Rabbi Jennie Rosenn is the Vice President for Community Engagement at HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees. She writes:
One year ago, a photograph of a small Syrian refugee boy woke up the world. Our hearts were broken open by the picture of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on the Turkish shore after he drowned trying to reach safety. A litany of photographs soon followed: refugees in the back of trucks, on trains and on foot — desperately trying to cross European borders.
For American Jews, these images eerily echoed our tragic past, and our community woke up to a refugee crisis that had been going on for years. Many were moved, and over the span of only a year, the Jewish response to the refugee crisis has become a national movement, involving thousands of volunteers, rabbis, synagogues, organizations and advocates.
Against a backdrop of increased fear and unease about refugees, the American Jewish community has stepped up to the challenge, because we understand what’s at stake.
This spring, almost 200 congregations from coast to coast joined the HIAS Welcome Campaign. The members of these synagogues have not only pledged their support for welcoming refugees, but also committed to taking action — whether by supporting families resettling in their local communities, raising awareness and education, or joining advocacy initiatives to encourage our government to take leadership — as befits a nation with a long history of welcoming refugees.
There is not a word in this piece about Israel taking in any of these refugees. Why not? Why is the Jewish state off the hook?
