Jewish World Watch (JWW) is a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to helping survivors of genocide and mass atrocities around the world.

Mission

JWW is primarily focused on the conflicts in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, Sudan,

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

, and Syria. Since their inception, they have donated over $6 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan and Congo.

History

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis and Janice Kamenir-Reznik established Jewish World Watch (JWW) in 2004 on the principle of ''

Tikkun Olam ''Tikkun olam'' ( he, תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם, , repair of the world) is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world. In classical rabbinic literature, the phrase referred to leg ...

'' (repairing the world), after learning of the genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan, and recalling the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, and the

1994 Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

. Since its founding, JWW has grown from a collection of Southern California synagogues to include support from schools, churches, and partner organizations across the country. In March 2010, JWW became a member of the Eastern Congo Initiative founded by

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educatio ...

. As of 2017, Susan Freudenheim, former executive editor at the

Jewish Journal ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest ...

, is the executive director.

Walk to End Genocide

Jewish World Watch hosts an annual fundraising walk called the Walk to End Genocide. In 2019, the Walk took place in two locations,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

(March 31) and the

Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It is located in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Communities in the Conej ...

(April 7).

References

External links

Jewish World Watch official website

Charity Navigator

Walk to End Genocide
*Porter, Bailey.
Recipe for Safety: Jewish women do mitzvah for Darfur refugees
. ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

'' Winter 2007. Jewish-American political organizations Jewish charities based in the United States Charities based in California {{humanrights-stub