MiMizrach Shemesh, a Tradition of Social Responsibility

MiMizrach Shemesh, the Center for Jewish Social Leadership, founded by AVI CHAI Israel, was established in Jerusalem in 2000 as part of the Alliance Isra?lite Universelle. Its aim is to stimulate social responsibility based on Jewish commitment, in the light of Jewish tradition and the Mizrahi Jewish experience. To achieve this goal, we work on developing Jewish social leadership among social activists, school principals, rabbis, attorneys, journalists, university students, parents, and teenagers, and on expanding the discourse on Jewish social values in all segments of Israeli society.

We believe it essential to identify the keys to solving two basic problems of contemporary Israeli society: the question of Jewish identity and the question of social solidarity. Our view is that solutions to both issues are to be found in the same place - the place where the two questions meet - which we call the “tradition of social responsibility.”