This past Monday, Avodah and Elluminate gathered at Central Synagogue to celebrate the deep connections that sustain the Jewish social justice community in New York. The event, an Elluminate Spotlight, featured our CEO, Cheryl Cook, and Lori Cohen, CEO of PACT (Protect All Children from Trafficking). Both women are members of the Elluminate Collective, a cohort-based leadership advancement program for Jewish women CEOs.
We were also joined by our partners at CYD (Comprehensive Youth Development), an organization providing essential services to immigrant and vulnerable youth in New York. Together, these partnerships provided a window into how investing in leadership at every level, across organizations and throughout career stages, creates a ripple effect of impact for the community.
Ruth Messinger, a dedicated social justice activist and facilitator for the Elluminate Collective, set the stage for the day’s conversation by centering us in our shared history. She reminded us that pursuing social change isn’t just a career choice, it is a critical, historic responsibility. Ruth’s words framed the work of Elluminate, Avodah, PACT, and CYD as part of a long legacy of one generation of Jews reaching out to help the next, urging all of us to remember why this work truly matters.
From Learner to Leader
For Briana, the Director of Immigration at CYD, the work is informed by her own family history. She shared the story of her grandfather, a stateless person in France who struggled for years to gather the documentation needed to prove his status. It’s an experience that she now sees repeating itself in the lives of her students as they navigate daunting legal barriers.
The desire to put her values into practice led Briana to the Avodah Jewish Service Corps 18 years ago. She described that year as the essential on-ramp that she needed to turn her interests in social justice into a career. Since then, that commitment has fueled her 15-year tenure at CYD, where she has evolved from learner to leader. Today, she serves as a mentor to new Avodah Jewish Service Corps Members—a testament to her own journey and a clear reflection of the 98.6% of Avodah alumni who continue doing justice work for the long haul.
Collective Action for Real Prevention
This type of long-term commitment is what makes systemic change possible. During a spotlight panel with our partners at PACT, the conversation moved past generalities to the practical work of prevention. Dr. Reynaldo De Leon Jr. reframed the concept of vulnerability, noting that having vulnerabilities is not a source of shame or a result of individual choices. Instead, he emphasized that we must address environmental factors, like poverty and unstable housing, that leave youth susceptible in the first place. As Dr. Reynaldo put it, “It is a collective undertaking to tackle exploitation and trafficking. No single person, organization, or sector can solve it alone.”
Valentina from PACT added that because childhood is an inherent state of vulnerability, schools are the most logical space for prevention work. This survivor-informed approach relies on deep partnerships to hear what a neighborhood actually needs. By admitting where our own knowledge ends, we can lean on the expertise of those on the ground. This allows us to build better safety nets where youth already are. Ultimately, our greatest impact happens when we embrace the power of community.
Finding Community in the Bayit
The impact of these partnerships reaches directly into the daily lives of our current Service Corps Members. We heard from Mimi, who serves at PACT, and Cassidy, who is placed at CYD. Their work at these partner sites is sustained by the community they find in the bayit, our communal house.
In the bayit, Service Corps Members do the daily work of building a home together, learning consensus and communication skills they’ll need for a lifetime of justice work. As Mimi shared, “Not only is it just a joy to live with friends and feel the sense of community and care, but it also feels like getting to practice some of my Jewish values, my political values in this little microcosm where we get to really try things out.”
This environment often sparks unexpected possibilities. A simple living room conversation between Mimi and a housemate who serves at JQY (Jewish Queer Youth) led to a new partnership. This collaboration combined PACT’s healthy relationship curriculum with JQY’s expertise in supporting queer youth from Orthodox backgrounds.
When the work gets heavy, the bayit becomes a soft place to land. Cassidy shared the story of one of her students being detained by ICE, a student who had been dreaming of college and mechanical engineering. It was a moment where the systemic barriers felt insurmountable, but her housemates wouldn’t let her carry that weight alone. Cassidy reflected, “What Avodah has really taught me is that the way to stay afloat is to be in community with other people who are equally motivated to build a better world. You must have both—the work and the community—so you don’t feel like you’re on the outside.”
This is the heart of Avodah. Corps Members can stay present with the people they serve because they have a community that ensures they never have to face these injustices alone.
Choosing Hope as a Collective Strategy
In a turbulent social and political climate, every speaker returned to the theme of hope. Cheryl reminded us that “overwhelmed is not a strategy,” quoting Ruth Messinger’s advice while describing Avodah’s role in training Jews to put their deepest values into practice. Margaret Alyward of CYD echoed this, saying that for a young person navigating the immigration system, fear is often the default. This makes hope a vital survival tool.
As the program came to a close, Cheryl shared a message that had recently moved her, one that came from the very timely wisdom of Bad Bunny: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” It was a reminder that the work is about more than just the tasks at hand. It’s about nourishing the heart so that love continues to be the driving force of the work. Everything else is just commentary.
Looking around at the alumni, mentors, partners, current Corps Members, and those simply interested in finding a way to help, that sense of possibility was undeniable. As Cheryl told the room: “And if you take nothing else away, I hope you know that there’s so much hopefulness in this room right now because of the work that is happening on the ground.”
