Ruth MessingerRuth Messinger is the president and executive director of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Prior to assuming this role in 1998, Messinger was in public service in New York City for twenty years, including having served as Mahattan borough president. In 1997, she became the first woman to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for mayor. Messinger is currently a visiting professor at Hunter College. For the past four years, Messinger has been named the fifty most influential Jews of the year by the Forward newspaper. She contributed to Who by Fire, Who by Water--Un'taneh Tokef (Jewish Lights). Read More Read Less