If North America, Europe, and Israel have each spawned rapidly-growing, Jewishly inspired social change organizations, why has knowledge-sharing and collaboration between these organizations been sporadic at best?

Never feeling accepted by the Jewish community, never offered opportunities to explore her Jewish identity, she did not connect her commitment to service to the values that undergird Jewish life—to the fundamental meaning of what it means to be Jewish.

Naftali Hanau, along with his wife Anna, founded Grow and Behold Foods – which produces kosher, pasture-raised meat adhering to the strictest standards of kashrut, animal welfare, worker treatment, and sustainable agriculture.

The Jewish community has long promoted international human rights. Felice D. Gaer continues this tradition as director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights at the American Jewish Committee, vice-chair of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, and commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. PresenTense spoke to Gaer about how her Jewish values inform her own commitment to human rights, the current tensions between the Jewish community and the wider human rights community, and the importance of finding common ground.

A recent burst of interest in Jewish-framed agricultural activity is starting to revitalize awareness of the significance of our connection to Mother Earth as a facet of our relationship to God and provide the sought-after connection.

On Thursdays and Fridays at the quad at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a table has quietly blinked into existence. A hand-made felt banner serves as a name-tag: Challah for Hunger. Every two hours on the hour, a new pair of Jewish students approaches the table to relieve those who had been on duty.  Passer-bys stop frequently on their way to class, often just to ask “What’s challah?” while the bold and hungry will snag a free sample. Every so often, a sale is made, and the transaction is warm and friendly. In what can sometimes be a large, impersonal campus, the Challah for Hunger table has formed an oasis of philanthropic spirit and camaraderie among its volunteers.

PresenTense Fellows bring their passion and creativity to create new initiatives in areas ranging from arts and culture to social action to Jewish education. In this Environment Issue, PT features Fellows whose work focuses in the environmental sphere.

Israel is quickly establishing a reputation as a global leader in technologies that promote environmental sustainability. But this is not a new realm of technological development in Israel. Although many Israeli technologies are only now gaining global, mainstream attention, Israel has been involved in innovative practices in the realm of natural resource management for decades.

Belief in the justness of Israel’s cause did not prevent Eban from criticizing some of its policies, or from advocating for peace, promoting compromise, and empathizing with Palestinian victims.