Through our projects, ATZUM strives to remedy injustices in Israel society and encourage individuals to become social activist agents of change.
The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution was established by ATZUM in 2003 in collaboration with the law firm Nevo, Keidar, Blum, and Associates. TFHT focuses on advancing policy that addresses human trafficking and prostitution on the legislative, judicial, enforcement and educational levels; drafting bills and ushering them through the legislative process; initiating judicial processes; being in constant contact with law enforcement agencies, and engaging in raising awareness of prostitution and its consequences for both the individual and society.
Since its inception, TFHT has worked to end sex trafficking in Israel. In 2009, we began focusing efforts on the struggle against the consumption of prostitution, understanding that as long as there was no prohibition, prostitution would flourish and constitute an essential component for human trafficking. Today, since the law prohibiting consumption of prostitution has gone into effect, TFHT works to advance policy in a number of areas:
This project provides opportunities for previously prostituted persons to access university degree-granting programs and other advanced training programs. Until ATZILAH was founded in 2023, a crucial gap existed in services offered to survivors of prostitution: making higher education accessible. Prevailing misconceptions regarding the academic potential of many women caught in the cycle of prostitution result in job training and employment alternatives well below their potential. Furthermore, such low-paying jobs are insufficient to sustain most women and their children, resulting in their re-entry to the cycle of prostitution. Only by offering many women in prostitution the opportunity to fulfill their highest ambitions, with the close mentorship of a woman who has done so herself, will they truly be able to exit the cycle of exploitation and gender-based violence and become self-sufficient members of society. TFHT authored the protocols adopted by Bituah Leumi / NII providing for tuition payments for previously prostituted persons accepted for B.A. programs or other advanced training, and for tutoring and child care support.
There are approximately 30,000 Eritrean and Darfurian asylum seekers–survivors of hunger, war, and brutal abuse–who fled to Israel after escaping violence, oppression and civil war. Among these desperate individuals are 900 single mothers and their young children. These vulnerable women and children–the ger, yatom, v’almanah (stranger, orphan and widow)–have no legal status; face daily hostility from many Israelis who demand their forced deportation; struggle, often unsuccessfully, to find work; and have only minimal, improvised emergency medical care. In partnership with the Consortium for Israel and the Asylum Seekers (CIAS), ATZUM provides food, diapers, and access to basic health care for these vulnerable families. Israel’s government has refused to provide resident status or to relocate them to a safe third country in cooperation with the United Nations. Thus, the life-sustaining support provided by ATZUM and its partners is critical.
Consortium members
ATZUM is an active member of CIAS, a forum for organizations and individuals within and outside of Israel working to coordinate efforts and share information regarding the situation of asylum seekers in Israel. Other members include:
ARDC: African Refugee Development Center
ASSAF: Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel
BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change
HIAS in Israel
Hotline for Refugees and Migrants
Mesila
Pesia’s Kitchen
Right Now
Since the horrific events of October 7, the war in Israel continues to be a life- and soul-threatening crisis. The war and its rocket and missile barrages still ravage. As the massacred will forever be mourned, the wounded and maimed have years of painful, uneven rehabilitation ahead, and the hostages’ suffering relentlessly intrudes. The impact of the ongoing war is compounded, as the growing number of young Israeli soldiers killed extends the personal suffering to even more families. ATZUM seeks to alleviate the suffering of families and individuals directly affected by the October 7 attack and its aftermath by providing financial assistance for housing, food, clothing, and counseling to families displaced by the war in Gaza and in the north.
ATZUM’s Righteous Rescuers initiative was established in 2002 to aid Righteous Rescuers and their families—117 non-Jewish family units who came to live in Israel after saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. ATZUM staff make bi-weekly visits to these households, meeting every need expressed by these heroic individuals as they age, and working to ensure that they live out their last years in comfort and dignity. The project arranges for care not facilitated by Israel’s National Insurance Institute and/or other bodies, including access to professional caretakers and geriatric, dental, ophthalmic and auditory treatments; home visits and phone calls, and recognition of birthdays, holidays and special anniversaries. ATZUM also facilitates contact with “adoptive grandchildren” who visited the rescuers. Recognizing the importance of educational outreach, ATZUM also filmed rescuer interviews to ensure that the altruistic dignity of these individuals will continue to inspire others and their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Since its inception, ATZUM has piloted a number of initiatives which have brought greater awareness to under-appreciated social issues and has provided crucial resources for neglected populations. We encourage other organizations with broader reach to partner in our efforts. Examples of past projects include:
Established in 2002 as ATZUM’s first program, the Survivors of Terror Project assisted 400 families and individuals in a variety of ways, providing financial aid of more than a million and a half dollars. This support included funding for education, dental care, rehabilitation, and other services beyond the assistance provided by the State. Current assistance to victims of the Oct. 7 attacks is being provided through ATZUM’s Project Restored Hope.
*In 2008, ATZUM’s Survivors of Terror Project was renamed in memory of Roberta Bernstein (z”l), the first director of the project. After working for many years as a highly respected social worker for the Jerusalem Municipality, Roberta joined ATZUM in 2002 and began developing the Survivors of Terror Project. Between 2002 and Roberta’s tragic death in an automobile accident in 2007 (which also took the life of her husband, Chuck, and daughter, Batsheva), she assisted and became a treasured member of 400 Survivor of Terror families. Her tireless dedication to Israel’s victims of terror serves as a perpetual source of inspiration to the ATZUM family and everyone who knew her. Roberta is survived by her son Moshe and daughter Ofra and their families.
Abe and Gert Nutkis dedicated their lives to family and to strengthening the State of Israel, Jewish education, and the Jewish community in Jersey City, New Jersey. Of modest means and material aspirations, for fifty years they served on the boards and committees of numerous agencies; devoted countless hours of daily volunteer service; and worked tirelessly to secure funding to ensure that children in their local community and beyond could attend Jewish schools and camps. The funds they bequeathed for Jewish education carried on the legacy of their passion for Israel and the Jewish people. At the conclusion of the 2018-2019 academic year, the AGN Fellowship completed its decade-long efforts with 150 students.
Note: the AGN Scholarship is no longer available.
Conceived in 2009, Project Abrah (“illuminate” in Amharic) was an innovative oral history project designed to shed light on the little-known struggle of Ethiopian “Prisoners of Zion” (Ethiopian Jews who were imprisoned and even tortured prior to making aliyah owing to their Zionist or Jewish activities, who risked their lives to come to Israel.) Project Abrah paired groups of Israeli-Ethiopian 11th– and 12th-grade students and their classmates with these Prisoners of Zion. The students filmed their intergenerational encounters to create a permanent record of their subjects’ heroism, and to learn about this compelling element of their cultural legacy.
To view videos made by Project Abrah participants, click here.
TAKUM (Tikun u’Mishpat/Restoring Justice) was conceived of as a ten-month, international service learning program integrating in-depth Jewish study with social activism. ATZUM piloted the program in partnership with Yeshivat Talpiot, an egalitarian yeshiva in Jerusalem.
