Progressive Jewish Alliance

Description

PJA is a new kind of Jewish organization, one that serves as a vehicle connecting Jews to the critical social justice issues of the day, to the life of the cities in which they live, and to the Jewish tradition of working for tikkun olam. We believe that to kvetch is human, to act...divine. We fight for economic justice by educating Jews about our obligation to stand with the working poor, and then we organize the Jewish community to join in campaigns to improve working conditions and secure a living wage for low-wage workers. We work to reform the criminal justice system and to promote a more just and humane system of restorative, rather than retributive, justice through a ground-breaking program that trains volunteers to mediate between non-violent juvenile offenders and their victims throughout Los Angeles. We work to promote understanding and tolerance by facilitating several tracks of Muslim-Jewish dialogue, the only formal open lines of communication between LA's enormous Jewish and Muslim communities. We work to ensure Jewish continuity through our two-year Jeremiah Fellowship, an innovative project that trains twenty-somethings to be the next generation of Jewish social justice leaders. And we build a vibrant, creative and engaged community through education programs and quarterly holiday events that explore the intersection of art, culture and politics.