This article first appeared on Grist.
A few years ago, Yoshi Silverstein began dreaming about a community center that could weave together the threads of his life — fitness and movement, his Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, a love of nature, and outdoor teaching and leadership. At the time, he was directing a fellowship within the burgeoning JOFEE movement — Jewish outdoor, food, and environmental education — but wanted to create something tangible and local.
This article originally appeared on the Atlanta Jewish Foundation website.
Repair the World Atlanta mobilizes Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, igniting a lifelong commitment to service. We support grassroots Atlanta organizations working toward housing, food, and education justice.
This article originally appeared in Boulder Jewish News on March 26th, 2021.
Each year on Passover, Jews and their communities gather around Seder tables and open the door for Elijah, a messenger of hope, as we retell the story of Exodus. This #Passover, join us to #ServeTheMoment and open the door to housing justice.
This article originally appeared in The Forward on March 20th, 2021.
In partnership with Rabbi Mira Rivera of Romemu in New York, N.Y., we’ve asked nine Asian American Jewish leaders to share their experiences in this painful time, as well as thoughts on how American Jews can and should offer support to the Asian American community. Their responses, which have been edited for length and clarity, are below.
I’ve always felt the most Jewish when I’m fighting for a more just world. A feminist research program with a local Chicago Jewish organization first taught me the word “intersectionality” and brought me back to a religion and culture that had felt so alienating and foreign in Hebrew school. When I marched in climate strikes, with Never Again Action, or for racial justice, I would usually bring a sign scrawled with some of my favorite Jewish quotes: “If not now, when?” or “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” I usually brought my shofar, too. And when I started learning more about my identity as a Bukharian Jew, one of my extended family members, knowing my political views, sent along a link for a Facebook group called “Progressive Bukharians” (it’s small but mighty). I am fiercely Jewish, and it is through this lens that I have been able to find my way to practice and exist.
I first joined Serve the Moment—a national service initiative powered by Repair the World with more than 40 other partner organizations—this summer as a Chicago Corps member working with Raise Your Hand, an education equity parent nonprofit organization. I loved it so much that I decided to continue through the fall semester, as well. Serve the Moment is everything that, to me, Judaism is. We sing Jewish music, meet Jewish people, learn about Jewish rituals, all while learning about the oppressive structure of capitalism and housing crises and immigration and injustice through a Jewish lens. Tikkun Olam is the framework through which I believe I have always lived my life, but I am now even more fiercely committed to that ideal: leaving the world better than how I entered.
Being able to work with Raise Your Hand was an absolutely incredible and personally meaningful experience (shoutout to Jianan and the whole team). I learned an immeasurable amount about education injustice in Chicago and beyond. I gained an inside look into community organizing and what goes into successfully pushing for certain policies to be implemented and building people power. Raise Your Hands is also on the frontlines of pandemic-specific advocacy regarding the reopening of schools, protections for teachers, and parent advocacy. Being able to take part in service is important and meaningful. But being able to do so this year, as part of larger COVID-19 responses, was even more so.
But what’s so great about Serve the Moment is that that work was complemented by a Jewish-specific analysis of that injustice with my Chicago cohort and the larger group. I could approach secular issues as my fully Jewish self, and use my Judaism as an asset in my service and organizing. Moving forward, I plan to continue organizing and service in general as a whole person committed to Tikkun Olam, my Judaism, and also injustice in the world at large. I credit Serve the Moment with helping me understand that the two are not in conflict with one another.
The world is a really scary and horrible place, but I receive my hope and energy to continue fighting from programs like Serve the Moment. I’m really thankful that it exists and that there are so many people around the country who are interested in this kind of work: its impact should not be minimized.
Madison Hahamy is currently on a gap year from Yale University, where she is reporting for the New Haven Independent, interning for Lilith Magazine, and writing for the Yale Daily News. She is a proud Bukharian Jew and lover of her brother’s service dog, Viego. Madison served through Repair the World’s Serve the Moment initiative as one of 34 Service Corps Members who have served in Chicago since summer 2020.
This article originally appeared in The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle on March 13th, 2021.
Join Repair the World for Who is at the Table? Immigration and Refugee Justice in Pittsburgh, a Shabbat Dinner unpacking and addressing Immigration Justice in Pittsburgh. Hear from local organizations working to fight for Immigration Justice and discuss how immigration connects to the Jewish holiday of Passover. Panelists include Gisele Fetterman, Aweys Mwaliya, Ben Gustchow, and Rachel Vinciguerra.
This article originally appeared in The Washington Post on March 5th, 2021.
Volunteers power many nonprofits’ efforts to support vaccine distribution. In Washington, D.C., the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center tapped students from the George Washington University chapter of the Jewish campus-life group, Hillel, to manage its work to assist older people in securing vaccination appointments.
