Just-Giving in Action: 2025 Update
Milestones, Mindfulness...and Moving Our Money
“May we not use our celebrations as blinders, to avoid facing the pain and suffering of our broken world. May we rather be strengthened by our seasons of joy to open our own hearts wider and to take up the work of tikkun, of repair—to seek justice, to pursue peace, to turn toward each other every day with greater lovingkindness—now, while we're alive; now, while we're free; now, while we remember.” (Ordination address, 1999)
On April 5th, 2024 I became a legal elder: eligible for Medicare, reduced transit fares, and various senior discounts. On May 27th, 2024 I marked my 25th anniversary of rabbinical ordination — and the 125th birthday of my grandmother Mary Esterman Sandler z"l, who first inspired my commitments to tzedakah / just-giving.
As I continue to celebrate these birth and vocation milestones, I hope you will celebrate with me by just-giving to one or more of the nonprofits below.
The beauty of just-giving is that — regardless of income or affluence level — each of us holds the daily power to vote with our own resources for the kind of world we seek. The diverse giving opportunities below (please scroll through at your own pace!) respond to vital local, national, and international needs that may or may not be making current headlines.
Please let me know which nonprofit/s you choose. NO need to share amounts!
waysofpeace[dot]org[at]gmail.com
We mourn the deaths of all whose lives have been cut short by violence and hatred. For all who survive to carry the wounds, we pray for recovery and healing.
Through months of anguish and arguments over pauses and ceasefires, WAYS OF PEACE maintains humanitarian vigilance beyond words. No matter how heartbreaking the situation, there are always real, practical options for sharing our time and money, for bringing people together across differences to affirm our shared humanity.
The Israel-Palestine Crisis Relief Fund of GlobalGiving centers organizations that are deeply rooted in local communities to provide long-term support for survivors. including IsraAID, Rebuilding Alliance, and more. Please also consider the vital grassroots solidarity organizations below.
2019 Joint Memorial Ceremony in Tel Aviv. Photo Credit: Gili Getz
"Sometimes bereavement, a kind of shared fate, can constitute a source of identification and solidarity....The heavy price exacted from the participants has within it the capacity to join hearts and break down walls that separate those who by definition belong to two camps."
— Israel Supreme Court Justice Anat Baron (bereaved mother of terror victim Ran Baron z"l)
Israel's Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the rights of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians to meet and grieve together — in powerful joint ceremonies that have grown from 180 in-person participants in 2006 to nearly 15,000 in 2023. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have participated in live broadcasts since the pandemic years.
Please consider supporting the joint ceremony organizers, who remain at the forefront of nonviolent solidarity initiatives throughout the year. Combatants for Peace are ex-combatant Israelis and Palestinians, men and women, who have laid down their weapons and rejected all means of violence. Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF) is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization of over 700 families, all of whom have lost an immediate family member to the ongoing conflict.
Road to Recovery began in 2006 when a Palestinian PCFF member, whose brother needed transport to and from a border crossing for cancer treatment, reached out to an Israeli PCFF member for assistance. Leonard Cohen donated $10K in 2010 to support the hundreds of volunteers, patients and families who have come together in a journey of healing and hope since that time. Please support Road to Recovery in honor and memory of all the volunteers, patients and families on the front lines of the October 7th attacks and subsequent war.
Please also consider supporting Standing Together, a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice; Physicians for Human Rights Israel, providing and advocating for humanitarian medical aid on both sides of the Gaza border; and Neve Shalom / Wahat al Salaam (Oasis of Peace), a village of Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel dedicated to building justice, peace and equality in the country and the region since 1970.
The current states of war have deepened the worst global refugee crisis since World War II, with more than 108 million people forcibly displaced from their homes.
In the United States, thousands of undocumented asylum seekers and others are incarcerated in crowded quarters because of their immigration status and inability to post bond.
Please consider supporting the following organizations:
Aguilas del Desierto / Eagles of the Desert, a volunteer search and rescue organization begun by an immigrant laborer whose brother and cousin died in the southern border desert. "Since Aguilas began in 2012, we have rescued 92 people and recovered the remains of 92 people. We long for the day when all lives are saved."
Sanctuary Coalitions nationwide — local faith-based solidarity networks working on multiple fronts to expand access to safe spaces for all — working in coordination with local immigrant bond funds.
