From the rabbi’s blog: “Rabbi Neil Janes is Director of the Lyons Institute and member of the rabbinic team of West London Synagogue. He is working towards a PhD in Jewish Thought through Haifa University. Lecturer at the Leo Baeck College in Rabbinic Literature and adjunct faculty member of Hebrew College, Boston where he instructs about teaching rabbinic literature. He also has a BA in Psychology and Education from Cardiff University. A trustee of the British Friends of Leo Baeck Education Centre, Haifa. He is a leading voice for progressive Judaism in the UK, he has appeared on radio, television and in the press.”
We need to reframe our conversations about refuge, sanctuary, asylum. I’m desperate for a discourse that is not reductive of human life to the financial cost to our economy. Put like that, what our councils and our government (successive governments really) bank on is that the issue of refugees is so sufficiently toxic and the financial self-interest so sufficiently strong that any real change in the way that they speak about individuals seeking safety is political suicide.
We must find new ways of discussing the issues. One that does not lose sight of the human plight.
We need to demand that our politicians take brave decisions to protect the fragile human lives that are endangered. That means a readjustment – not least to say in spite of pressures on our infrastructures, we will house the vulnerable and protect them. We will give them all we can for a new lease of life.
But more than that I ask – are we personally willing to step up, to offer people a home in our home? Can we find the time, resources and interest to save people who are different to us. Can we personally offer sanctuary in our homes, even whilst we offer a societal sanctuary.
