Sunday began an international campaign called 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.  NFTY-CAR Alumni Ari Lorge and Sari Lipsett have taken on this issue in an important and active way.  As the founders of Reyut: A Jewish Campaign for Healthy Relationships, their work in both the blog that they keep as well as the programmatic resources they have created for congregations are an active response to a problem that is real in both the Jewish community as well as in North America in general.  “As committed Jews devoted to ensuring our communities are sacred spaces, [Ari and Sari] are launching a campaign to educate, raise awareness, and foster action that will ensure the next generation of young Jews have the resources they require to meet the growing plague of gender violence in America.”

Ari and Sari will be joining us at NFTY Convention in Los Angeles and teaching in multiple workshops.  In the meantime, please get connected to the great work they are doing.  Below is one of the blog posts highlight these 16 days of activism.  You can follow their work on their blog which includes international updates, suggestions for taking action, and Jewish resources relevant to this subject.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

originally published on the Reyut blog Sunday, November 25th

Today is The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is day one of the international campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. All around the world individuals and organizations are spending twenty four hours working to end one of the most pervasive evils in our world: violence against women. Each of us can afford to spend a bit of time today taking action. We at Reyut are making it easy!

There are many ways to join in the movement:

• You can share this blog post on your Facebook profile and with friends and family in order to spread the word and help others get involved!
• Visit the website of the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence. Read about the new organization and join people from all around the world who have signed the pledge to take action.
• You can check out Rutger’s Center for Women’s Global Leadership’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence 
• You can check out Jewish Women International’s (JWI) efforts for a Jewish lens to the campaign
• You can post about the issue in social media sites – there are great sample posts here if you scroll down to “Sample Social Media Posts”
• You can educate yourself and others – Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is an incredible book, that turned into a movement, and has now been turned into a PBS documentary
• We are also very happy to share Chief Rabbi (of England) Jonathan Sack’s post about The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
• You can also read and share information, stories, and videos from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women’s efforts

This is an incomplete list, but it is a starting place. Let’s all do our part to educate, inform, and take action!

Ari and Sari