Afri-kana supports Harlem and the Bronx’s newest and oldest neighbors, both long-standing residents and recent migrant arrivals. Established by a Black Muslim woman who personally navigated the U.S. immigration system, Afri-kana specifically focuses on Black and Muslim migrants who face significant barriers to accessing services, including legal, workforce, and benefit assistance.
Proyecto Faro / Project Lighthouse is an immigrant-led organizing effort allied with immigrant and non-immigrant religious and secular communities and organizations to galvanize support for and action among those in Rockland County who feel insecure due to their immigration status. Proyecto Faro works to create solidarity across boundaries of legal status, country of origin, and religious affiliation.
Annunciation House, RAICES, and other long-term immigrant support organizations on the U.S. / Mexico border
Hotline for Refugees and Migrants in Israel, which defends the rights of migrants and refugees, works to eradicate human trafficking, and provides crucial leadership in the ongoing Israeli crisis threatening African asylum seekers
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), which has developed a high-impact model of legal advocacy on behalf of refugees to the U.S. including best practices for providing aid remotely — and has helped to bring wrongly-deported parents back to the U.S. to reunite with their children.
Other nonsectarian organizations such as Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), and Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees.
Native American tribes have been among those most vulnerable to the ravages of our global pandemic. Please consider donations to the Indigenous Environmental Network, to Yee Ha’ólníi Doo / Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund, to Sihasin bee Nihxidziil / Strength in Hope, and to other Indigenous mutual aid funds.
One of the Native American mutual aid funds received a significant boost from donors in Ireland, mindful of the 1847 generosity of the Choctaw tribe during the "Great Hunger" of the Irish potato famine.
The pandemic has also seen increasing awareness and accountability for North American policies which brutally removed Native children from their families to boarding schools in which their indigenous cultures were forcibly erased, and in which other forms of mistreatment were rampant. Please support the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a membership organization comprised of over 80 Native and Non-Native members and organizations committed to boarding school healing.
Please also support ongoing Indigenous solidarity funding projects such as the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust / Shuumi Land Tax in Oakland, CA (Lisjan / Ohlone land), Real Rent Duwamish in Seattle, WA (the city named for the Duwamish chief), and the Manna-hatta Fund in NYC (Lenape land). If you live on other native lands, you can consult this Resource Guide for Indigenous Solidarity Funding Projects.
As the long-impoverished nation of Haiti suffers through its most recent violent breakdown of government, the grassroots Haiti Response Coalition (HRC) offers the following crucial guidance:
"We promote Haitian self-determination and leadership, desiring collaborative efforts based on partnership and mutual respect, but never seeking to do what Haitians can do for themselves.... In concrete practice, this also means that despite the international nature of the HRC, we are committed to making our work Haitian-centered, and more specifically, centering marginalized Haitian populations so that our engagement and action are in response to Haitian need and aimed toward Haitian benefit."
Please consider supporting Fonkoze, Hope for Haiti, the Lambi Fund of Haiti, and other HRC trusted emergency responders, as well as the GlobalGiving Haiti Crisis Relief Fund. GlobalGiving also offers a helpful infographic on How to Help After A Disaster, clarifying how cash donations can best support local economies.
Continued killings of unarmed Black civilians across the U.S. have exposed deadly, long-term injustices at the foundations of our society. Through advocacy, education, and commemoration, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama is changing the narrative about race in America. EJI includes a Legacy Museum, a Memorial for Peace and Justice, and a Community Remembrance Project which partners with community coalitions to memorialize documented victims of racial violence and to foster meaningful dialogue about race and justice today.
The Fund for Reparations NOW! was created as a white allies group to pilot what reparations could look like once granted by the federal government, following the 10-Point Plan of the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC). The first rounds of funding have gone toward Point 9 of the 10-Point Plan: Preserving Black Sacred Sites and Monuments, beginning with commemoration of the Elaine, AK Massacre of 1919.
Please support efforts locally as well as nationally. In NYC, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is a coalition of NYC organizations that has been working for nearly a decade to end abusive and discriminatory law enforcement policies. CPR have accelerated long-sought legislative reforms at the state level, and are currently spearheading the campaign for NYC Budget Justice to redirect funds from law enforcement to social services, education, youth employment, and public health in neglected communities most vulnerable to both COVID-19 and violence.
Also in NYC, the multi-pronged work of the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) spans community-based gun violence prevention, healing trauma, and legal reform. Locally-based CCI programs like Save Our Streets and Restorative Justice prevent violence and resolve conflicts on the streets and in schools.
