVA, WomenVenture, and Accion.
Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website. And for more great texts, commentary and Jewish learning resources on social justice, check out the On 1 Foot database.
The Jewish holiday of Shavuot starts this weekend. As far as holidays go, it’s pretty big one: the anniversary of the day the Jewish people received the Torah on Mount Sinai and also one of the Jewish calendar’s three pilgrimage festivals, which celebrates the beginning of the wheat harvest in Israel.
One of the ways people celebrate Shavuot is to stay up all night studying – a practice that dates back at least 400 years. Friends gather together and fortify themselves with big cups of coffee, lots of cheese blintzes (it’s also a custom to eat dairy foods on Shavuot) and a stack of Jewish texts – both ancient ones, like the Book of Ruth, and also modern ones. (For some great Shavuot learning opportunities, check out AJWS’ Jewish social justice text database, On 1 Foot.)
For those of us who pull all-nighters for school (or who remember doing that), staying up all night studying may not seem like a lot of fun. But when you think about it, the opportunity to devote a night to education, and having the resources to do it, is not a privilege shared by everyone. That’s why Shavuot, with its focus on learning, is the perfect holiday to think about education for all. How can we make Shavuot our inspiration to promote access to education, literacy and strong classrooms for students throughout the country and world?
Here are a few places to start. Check out the six organizations below, all of which are working to make education more accessible, then click through their sites to find out how you can support their work and make a difference:
Global Education Fund: An organization that works to improve the lives of children living in poverty through education.
826 National: An organization that promotes creative and expository writing skills in elementary and high school students in fun and creative ways. (Read Repair the World’s interview with 826 volunteer, Michelle Snyder.)
Machshava Tova: An Israeli organization working to close the digital and educational gaps within Israel’s students. (Check out Repair the World’s feature story on Machshava Tova.)
Raising a Reader: A national organization that promotes childhood literacy by helping families establish reading routines at home.
Class Wish: An organization that empowers parents, teachers and communities to make a difference in kids’ classrooms, by providing them with the school supplies they need to thrive.
Edible Schoolyard: Founded by famous foodie, Alice Waters, this organization promotes an “edible education” by building hands-on, sustainable food curriculums for schools.
How will you stand up for education this Shavuot? Let us know by tweeting @repairtheworld.
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: In this week’s parsha (Torah portion), Emor, ends with what guest writer, Sarah Mulhern, calls “one of the most famous and controversial pronouncements in the Torah.” She’s right – after all, doesn’t the following passage – even written in old fashioned-sounding language – sound pretty familiar?
“If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him; fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he inflicted an injury upon a person, so shall it be inflicted upon him.”
The takeaway: The “eye for an eye” concept brings up all sorts of questions about justice, revenge, and the correct action to take when you feel you’ve been wronged. On the one hand, as Sarah writes, “the idea of punishing assault by physically harming the perpetrator makes a certain kind of sense.” On the other hand, it’s totally disturbing – “many of us reject its suggestion of violence as an ethical tool for meting out justice,” she writes. It’s also risky – threatening to turn an isolated incident into a cycle of retaliation.
The “to-do”: Sarah suggests that, done correctly, we have the opportunity to fight violence with education and healing. In our own lives, that may mean speaking with someone who has hurt you instead of hurting them back. In the larger world, it may mean supporting an organization that works to build meaningful dialogue in conflicted areas helping to curb the cycle of violence.
Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website. And for more great texts, commentary and Jewish learning resources on social justice, check out the On 1 Foot database.
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Tzaria-Metzora, talks about menstruation (yes, the Torah discusses *lots* of fascinating topics!). Particularly, it covers the uncomfortable-to-think-about notion that, according to the Torah, a woman is rendered “ritually impure” by her period. (Read the passage here in Leviticus 15:19-24).
As this week’s dvar tzedek author, Sigal Samuel writes, “In addition, women in Israelite society were likely forced to withdraw from the public sphere during their periods [in part] because of their impure status—which prevented them from entering sacred spaces or eating sacred foods.”
The takeaway: Thousands of years after the time of Torah, many girls and woman – especially in developing countries, still find that menstruation is a barrier to their inclusion in school and society. As Samuel writes – feminine hygiene products are not always available or affordable and, “for millions of girls, school attendance suffers as a result. According to an Oxford University study, in rural Ghana, many girls miss up to five school days each month because of their periods.” Meanwhile, menstruation is still considered taboo in many developing nations. For more information, check out this article in the New York Times and watch the video below:
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: This week’s parsha (Torah portion), Tzaria-Metzora, talks about menstruation (yes, the Torah discusses *lots* of fascinating topics!). Particularly, it covers the uncomfortable-to-think-about notion that, according to the Torah, a woman is rendered “ritually impure” by her period. (Read the passage here in Leviticus 15:19-24).
As this week’s dvar tzedek author, Sigal Samuel writes, “In addition, women in Israelite society were likely forced to withdraw from the public sphere during their periods [in part] because of their impure status—which prevented them from entering sacred spaces or eating sacred foods.”
The takeaway: Thousands of years after the time of Torah, many girls and woman – especially in developing countries, still find that menstruation is a barrier to their inclusion in school and society. As Samuel writes – feminine hygiene products are not always available or affordable and, “for millions of girls, school attendance suffers as a result. According to an Oxford University study, in rural Ghana, many girls miss up to five school days each month because of their periods.” Meanwhile, menstruation is still considered taboo in many developing nations. For more information, check out this article in the New York Times and watch the video below:
Repair the World works to inspire American Jews and their communities to give their time and effort to serve those in need. We aim to make service a defining part of American Jewish life.