The collaboration inspired Repair the World, a national Jewish relief organization, to launch similar efforts nationwide that will encourage young adults to volunteer to help those in need get shots. And the Washington project now collaborates with other local social-service nonprofits to help the homeless, refugees, and low-income people — not just older adults — access vaccines.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jason Edelstein
510/239-1102
New Initiative Connects Seniors and Other Vulnerable Populations with Tech-Savvy Volunteers to Help Navigate Complicated Vaccine Appointment Systems
Successful Pilot Program Now Replicated Nationwide
(NEW YORK) — The Vaccine Appointment Network‘s project template helps communities connect tech-savvy volunteers with seniors and other vulnerable populations to help them get appointments for a COVID-19 vaccine. Powered by Repair the World, the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center in Washington DC (EDCJCC), and Hillel at the George Washington University (GW Hillel), the Networks’ first training session included hundreds of participants from organizations around the country. Organizations can access the Network’s toolkit to start building a local program to match volunteers to vaccine-eligible community members locally.
“We’re building a network of organizations and young people who are committed to helping the most vulnerable get this vaccination,” said Jordan Fruchtman, Senior Director of the Jewish Service Alliance at Repair the World, which mobilizes Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, igniting a lifelong commitment to service. “The model is proven to work, and by providing an easy-to-use project template for communities to adapt the program locally, we can impact thousands of lives.”
EDCJCC and GW Hillel launched the model in Washington, D.C. by connecting their community’s population of seniors with student volunteers, respectively,
“Young people want to make a difference and help at risk older adults to better navigate the complex vaccine system and secure appointments,” says Reuben Rotman, President/CEO of NJHSA, which is sharing the Vaccine Appointment Network’s Toolkit with its Network. “We’re excited to bring this much needed program model to front line Jewish human service agencies and their clients.”
By putting out a call to their population eligible for the vaccine, EDCJCC recruited 200 seniors for the program in one week. A similar call from GW Hillel for volunteers resulted in 100 sign ups—just in the first week. They’ve now matched 200 seniors with volunteers.
“The COVID-19 vaccine registration process is tedious, frustrating, and emotional for many, but especially for our country’s most vulnerable,” says volunteer Sarah Boxer of George Washington University’s Class of 2022. “After a year of immense trauma and suffering, older adults should not need to navigate ten different websites and compete with younger, faster typers for a potentially life-saving vaccine. The Vaccine Sign-Up Support project found a way to build companionship and community out of an exhausting process. It feels incredible to be part of the GW Hillel community knowing that we are willing to take meaningful action to help when a need arises.”
Background
The COVID-19 vaccine roll out in the United States is in desperate need of volunteers. Eligible community members across the country, particularly seniors over 65, are struggling to navigate the complex online systems needed to schedule an appointment to receive their COVID-19 vaccines. Young adults make ideal volunteers for this effort, with native internet skills and a desire to support their communities.
Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, DC (EDCJCC) and Hillel at the George Washington University (GW Hillel) pioneered a successful approach to this problem by connecting EDCJCC’s population of seniors with GW Hillel’s population of student volunteers. Repair the World loved this model – and we wanted to bring a similar strategy to as many communities as possible. Recognizing that a hyper-localized vaccine roll-out required a local approach, Repair the World set out to replicate EDCJCC and GW Hillel’s materials to create a templated vaccine sign-up support program toolkit for any local community to adapt to their needs.
According to Jewish tradition, someone who saves a life is credited as if they have saved an entire world. By supporting vulnerable community members in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, we have a chance to live out the Jewish value of piku’ach nefesh (saving a soul) in a direct and meaningful way.
The Vaccine Appointment Network is a project template for a community-based program matching tech-savvy volunteers with eligible community members (focusing on seniors ages 65+) for support navigating the COVID-19 vaccine appointment process.
This article originally appeared in The University of Miami’s [email protected] on February 22nd, 2021.
Last week, students across the University of Miami’s Coral Gables Campus participated in various discussions and events as part of the Butler Center for Service and Leadership’s annual Social Justice Week. The programming, supported by multiple student organizations and campus departments, aimed to promote dialogues, experiential activities, and initiatives that foster equity, justice, and inclusion to bridge gaps within the campus community.
The final virtual event, “Beyond the U,” discussed homelessness, gentrification, and food insecurity in the Miami community. The discussion took place in partnership with Repair the World Miami, a local nonprofit that encourages communities to pursue a just world, and the University of Miami Hillel.
This article originally appeared in The New York Jewish Week on February 15th, 2021.
Repair the World and The Jewish Theological Seminary announced a strategic partnership to support alumni of the Repair the World Fellowship, which places volunteers with social justice agencies. Alumni of the program can now study with JTS faculty in courses on human rights, ethics and modern Jewish History, with steeply reduced tuition for a Midcareer Fellowship certificate program.
