Terminology

I was privy, at the AVODAH annual staff retreat, to an interesting discussion on terminology, which taps into questions about AVODAH's purpose.

We talked about three terms often used to describe what AVODAH do:

1. Social justice

2. Service

3. Social change

We didn't come to any decisive conclusions but it was suggested that:

• 'Social justice' refers to attempts to address oppression
• 'Service' might not be the same as 'services,' which generally refer to direct and specific attempts to alleviate the symptoms of oppression and/or poverty
• 'Social change' could of course be positive or negative. We generally use it to refer to positive attempts to address the root causes of poverty and/or oppression

'Tikkun Olam' is a term I didn't hear used to describe what AVODAH does. Sarra Alpert suggested this is possibly because it has lost meaning through over-use in the Jewish community. I would also imagine it is a less useful (overly exclusive) term for a programme dealing with non-Jewish partner organisations in addition to Jewish communities.

It is worth thinking about what kind of terminology a UK version of AVODAH would use. 'Social action' is commonly used and reasonably well-understood in this country, 'service' probably less so.