Our mission is to serve and inspire the American Orthodox Jewish community towards enacting social justice in our communities. To do so, we aim to develop the new, growing discourse among traditional Jewish communities making the connection between God, Torah, and social issues in America, and to help translate that discourse into action. Through these efforts, we will develop a Jewish community of learners and leaders seeking to improve the world and our religious and ethical lives through the cultivation of positive character traits, leadership skills, and a realization of our moral responsibility.
2. How did you start getting involved in social justice work?
In college and shortly after, I went on volunteer missions to El Salvador, Ghana, Ukraine, India, and Thailand. I entered social justice on the global front.
3. As a Rabbinical Student, can you briefly describe the place you find social justice activism holds within Judaism?
I believe that social justice activism is the most fundamental core of Judaism. G-d loved Avraham (the first Jew) and formed a covenant with him because he and his family were “Shomru Derech Hashem Laasot Tzedakah u’Mishpat” (Genesis 18:18), guarders of the way of G-d to do righteousness and justice. This is the basis of our religion and our relationship with G-d. I intend to build my rabbinate around principles of tzedek, activism, and Jewish leadership to fulfill this Torah mandate.
4. Can you briefly describe how this work has enhanced your own personal "Jewish Experience"?
I don’t think that I would be a religious Jew or a rabbinical student if it weren’t for the social justice commitments that our communities have made. In my earlier search for religion, I was looking for a faith that integrated intellect with actions, heart yearning with hand digging, crying to G-d and responding to the cry of our fellow sisters and brothers, and humility with radical activism. This work and spirit not only led me to Jewish life but also makes me proud and excited every day to be a Jew.
5. Is your work limited to the Jewish Community? If so, why?
Chas v’Shalom (G-d forbid). We train Jewish leadership but our partners span the country and globe. It is my belief that every human is created B’tzelem Elokim (in the image of G-d) and that all people have an equal obligation to one another. I train and empower Jews in their leadership since we share a discourse and values but the recipients and partners of our work stretch beyond all parochial boundaries.
6. How was your project received within the different sectors of Judaism?
We primarily educate Orthodox Jews but we work with all Jews. A new generation of halakhic global citizens is being built and we are proud to be at the center of that revolution. We also partner in very significant ways with non-Orthodox social justice leaders and institutions.
7. Do you have any role model in your activism?
My activist role models include Moshe Rebbeinu, Rabbi Avi Weiss, Rosa Parks, Rabbi Saul Berman, Ruth Messinger, Ajan Som Phon (a Thai partner of mine), Martin Luther King, Esther HaMalka, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Ghandi, Rabbi Akiva, Mom and Dad (Sandy and Steve), Brother (Scott), Dr. Klau, Nanny (my grandmother may she be remembered in blessing), chavruta Steven E, Adam Block, Ravs Linzer, Blau, and Klapper, Jeff White, Dela (Ghana leader), Levinas, Obama, Heschel, Golda Meir, Mike S., Chencho (El Salvador leader), Sid, Netziv, Jason K.B, Danny Siegal, Simone de Beauvoir, Rachel Imainu, Danny Ehrlich (Efrat) Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Yedida, Jen Yanklowitz (sister-in-law), Yofiel (young yeshiva bucher from India), Rav Kook, Jean Valjean, Rav Soloveitchik, Spinoza, Rav Moshe, FDR, Richard Joel, Les and Abigail Wexner, Team Uri L'Tzedek (Ari, Tsufit, Aaron, and Ari), R.D. Kessel, Richard Joel, J. Rand, Kwame Appiah, Nussbaum, Or and Elka, Rav Asher m'Chicago, Violet and Walter Powroznik (helped raise me in Canada) and…….
8. Your work is truly great. The State of Israel could use some great pioneers like you :-). Any plans to make aliyah and bring all your energy to Israel any time soon?
I have no plans to make aliyah. I have enough to do here in the states for now. My neshama, nonetheless, resides in my caravan in Efrat where my greatest existential struggles were fought.
9. Is this the start of a lifelong commitment to such social justice work?
This is my calling!
10. What final message would you like to give our readers at Tzipiyah.com?
Don’t just jump on the band wagons of activism. Listen to your soul and to the souls of those in the community that you have chosen to align yourself with to what issues really call to your core. Then be absolutely rigorous and relentless together to fight for absolute justice until there is measurable victory. Maintain the dignity of all the people that you work with and for while pursuing tzedek. Tzedek is about creating systemic change but the encounter with the other and the opportunity to show her or him dignity at every moment must be constitutive of our eternal and transformational identities.
Shmuly Yanklowitz (Shmuly22@yahoo.com)grew up in Toronto, New Jersey, and Chicago and studied at the University of Texas for an undergraduate degree and Harvard University for his Masters degree in Human Development and Psychology. He is now completing a second Masters degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University and beginning his Doctoral Studies at Columbia University in Moral Development and Epistemology. During two different years, he studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel where he also founded the Jerusalem Leadership Institute bringing together students and volunteers in Israel for dialogue, service projects, and leadership training. Shmuly has volunteered, taught, and staffed missions in many countries including Israel, France, Thailand, El Salvador, Ghana, India, and Ukraine. He is currently a Rabbinical School student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. In addition to being an avid reader and active athlete, Shmuly finds most of his passions in social justice and social action leadership. He is currently the Director of Panim Summer JAM in Washington DC and a co-founder of Uri L’Tzedek (The Orthodox Social Justice Beit Midrash and Leadership Training Center).
