AJWS Invites U.S. Jewish Communities to Observe Global Hunger Shabbat in March

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, has invited Jewish communities and individuals nationwide to observe a "Global Hunger Shabbat"—a day of solidarity, education, reflection and advocacy to raise awareness about global hunger on March 19-20, 2010.

Global Hunger Shabbat is part of AJWS's campaign, Fighting Hunger from the Ground Up. AJWS launched the campaign this past fall in order to build awareness in the American Jewish community about the political roots of hunger. As AJWS has done on many other issues, the organization is engaging the American Jewish community through tzedakah (charity), political advocacy, education and service, while simultaneously supporting 80 grassroots organizations that are working to reduce hunger in developing countries.

Scheduled to coincide with the Shabbat just prior to Passover, Global Hunger Shabbat will evoke the Passover message of "all who are hungry, let them come and eat," on behalf of the more than a billion people suffering from hunger worldwide.

"Global Hunger Shabbat will be an opportunity for congregations of all denominations to join together for this common cause and to raise our collective voices against the injustice that is claiming lives around the world," said AJWS vice president of programs, Aaron Dorfman. "As Jews, issues of social justice have always been in our prayers and our actions, and this day of solidarity is designed to bring about our deepest impulse for effecting change."

To help individuals, congregations and communities organize and host their own Global Hunger Shabbat events on March 19th, AJWS has created an online toolkit (available at www.ajws.org/hungershabbat), which includes:

• Talking points about hunger and the food insecurity crisis
• An original prayer and sermon prompts designed for the synagogue or community setting
• A Jewish text study and family activity
• "Solidarity Plates" to designate an empty seat at the Shabbat table meant to represent the 1.1 billion people facing hunger worldwide
• Readings for use around the Shabbat table featuring stories about hunger and the solutions communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America are developing to fight it
• Suggestions for ways that American Jews and their communities can take action
• A poster and a community newsletter ad to help publicize Global Hunger Shabbat

AJWS and its grantees in Africa, Asia and the Americas believe that a local approach to realizing the human right to food will most effectively halt food insecurity worldwide. AJWS implements this approach by supporting grassroots change by and for local people in myriad ways—teaching farmers to grow food using sustainable farming methods; endowing communities with seed banks and harvest storage facilities; founding agricultural cooperatives and jumpstarting profitable local markets; and empowering indigenous communities to advocate for their land and water rights. Global Hunger Shabbat offers the American Jewish community an opportunity to join AJWS and its grassroots partners in supporting these critical solutions.

Global Hunger Shabbat toolkits and more information about the program are available at www.ajws.org/hungershabbat. These materials are part of an ongoing collection of educational resources that AJWS has created on global justice topics.

About American Jewish World Service

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism's imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

SOURCE American Jewish World Service