Remembrance and Rededication

Yom Hashoah is not only a day of mourning — it is a call to rededication, asking each of us what obligation suffering places on those who come after. Drawing on Rabbi Soloveitchik, Hannah Senesh, and the Talmud, this learning explores the danger of turning away from others’ struggles and the power of showing up as an act of remembrance. Holding the tension between caring for the Jewish community and responsibility to the broader human family, it challenges participants to carry memory forward not as grief alone, but as action.

Caring for Ourselves by Caring for the Earth

From Genesis to Midrash, Jewish tradition has long taught that the earth belongs not to us but to God and future generations — placing the role of steward, not owner, at the center of how we are meant to live. Drawing on Rabbi Sacks, Rabbi Bernstein, and Midrash Kohelet Rabbah, this learning asks participants to examine how that ancient responsibility comes alive in the concrete, hands-on work of environmental service. At a moment when climate insecurity touches our health, food, and communities, the learning explores the tension between caring for ourselves and caring for the world — and how those two duties are ultimately inseparable.

Knowing the Soul of the Stranger

The Torah commands the Israelites to protect the stranger not once but repeatedly, grounding ethical responsibility in collective memory of their own displacement. Nechama Leibowitz observes that this repetition is intentional: some people are moved by personal experience, while others need a different kind of moral argument — suggesting that compassion alone may not be sufficient to build a just society. Using these ancient texts as a lens, this learning asks how contemporary American society navigates the tension between self-preservation and responsibility to others, particularly in the context of the challenges facing immigrant communities today.

Our Founding Report

This foundational study examines Jewish service learning as a powerful tool for engaging young adults in their Jewish identity while addressing social challenges, drawing on the tradition of repairing the world, tikkun olam, which extends the obligation to give beyond the Jewish community itself. The report’s findings on how Jewish service learning uniquely combines hands-on community service with Jewish values and knowledge led to the creation of Repair the World, an organization dedicated to nurturing both personal transformation and social change while strengthening Jewish continuity and identity.

The Far-Reaching Power of Loving-Kindness

At the heart of Jewish tradition is the importance of acts of loving-kindness. What is meant by loving-kindness? It means going beyond what is strictly required; and performing acts of compassion, generosity, and goodwill toward others, especially those in need.

We are given examples in our tradition of acts of loving-kindness, such as visiting the sick, comforting mourners, welcoming guests, helping the needy, and offering support to those going through difficult times. The rabbis go as far as to say that this is actually superior to, say, charity. We are going to now take a look at a few texts that talk about the impact our actions have on the world around us.

This guide was created by Repair the World in response to the LA Wildfires.

Global to Local – Do it Yourself Toolkit

A DIY guide merging JDC’s global community engagement practices with Repair the World’s local service expertise. Features seven values-driven actions to help young Jews apply overseas experience to meaningful local volunteering, from values clarification to community mapping to organizing service events.Retry

Together at the Table: Pittsburgh

When disaster strikes communities, how does collective trauma inform how we show up for one another?

Xenophobia comes in many forms, how do we process trauma in our communities and in other oppressed communities? Sanctuary is the word used to describe a Jewish house of worship, it also means safe haven. This guide can be used as a mourning practice or discussion after a traumatic incident; it can also be helpful framing when discussing trauma with members of different communities. How do we process and heal together?

This guide was created by the Anti Defamation League and Repair the World in partnership with Be’chol Lashon, Keshet, and OneTable in response to the Tree of Life shooting.

Praying with My Legs

When Heschel marched with Dr. King, did he know he was paraphrasing the words of Fredrick Douglass?

Our understanding of Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his work is a more palatable version of the story. The Civil Rights Movement was not just an era of peaceful protest, but an era of unrest and upset, an effort to try to break down the barriers of systemic racial inequity in the United States. How does the Jewish community, and non-POC communities, engage in racial justice today? This MLK day text study implores you to do self-inventory of your relationship to race.

Written in partnership with Erika Davis.

A Sukkot Guide to Houselessness

How are Communities of Color and other vulnerable groups impacted by houselessness in America?

“Over the next four years the current Pandemic Recession is projected to cause chronic houselessness to increase 49 percent in the United States. Houselessness among working-age adults caused by the current recession is projected to peak in 2023, adding 603,000 working-age adults to those already without a place of their own to sleep in the United States.” Through this Sukkot guide, explore how various communities are being impacted by the current housing crisis and the systems in place which have led to the staggering statistics we see today.