The Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis Social Justice Fellowship, named to honor JWW’s co-founder, the visionary longtime leader of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, is a year-long internship for college and graduate-school students. Rabbi Schulweis envisioned a network of students, multiplying annually, who would help to carry out JWW’s mission — to not stand idly by…
In October, JWW launched a new initiative aimed at bringing high school students together from schools throughout L.A. County to develop a cohort of educated teen activists: the JWW Teen Ambassador Program, or TAP. The 2016-17 TAP group, comprised of 21 student Ambassadors from 11 public and private high schools, will meet monthly to learn, share…
This week Jews throughout the world will celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, traditionally a time for giving thanks for the bounty of the harvest. Named for the sukkah, the temporary dwelling in which farmers in ancient Israel lived while harvesting their crops, Sukkot also recalls the fragile dwellings in which the Israelites lived during their…
Since 2011, when the Syrian people peacefully rose up to protest decades of dictatorial leadership by the Assad family, Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, responded in the most brutal fashion. The result of that response has been: an international war, the rise of various extremist groups, the deaths of over 400,000 individuals, and the displacement of…
It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world. This is the part of Chaos Theory, called the “Butterfly Effect”, that explains that one small change can influence a big change later. The quote has also been used to express…
Rosh Hashanah is an ideal time to celebrate change and renewal. Along with holiday wishes, we would like to share some wonderful news of a New Beginning for the New Year: Jewish World Watch is pleased to announce Susan Freudenheim as our new Executive Director. Susan has been Executive Editor of the Jewish Journal since 2011…
This weekend, our Director of Advocacy and Programs, Mike Brand, will be traveling to Washington, DC for the Coalition of Advocates for South Sudan’s (CASS) second annual conference that is taking place on Sunday September 25th. This year’s theme is Unity and Partnership: Supporting a Just and Sustainable Peace in South Sudan. CASS’s membership is…
Refugee Summit Must Address the Cause: Conflict. 65 million people, that’s the population of the United Kingdom. Imagine if the entire population of the UK was forced to flee their homes. What would the world’s response be? How would we help? Now think about this very real-life scenario: today over 65 million people around the…
When did the world forget that Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is a wanted génocidaire and war criminal? Between the European Union’s multi-million dollar deal that would effectively pay Sudan to prevent refugees from fleeing into Europe, and Israel’s attempts to influence western nations to normalize relations with Sudan, it seems as if the world has…
One of the great pleasures of my job is that I get to work with so many incredible people. Through the Walk to End Genocide in each of its locations, to our advocacy events, fundraisers and speaking engagements, I have come to know hundreds of activists. The youngest activist I met was an adorable three…