Empowering the Jewish Poor Through Human Rights Advocacy: Reflections on the Project Genesis Experience in Montreal

Publication Date: January 1992

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): Jim L. Torczyner

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Social Services; Social Justice; Poverty

Type: Report

Coverage: Canada Canada

Abstract:

Despite the Jewish imperative of doing justice to the poor and the Jewish community's unsurpassed social service network, poverty is a persistent and significant aspect of the North American Jewish experience. For 15 years, Project Genesis, through its outreach and community organization efforts, has empowered the Jewish poor of Montreal through a unique combination of mobilization, advocacy, and participation. Funded primarily by the Montreal federation, Project Genesis gives contemporary expression to the notion of Gemilut Hasidim (acts of loving kindness) and the interdependence of donor and recipient.