Service and Travel Opportunities

AJWS provides unique opportunities to learn, work, serve and travel in Africa, Asia and the Americas. By partnering with grassroots community-based organizations, volunteers experience firsthand the power of local people effecting change.

AJWS volunteer service programs focus on building collaborative relationships between Jewish volunteers and NGOs in developing countries, either through individual or group service experiences. All AJWS service programs draw on Judaism’s religious and cultural traditions to provide guidance regarding the responsibility to pursue global justice. By integrating service with text study and dialogue about the Jewish values that inform this work, participants return committed and passionate about their role as global citizens in creating a more just world.

Read testimonials from alumni of AJWS volunteer programs.

View a quick reference guide AJWS service programs, or find the right program for you using the matching tool below:

Which AJWS service program is right for you?

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Alternative Breaks are one-week to ten-day programs for college-aged students organized in collaboration with campus-based organizations. Participants explore the connections between social justice, service and Judaism through education and hands-on volunteer work.

Volunteer Corps places professional Jewish men and women on volunteer assignments with local NGOs in developing countries, where they provide skills training and general support for a minimum of two months. Volunteers range in age from young professionals to retirees.

Volunteer Summer is an intensive service-learning experience geared towards Jewish young adults, ages 16 to 24. The program includes a summer of hands-on volunteer work in the developing world, and a year of follow-up participation in domestic programming which includes advocacy work and retreats.

World Partners Fellowship is a 10-month-long international volunteer fellowship awarded to Jewish recent college graduates and young professionals. Fellows live in India, where they volunteer at a grassroots NGO and participate in a professional and leadership development program that includes an orientation, regional retreats, online education and a closing domestic conference.

Rabbinical Students’ Delegation is a volunteer service experience designed for rabbinical students of all denominations. Participants live and work alongside AJWS grantees, grapple with texts and theology and experience grassroots development first hand. Each 10- to 14-day delegation is led by a distinguished rabbi or educator and AJWS facilitators, and is comprised of students from all major denominations and backgrounds.

I don’t want to volunteer – I just want to travel!