Judaism Unbound Episode 540 - AJWS and Global Responsibility
Photo cred: Miriam Terlinchamp, Dominican Republic 2025 (Photo of Ruth Messinger)
This conversation explores how American Jewish World Service understands global justice as an expression of human dignity, solidarity, and the belief that every person deserves the opportunity to live a full and flourishing life. Through stories from Uganda, Kenya, and beyond, Joaninne Nanyange describes how AJWS partners with grassroots movements fighting for LGBTQ rights, health access, democracy, and human rights, emphasizing accompaniment rather than charity and agency rather than dependency. Elizabeth Richman connects that work to Jewish teachings about responsibility, arguing that Judaism calls people to expand their circle of concern beyond themselves and to take action when confronted with injustice. In a deeply interconnected world, the struggles of distant communities are never truly distant, and hope is sustained through relationships, shared responsibility, and the collective work of building a more just future.
Joaninne Nanyange (she/they) is an attorney with over 13 years of leadership experience in the field of sexual health and rights. Her legal background spans grassroots legal advocacy to global grantmaking, giving her a unique perspective on the needs of the movements AJWS supports. As the Director of AJWS’s Sexual Health and Rights team, Joaninne leads a portfolio of seven countries, supporting grassroots movements advancing the rights of women, girls and LGBTQI+ communities. She is also widely recognized as a trusted thought leader in the African sexual health and rights landscape.
Elizabeth Richman (she/her) leads AJWS’s Jewish Engagement team, working with American Jewish clergy, community leaders, and institutions to advance AJWS’s mission. Before coming to AJWS, she spent 13 years in executive leadership at Jews United for Justice (JUFJ). A rabbi ordained at JTS, Elizabeth is actively involved in the work of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable and is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute. She currently serves on the steering committee of Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVa) and previously served as co-chair of the DC Jobs with Justice board and as a member of the Interfaith Worker Justice board. She has also served on the Rabbinical Assembly’s Social Action Commission, the Resolutions Committee, and the Rabbinic Career Development Commission.
SHOWNOTES
[1] Learn more about AJWS work on their website at: www.ajws.org
[2] Jonaninne discusses the LGBTQ+ movement in Uganda, including the highly restrictive anti-homosexuality act (AHA) in 2023, which includes one the harshest legal climates for LGBTQ+ people in the world. You can read more about it here.
[3] You can find the Talmudic reference cited by Elizabeth about the responsibility for the untethered cow, here in Talmud Shabbat 54b
[4] Elizabeth cites Abraham Joshua Heschel from his essay, “The reasons for my involvement with the Peace movement.” The essay is found in the book, “Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity (New York: Farrar, Strays and Giroux, 1996) This is the exact quote: "The more deeply immersed I became in the thinking of the prophets, the more powerfully it became clear to me what the lives of the prophets sought to convey: that morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible."
[5] You can learn more about the Family Values movement and anti-gay law Joaninne refers to here.
[6] Miriam talks about one of her heroes, Ruth Messinger. You can learn more about her story and great works here and her impassioned talk on immigrant dignity here.
[7] Sign up to jump on AJWS's mailing list to learn more about global human rights work: https://ajws.org/
[8] Learn how to take action with AJWS through advocacy actions that unite your voice with thousands of other progressive Jews across the country on foreign policy issues: https://ajws.org/get-involved/activists/
[9] Check out Miriam’s article on her time as an AJWS fellow here.
[10] Miriam also made this video about her time with AJWS in the Dominican Republic.