November 6: Ruth Messinger

Ruth Messinger, who has led the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) since 1998, was born in New York on this date in 1940. Messinger served on the New York City Council from 1978 to 1989, and as Manhattan borough president from 1990 to 1998, and was a champion of rent control and public school education. She has also worked as a teacher, social worker, and college administrator. Messinger has built the AJWS from a small, progressive non-profit into a major overseas development organization, with 250 programs in over 40 countries. She has been relentless about mobilizing Jewish resources and activism to oppose the genocide in Darfur, Sudan — “If there’s one thing that Jews understand,” she says, “it’s the danger of silence from the international community” — and to help Haiti recover from its devastating earthquake in 2010. The AJWS has turned “service learning” into a significant component of American Jewish identity.
“The expression ‘Never again’ cannot be reserved only for Jews.” —Ruth Messinger