The Avodah Blog

The Importance of Allies

When you’re working for justice in an often unjust world, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. The sense of fighting an uphill battle can be overwhelming, even for those of us who work professionally in the Jewish social justice arena. To combat this feeling, it’s sometimes helpful to recall all the strong and amazing allies who are fighting the same fight, even if one ally is in Guatemala while another works in Tel Aviv.

Last week, the Pursue blog featured a wonderful post entitled ‘Praying With Our Legs’. The post references the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, a coalition of 18 organizations that have banded together to create a unified movement and make our causes part of the national Jewish agenda. ‘Individually, there are many things [an] organization can do, but there’s a power in working together to make…a robust movement,’ says Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, director of the Jewish Life and Values Program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which founded and funds the Roundtable.

Just in time for last month’s GA, the Roundtable published a booklet featuring the stories and accomplishments of 19 young people, ages 15 to 33 years old. Those featured in this booklet are, as Pursue writes, ‘bursting open the traditional definitions of service and pushing their Jewish communities to think expansively.’ Many of those profiles have worked intimately with AVODAH; some, like Rachie Lewis (NOLA 09-10) are even former Corps members.

To get inspired and remind yourself that we’re all fighting together, click here.

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