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Taking a stand against Israeli domestic policy
olam’ ‘Tikkun
U. City teen receives major award for her work to improve peers’ financial literacy BY RORY LUSTBERG
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” Two students face off at the front of the classroom, eyes locked on the outcome of the game as a group of their peers watch intently. A “Jeopardy”-like screen glows behind them, as does the score: Tied. The two are vying for the final point in a game of financial literacy, and while the prizes might be small, the knowledge gained is not. At InvestNow Clubs, founded and led by incoming University City High School senior Dani Wasserman, the meetings are designed to be fun. Wasserman, 17, founded InvestNow Clubs at her high school when she was a freshman. The goal is to increase financial literacy at the high school level, especially for traditionally marginalized groups in an effort to achieve better economic equality. Recently, Wasserman was honored with the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award. This highly selective award recognizes up to 15 Jewish teens who are making a difference in their world with the values of tikkun olam — repairing the world — at heart. The prize comes with $36,000 that can be used to further the impact these teens are making, as well as their education. Wasserman said the club started small. “Originally, we started all on Zoom, [and] there were about five who started in my freshman year,” she said, explaining the club started in the 2020-21 academic year during the pandemic. “We saw this response that even though it’s a small cohort, they’re very interested and they are really engaged. Given that response from these students, we continued to grow and decided to expand the club within the University City School District [and] other schools.” Since starting the organization three years ago, InvestNow Clubs has become a 501(c)(3) organization and raised more than $7,000, expanded its member base to more than 200 participants across four chapters (three in U. City schools and one in Ohio, begun by a friend of Wasserman’s) and is committed to alleviating intergenerational poverty by increasing the net worth of the families of its members. In expanding her organization, Wasserman See WASSERMAN on page 10
Dani Wasserman and InvestNow Clubs peers
After pivotal judicial reform vote, US Jewish groups march across the Brooklyn Bridge in a show of support with protesters in Israel BY RON KAMPEAS JTA
WASHINGTON — For months earlier this year, mainstream American Jewish groups waffled on how much to weigh in on Israel’s internal political debates, something many had avoided in the past. But that felt like a distant memory on Monday after Israel’s parliament approved a law that its authors and critics — including many of those American Jewish groups — said would reshape the country. Reactions poured in immediately, many of them deeply critical of what Israel’s right-wing government had just done in signing off on a law that diminishes the power of the Supreme Court to review government decisions. The American Jewish Committee had a statement ready to go as soon as the law passed expressing “profound disappointment” over the passage of the law which removes from the courts the right to judge laws against a standard of reasonableness. “The new law was pushed through unilaterally by the governing coalition amid deepening divisions in Israeli society as evidenced by the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets,” the AJC said. The Anti-Defamation League soon followed. “This initiative and other judicial overhaul proposals could weaken Israeli democracy and harm Israel’s founding principles as laid out in the Declaration of Independence,” its statement said. The Jewish Federations of North America said it was “extremely disappointed that the leaders of the coalition moved ahead with a major element of the reforms without a process of consensus, despite the serious disagreements across Israeli society and the efforts of President [Isaac] Herzog to arrive at a compromise.” The ADL, the AJC and the JFNA, like President Joe Biden did in a statement, urged the Israeli government and its
PHOTO CREDIT : A FRAME MEDIA
See JTA on page 11