Ruth Messinger entrusts American Jewish World Service to her deputy, Robert Bank
Ruth Messinger was a politician in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s before she took the helm of a respected but low-profile nonprofit focused on international development: the American Jewish World Service.
After 17 years, Messinger, 75, is giving up the presidency of AJWS, which grew into a major player in the fight against global poverty under her leadership. In 2015, the group gave out nearly $40 million for projects in 19 nations.
“All our work, locally and abroad, is really about learning to listen to ‘the other,’” Messinger said. “I’ve written about this in terms of Judaism’s central Shema prayer, which calls on us to listen. AJWS prides itself on being different from some other very good international human rights and development organizations because we don’t send in the troops. That may be not the right metaphor. But the entire orientation of our program staff is to say: ‘How can we help you? What’s your vision of social change?’”
