Answering the Kolot challenge of crystallizing and activating the connection between Jewish renewal and social activism, Kolot Fellows and graduates play important roles as professionals and volunteers in numerous social action projects. Some of these frameworks reflect topics studied and discussed at Kolot, such as zedaka and ger toshav (the issue of foreign residents); others reflect Kolot fellows' personal tendencies and interests. They include:
Education
Establishment of a kindergarten that stresses tolerance and mutual respect for secular and religious children
- Organizing music therapy students to volunteer in the community.
- Coaching special education children
- Involvement in the Tali (traditional) school system
- Initiating Cinemavot (avot- forefathers), an interdisciplinary program combing film and Judaic studies that has produced several movies based on sayings from Pirkei Avot
- Facilitating short study sessions for work colleagues, with assistance from Kolot staff, in a program called Ma'agalei Kria (Reading Circles).
- Directing the Bialik School, an elementary school in south Tel Aviv serving a large number of foreign workers' children
Assisting Foreign Workers
Volunteering at a Legal Aid hotline for foreign workers: Kolot alumni who are attorneys provide advice and assistance on matters of exploitation including confiscation of passports, breach of wage agreements and others.
- Providing medical assistance: Physicians who are Kolot Fellows volunteer their services several hours a week in clinics that assist foreign workers.
Advancing Women's Issues
Activism in various organizations with women’s issues agendas
- Volunteer work at a shelter for battered women
- Assistance to sexually assaulted men and women, including emotional support and guidance in legal areas
- Joining the legal fight against trafficking of women in
Zedaka
Soadim, a soup kitchen in southern Tel Aviv established by Kolot fellows, feeds 200 needy people on a daily basis, including the elderly, unemployed, drug abusers and foreign workers.
- A Kolot fellow volunteers at Power to Give, a national network of centers for the distribution of household goods to needy families.
- Matan B'setter (donating in private) – Many Kolot fellows have quietly become involved in providing financial assistance to families or organizations in need.
Other Social Activities
- Work in golden-age homes
- Participation in secular-religious forums on the cultural status quo in
- Directing Or Shalom, an organization assisting children in distress
- Guiding and funding a program for developing young leadership in the Ethiopian community.
- Establishing a "time bank" for voluntary activities.
- Raising media awareness about pluralistic issues through Voices See, a social voluntary organization.
- Assisting an organization which facilitates vocational training and job placement for the ultra-Orthodox community.