The student leaders who emerged from the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida have recognized and used their privilege to focus on the more vulnerable survivors of institutional violence whose voices are often ignored. They partnered with the Community Justice Action Fund to support frontline organizations that continue working on the ground to prevent gun violence in communities nationwide — including BYP 100 (Chicago, IL), Circle of Brotherhood (Miami, FL), Homies Unidos (Los Angeles, CA), LIFE Camp (Jamaica, NY), Mothers Against Police Brutality (Dallas, TX), and ROCA (Baltimore, MD).
Some of the most vulnerable immigrants as well as native-born Americans in the U.S. today are the front-line "essential workers" who plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell our food — especially during this crisis.
Please support the Coalition of Imokalee Workers (CIW). Immokalee, Florida is the source of nearly all winter tomatoes grown in the U.S. The CIW is a worker-based human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work. The CIW is also a driving force behind the Alliance for Fair Food, a national partnership network for farmworker justice.
The Worker Justice Center of NY, like the CIW, is among food worker member organizations across the country that have joined forces to improve wages and working conditions for all workers along the food chain. Farmworker Justice also works with farmworker organizations throughout the U.S. Please support efforts locally as well as nationally.
The emergency immigrant bond fund crisis highlights the longstanding health risks, devastation and injustice of our cash bail system. Envision Freedom Fund (formerly Brooklyn Community Bail Fund) reports that over 60 percent of people in jail in the United States are being detained while they await trial. The inability to afford bail forces people to plead guilty just to get out of jail, even when they are innocent. If they don't, they may spend months behind bars awaiting trial. And while pleading guilty lets them go home, they carry a criminal record for life.
A growing national network of community bail funds is leveraging donations to free and support these people as part of a broader movement for criminal justice and immigration reform. Please support a community bail fund near you.
Domestic workers have been on the frontlines of the pandemic, caring for those most vulnerable to the coronavirus like seniors and people with chronic illnesses. They have also cared for the children of essential workers like health care professionals. As a result, many domestic workers, especially home care workers, have been unable to self-isolate or practice social distancing.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance has provided emergency assistance for home care workers, nannies and house cleaners to support them in staying safe and staying home to slow the spread of the coronavirus and to care for themselves and their families.
Relentless hate violence continues to send shock waves of trauma throughout our nation and our world. As long-term needs continue to be assessed in the aftermath of the murderous shootings at two mosques in New Zealand, it's vital to look beyond divisive media debates toward the continuous just-giving across conventional lines of conflict — the healing, practical actions that disappear most quickly from the headlines.
In the fall of 2018, Muslim-American community organizations raised $50,000 for the shooting victims in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, as well as more than $230,000 for the wounded and murdered shooting victims in Pittsburgh. The surviving Pittsburgh Jewish community responded in the spring of 2019 with a call for donations to support the Christchurch, NZ Muslim community.
Two-thirds of the funds raised by nearly 6,000 donors to the Pittsburgh campaign were disbursed by local Muslim partners to meet the immediate, short-term needs of injured victims and grieving families. The remaining funds are designated for projects that help to foster Muslim-Jewish collaboration, dialogue, and solidarity.
A similar Muslim-American effort on behalf of vandalized Jewish cemeteries in 2017 drew more than $160,000 from nearly 5,000 donors. Funds have been disbursed to restore Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Denver. Most recently, the funding scope was extended to Jewish centers beyond cemeteries, as $10,000 was disbursed to help restore the Tree of Life synagogue devastated by the Pittsburgh shooting.
Rabbi Louis Allan Rieser died in January 2020 after a brave and generous journey of 4.5 years through brain cancer. Following initial surgery, Louis and his wife Connie Rieser decided to reach beyond their own crisis and give tzedakah for each subsequent week of treatment: "Tzedakah is on behalf of healing, for ourselves and for our doctors, and for all of our helpers." Their weekly beneficiaries are listed here:
Treatment Support for Sawyer Shore
Jayme's Fund for Social Justice
Alliance for Fair Food - Coalition of Immokalee Workers
(SEE ABOVE)
Hope Sunshine Club in Memory of Bailey Leal
As Connie wrote the day Louis z"l died, "We lost a shining light today, but I know he will continue to shine upon us." At this time when loss and grief are at the forefront for so many, the Riesers' shining example reminds us that generous justice is always available to light our ways through the darkness.