Tzedek, justice in Hebrew, is Hillel's Community Service and Advocacy group on Campus. Framed by the Jewish imperatives of tzedakah (righteousness), gemilut chasadim (acts of loving--kindness), and tikkun olam (repairing the world), Penn Hillel Tzedek is committed to engaging and empowering students in meaningful public service both on and off campus and encouraging creative Jewish thinking about social justice issues.
How can I get involved?
3 easy ways...
1. email Penn Tzedek to join our listserv
2. keep your ears open for one of our information sessions
3. simply join Tzedek for one of its community service projects
For more information, contact
Yakira Kirzner (Steering Chair)
Alexis Mayer (Co-chair)
Lorraine Grynspan (Outreach Chair)
Lisa Piontnica (Communications Chair)
Emily Hart (Special Projects Chair)
Join us for one or ALL of our projects - regularly or JUST once.
Apply to be a Bridging Generations Tzedek Fellow!
The Tzedek (Social Justice) committee needs a new person to head Bridging Generations this year! Bridging Generations visits the residents of nearby Park Pleasant Nursing Home where we will brighten up their day with fun arts & crafts! The program runs about 3-4 times each semester for about 2 hours each. The new head will need to be in contact with the nursing home and organize dates to visit. Please contact penntzedek@gmail.com if you are interested.
Current Project Descriptions:
Alliance & Understanding (AU) is dedicated to creating dialogue between Blacks and Jews on Penn's campus with the goal of achieving a greater degree of understanding and education. AU aims to break down the barriers between these communities through training workshops that concentrate on the fascinating history the two groups shared during the Civil Rights Movement. The culmination of this learning experience is a moving Spring Break trip through the South, where students explore first hand the momentous events that took place there.
For more information, contact Rachel Hollander
Tzedek runs Alternative Spring Break, a trip that combines Judaism and social justice in a week-long service trip. Most recently, students have traveled to Honduras and Argentina. Students have many opportunities to explore new cultures and deepen their connections to Judaism and their Jewish peers all while working for the greater good.
For more information, contact Debbie Yunker
Big Brothers Big Sisters: Make a BIG difference in a child’s life. Penn Hillel is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters to recruit Penn students to mentor boys and girls in West Philadelphia. If you have been looking for the opportunity to give back and want to do something fun– become Big Brother or Big Sister with Penn Hillel!
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
Bikkur Cholim (Visiting the Sick) sends a team of vollunteers on regular visits to patients in Penn's hospitals, both during the week and on Shabbat to chat, comfort, and distribute challas and other goodies. In addition, Bikkur Cholim works with other Philadelphia aid organizations to provide kosher meals and babysitting relief for sick patients and their families.
For more information, email Lizi Marks
Blood Drives: Students organize one Red Cross Blood Drive a semester that takes place in Steinhardt Hall. A great way for the entire community to get involved!
For more information, email Ikey Setton
Bridging Generations will visit the residents of the nearby Park Pleasant Nursing Home where we will brighten up their day with fun arts & crafts! The program runs about 3-4 times each semester for about 2 hours each, but you can choose to come on whichever dates work best for you. This is really a tremendous opportunity to forge a connection with elderly people who love being exposed to the "young folk" from Penn, so don't miss out!
For more information, email Cindy Berman
Challah for Hunger is an organization that raises awareness of and money for hunger and disaster relief through the production and sale of challah bread. The Penn CfH chapter gathers each Thursday (starting October 22) to bake challah from scratch in the Rodin Underground. The loaves of challah are sold on Friday for $5 each on Locust Walk and in Hillel. All proceeds from this endeavor are donated to AJWS' Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund and to the Jewish Relief Agency, organizations that work to alleviate the suffering of those who cannot provide for themselves in Darfur and in the Philadelphia region, respectively. We need your help to make this project a success!
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
Food Drives: Tzedek works with many different institutions throughout the year to organize food drives on Penn's campus to help low-income Philadelphia residents.
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
FocusFirst is a project that aims to address the vision care problems of children who live in urban poverty in Philadelphia. Students screen children, ages six months to five years, in Head Starts and lower-income daycares for vision problems. FocusFirst then provides free follow-up care for those who need it. FocusFirst is a unique service opportunity for Penn students who wish to make an impact on the quality of life for a large segment of Philadelphia's population.
For more information, email Rebecca Berger
International Projects will focus on engaging in social justice projects that are global in nature. They will be partnering to help Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda and an orphanage in Tanzania. If you are interested in international issues, this committee is for you!
