Jewish Women’s Center Tzedakah Projects

From the beginning, the JWC has believed in the importance of supporting causes that benefit women in both the U.S. and Israel. We are committed to continuing this support.

5772 (September 2011 - September 2012): KIDMA, The Project for Advancement of Women in Israel: Our Tzedakah project for this year is KIDMA: The Project for Advancement of Women in Israel, based at the University of Haifa. Established by Arlette Adler in 1984 and supported by early Israeli feminists including KIDMA’s current Director, Professor Marilyn Safir, KIDMA challenges the myth of gender equality in Israel. KIDMA creates programs to help women increase their involvement in Israeli society, such as the Community Involvement and Leadership Development project that supports low income women in learning skills to develop grassroots organizations within their own communities, and the Women and Multiculturalism project that aims to empower Ethiopian female university students. KIDMA relies on the support of foundations and donors who are committed to strengthening civil society, women’s rights in Israel, the advancement of women in general, and multiculturalism.

5771 (September 2010 - September 2011): Project Kesher: Founded in 1989, Project Kesher is the fastest growing advocacy and human rights organization in countries of the former Soviet Union, with a grassroots movement of 165 Jewish women’s groups and more than 90 multi-ethnic coalitions of women spanning 11 time zones from countries including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the West to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the East. Project Kesher gives Jews in the former Soviet Union the opportunity to reclaim their heritage and to discover the power of community activism. They provide innovative leadership training for women and girls and social activist programming focused on domestic violence, prevention of human trafficking, and women's health issues, among others.

5770 (September 2009 - September 2010): Jewish Women's Archive: The mission of the Jewish Women’s Archive is to uncover, chronicle, and transmit to a broad public the rich history of American Jewish women. Founded in 1995, the Jewish Women’s Archive presents the stories, struggles, and achievements of Jewish women in North America. They create and disseminate educational materials, develop partnerships, and maintain an innovative website all designed to help us understand our past and shape our future.

5769 (September 2008 - September 2009): Organization for the Resolution of Agunot: ORA is a not-for-profit social service agency that resolves cases of contested Jewish divorce, the majority of which involve domestic abuse. ORA works to address the problem of Agunot or “chained” women by acting as an impartial intermediary between husband and wife.

5768 (September 2007 - September 2008): Ahoti/My Sister: Ahoti, which means “My Sister” in Hebrew, is devoted to raising public awareness of Mizrahi feminism. Mizrahi means “Oriental” in Hebrew, and implies the ethnic characteristics of Middle Eastern, African and Asian Jews who are not part of the mainstream in Israel today. Ahoti supports self-empowerment projects, workshops, and conferences to support women’s economic independence.

5767 (September 2006 - September 2007): Israel Women’s Network Task Force on Sexual Trafficking: The IWN is Israel’s foremost advocacy group for women’s rights. The IWN initiated the first study on the phenomenon of trafficking of women in Israel in 1997. It was one of the founders of the coalition against the trafficking of women and continues to work in that framework today. (Website in Hebrew)

5766 (September 2005 - September 2006): Jewish Women International and Pittsburgh Task Force Against Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community: Additions to a resource library on domestic violence.

5765 (September 2004 - September 2005): Haifa Women’s Crisis Shelter and the Battered Women’s Hotline: Providing services in 5 languages to any battered woman in Israel.

5764 (September 2003 - September 2004): Women of the Wall (reprise): Still one of the most important issues to feminist Jews in Israel and abroad. We supported WoW again in their battles in the Supreme Court and Knesset to win the right to pray at the Wall.

5763 (September 2002 - September 2003): A Business of One’s Own--Economic Empowerment for Women in Israel: This organization provides microeconomic support for Arab and Jewish women in Israel to open their own businesses as they work toward the goal of economic independence.

5762 (September 2001 - September 2002): The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance: The mission of this national organization is to expand the spiritual, ritual, intellectual, and political opportunities for women within the framework of halacha.

5761 (September 2000 - September 2001): Hilla BaGalil (Walking together for women’s health): The first annual walk/run in Israel to raise awareness in Israel of breast cancer and other women’s health issues. This event was co-sponsored by Pittsburgh and Baltimore UJF Voices 2000 Program. Women from these cities, including representatives from the JWC, and from the Karmiel/Misgav region marched together on October 19, 2000.

5760 (September 1999 - September 2000): Women of the Wall: Tzedakah money this year went to support the efforts of the women who braved taunts and rocks to claim the right to pray aloud, read the Torah, sing, and wear tallitot as Jews at Judaism’s most sacred place--the Western Wall.