At the heart of American Jewish World Service's mission lies the mandate of the Torah to respond to the needs of the poor and needy without regard for race, nationality or religion. By doing tzedakah, righteous deeds, one contributes to tikkun olam, the repair of the world.

Since the organization's founding in 1985, the vision of tikkun olam has led AJWS to support local, grassroots organizations fighting poverty, hunger, and disease around the world. AJWS-funded projects aim for the highest form of tzedakah: helping others to become self-sufficient through education, health care, economic development, and the expansion of human rights.

 

One example of AJWS's comprehensive approach is its Rural Development for Education Program (RIDE) in Kanchipuram, India. Through RIDE, AJWS works to break the cycle of poverty that consigns very young children to grinding work on the silk looms. RIDE partners with grassroots organizations to provide education for children, needed income for their families, and alternative sources of labor for the silk merchants, attacking child labor by eliminating both its supply and its demand.

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