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
Jewish Genetic Disease Screening: Dr. Adele Schneider began a program to screen college students and newly-weds for dangerous Jewish genetic diseases. There are now yearly screenings on Penn's campus. This group helps fundraise and organize these screenings.
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
Mitzvah Day is one of Tzedek's annual events. It is a campus-wide service day which gets people all around the school involved in community service for the day. Tzedek organizes a large variety of projects on campus and around Philadelphia that students can choose to participate in.
For more information, email Alexis Mayer
The Moral Voices program at the University of Pennsylvania selects one social justice topic each year to explore in depth and through a variety of channels. Issues are approached from Jewish perspectives as well as other faith-based and secular perspectives. For the 2009-10 year, Moral Voices explored human trafficking through film screenings, panel discussions, and a major campus event including an address from New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. For the 2010-11 year, Moral Voices will focus on food justice, a problem with global, domestic, and local dimensions. This issue presents a pressing challenge not only to government and social service organizations worldwide, but also to individual consumers. Food justice is an issue that impacts each of us in a personal and global way. If you have experience working on this topic from any angle, please be in touch – we welcome your input and involvement as we aim to raise awareness and inspire action about the ways in which we can tackle elements of food injustice in our cities and states as well as nationally and globally.
For more information, contact Debbie Yunker
Click here for the Moral Voices website
OCP Chessed is planning lots of great events including a panel of formerly homeless speakers, Manicure for the Cure to raise money for Breast Cancer, a charity auction and lots more! Committee members can choose their level of involvement and which events they would like to work on. Lots of important planning positions are available!
For more information, email Aliza Keller
Project Rainbow is a program which offers tutoring services to the children who live in a women’s transitional housing facility in North Philadelphia. Volunteers with this new project spend one and a half hours one evening per week tutoring and mentoring an elementary school aged child.
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
Project Sunshine: Students work under the supervision of Project Sunshine to visit patients at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Through Project sunshine, students organize and participate in art projects and activities with the young patients. The projects often have themes ranging from movies to sports to books to holiday celebrations. It's a great way to be involved with people in need in the area.
For more information, email Gabi Nourafchan
The Ronald McDonald House serves as a temporary residence for families of children receiving treatments at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Small groups of students go to the Ronald McDonald House in West Philadelphia twice a month to bake and decorate cookies with the children. It is a fun way to bring a smile to the face of a child going through difficult times.
For more information, email Eva Bernfeld
Service Days: Every semester Tzedek holds a campus-wide service day, which gets people all around the school involved in community service. Tzedek organizes a large variety of projects that students can choose between. It is a great way to get people involved in a meaningful way and really make a difference in the community!
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
Social Justice Education Programs: In addition to coordinating many service projects, Tzedek is also dedicated to ideas of social justice education. Throughout the year Tzedek holds speakers, discussions and social justice learning groups to encourage personal and campus-wide reflection on issues of social justice.
For more information, email penntzedek@gmail.com
The Soup Kitchen at Hillel convenes every sunday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sunday Night Soup Kitchen is a space for community guests and Penn volunteers to get to know each other over plates of steaming pasta with meat sauce and veggies. Each Sunday, our dedicated volunteers arrive before dinner to roll out tablecloths, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fill cups of iced water, and bag pastries. Then, when the dining room doors open, volunteers are ready to serve our guests and to sit down with them, the latter our favored activity. In this informal setting, volunteers and guests build enduring relationships. Each individual, from Penn freshmen to middle-aged construction workers and impoverished seniors, brings unique stories and perspectives to the dinner table.
Sunday Night Soup Kitchen welcomes many diverse and wonderful people who share a common need for basic sustenance. We buy grocery store gift certificates, warm winter clothing, and toiletries for our guests, using proceeds from a fundraiser. These items are distributed at our December Holiday Party. Students serve food to guests in the Falk Dining Commons at Steinhardt Hall. Aside from providing a warm meal, Soup Kitchen is a welcoming environment.
For more information, email Amy Smith or Dara Heimowitz
What's the next step?
Want a leadership role?
Apply to be a . . .
Tzedek fellow!
Tzedek Fellows, selected at the beginning of each semester, create a culture of community service by organizing the Tzedek projects and initiatives. Tzedek Fellows also plan service days, hunger advocacy events, drives, and an annual campus-wide Mitzvah Day.
Please contact: Yakira Kirzner
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