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Sparking Jewish Leaders, Igniting Social Change
For more than 20 years, we’ve been inspiring Jewish leaders to commit to a life of social change, promoting a vision of Jewish life rooted in justice, and engaging the broader Jewish community in some of the most pressing issues facing our country at a local and national level. Avodah Corps Members serve at nonprofits across the country (in NYC, DC, Chicago, and New Orleans) for a full year, directly impacting their communities for the better, while learning how to create systemic change.
Your justice work doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s connected to an entire web of systems: housing, labor, immigration, education. Avodah’s Chicago Justice Fellowship director, Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein, shares how an environmental lens can shift the way you see this work, and how finding those connections can help you feel less alone in it.
If this sounds like your kind of conversation, we invite you to apply to our Justice Fellowship in Chicago or New York City. Join us for eight months of showing up for each other, working through hard questions together, and figuring out what justice looks like when it’s rooted in Jewish life.
Learn more and apply at: Avodah.net/fellowship
Our DC Corps Members built a sukkah!
Known as “the season of our joy,” Sukkot is a weeklong holiday about stepping away from everyday comforts and welcoming people in. Together, we build a sukkah, share meals inside, and look up at the stars through the roof.
At the DC bayit (communal home), Corps Members gathered fairy lights from around the house and our program director donated his wedding tablecloths for the walls. But the best part was the evening itself: everyone out in the backyard together, hanging out while it all came to life.
Chag sameach (happy holiday)!
09/23/2026
Orientation week photo dump!
Our new Corps Members spent their first week building the foundation for their year together. They mapped out their Jewish justice journeys, learned about the history of the Jewish left, and talked about pluralism and what it means to live together across different practices and views. Then they shared what they need to thrive together and started writing their community britot (agreements).
And of course, everyone got out to explore their new cities:
Chicago toured Hyde Park with our Fellowship Director Aryeh, then welcomed their first Shabbat together, exploring how rest can be a radical act and a foundation for activism.
DC spent an afternoon at Cedar Hill in Anacostia, learning about Frederick Douglass’s life and legacy in the home where he lived, wrote, and organized for justice.
New Orleans shared breakfast with their supervisors at our placement partner, Morris Jeff Community School, and got a tour of the building, the former William Frantz Elementary that Ruby Bridges desegregated in 1960.
NYC walked the Lower East Side on a tour of Jewish labor and socialist history, tracing the organizers who shaped the movement we carry on today.
09/23/2026
Orientation week photo dump!
Our new Corps Members spent their first week building the foundation for their year together. They mapped out their Jewish justice journeys, learned about the history of the Jewish left, and talked about pluralism and what it means to live together across different practices and views. Then they shared what they need to thrive together and started writing their community britot (agreements).
And of course, everyone got out to explore their new cities:
Chicago toured Hyde Park with our Fellowship Director Aryeh, then welcomed their first Shabbat together, exploring how rest can be a radical act and a foundation for activism.
DC spent an afternoon at Cedar Hill in Anacostia, learning about Frederick Douglass’s life and legacy in the home where he lived, wrote, and organized for justice.
New Orleans shared breakfast with their supervisors at our placement partner, Morris Jeff Community School, and got a tour of the building, the former William Frantz Elementary that Ruby Bridges desegregated in 1960.
NYC walked the Lower East Side on a tour of Jewish labor and socialist history, tracing the organizers who shaped the movement we carry on today.
“Being part of this community is always incredibly inspiring.”
Law school often funnels people toward the corporate path, and school debt makes public interest work feel even more out of reach. For Aaron, an Avodah alum and immigration attorney in Chicago, staying the course wasn’t just about willpower. The alumni network was there along the way, helping him see what was possible.
Watch the full conversation here: https://youtu.be/lV1Pbozb308?si=DVlTrKY5q82p2rLw
09/18/2026
The “Big Tent” approach—Does it work?
Join us at in Somerville, MA on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 from 8-9:30pm.
Part of Avodah’s Community Engagement & Learning, this workshop is tailored for people grappling with political diversity. This session interrogates what it truly means to maintain an inclusive, multi-perspective community while establishing healthy boundaries and a unified sense of shared purpose.
Get your tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/what-s-a-big-tent-does-it-work-and-why-should-we-care
09/17/2026
This year, 53 Jewish Service Corps Members are putting their values into action at 45 different organizations across Chicago, New Orleans, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
Most of our Corps Members are engaging in direct service, working with clients to meet immediate needs like housing, food access, gender-based violence, and healthcare. Others engage in community organizing or legal advocacy, like helping people navigate the criminal legal system, fighting for a healthier planet, and providing legal representation for immigrants.
At Avodah, we believe this work is strongest when it’s built on real relationships and coalition, which is why we’re so grateful to partner with organizations doing this vital work on the ground. These partnerships often outlast the service year itself: 41% of our alumni go on to work at their placement organization.
See where our Corps Members are showing up for their communities this year.
Read more here: https://avodah.net/meet-the-2026-2027-jewish-service-corps-placement-organizations/
09/16/2026
Searching for your people in Chicago or New York City? It’s not too late to apply to this year’s Justice Fellowship!
Join us for eight months of evening and weekend sessions digging into social justice, pluralistic Jewish life, and the powerful connections between the two. If you’re in your 20s or 30s and have been engaged in justice work in a personal or professional capacity in your city, we’re looking for you!
Late applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis until all spots are filled.
Learn more and apply at: Avodah.net/fellowship
No two batim (homes) are the same. Every year, each home brings together people with different backgrounds and different ways of being Jewish. Shabbat is usually one of the first places that shows up. No one is doing it exactly the way they grew up or may have expected, but that’s the beauty of it. They’re figuring it out together, co-creating an intentional, multi-cultural, and pluralistic community.
Last year, Maddie and Lena’s house in NOLA wanted a song everyone would know, so they flipped through the Avodah songbook together and landed on “Hinei Ma Tov.” From there on out, they began singing it together every Friday after lighting the candles. Aviva’s bayit in NYC asked everyone to stay connected during the challah blessing, holding hands and inviting any guests who came over to join the circle. And in Chicago, Emma took on the role of song leader, picking up her guitar every week to lead Kabbalat Shabbat because, for their house, it was important to celebrate with music and joy.
As our new Corps Members start building their own communities this year, these traditions will start to take on a new life. And we can’t wait to see what that looks like for each one.
Living in community means you’re never doing this work alone. For Haylee, a Jewish Service Corps Member from last year’s NYC cohort who worked at JQY (Jewish Q***r Youth), that looked like professional collaborations with her housemates in the bayit (communal home). Her housemate Mimi, who worked at We Are PACT (Protect All Children from Trafficking), came in and led a session with her students. Hannah, a college counselor at Adams Street Foundation, hopped on the phone to help one of Haylee’s students navigate a scholarship application. This is what proximity makes possible.
Learn more about Haylee’s service year: https://avodah.net/jewish-service-corps-member-helps-jewish-queer-youth-thrive/
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