I hope they settle the refugees in their neighborhood so that they can experience the joys of Islam first-hand.
Surprisingly, this Jewish congregation says nothing about the moral imperative to settle Syrian refugees in Israel.
Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, Madison’s Jewish Reconstructionist and Renewal community, voice our support for settling Syrian refugees in Wisconsin, and are prepared to offer our homes and sponsorship to people seeking refuge from violence, terrorism, and tyranny. Our rabbi, Laurie Zimmerman, has joined over 1000 rabbis in support of Syrian refugees. She has also been joined in our local community by clergy from other faiths supporting helping these desperate people.
The world is now facing the largest refugee crisis since the second World War. Yet many elected officials, asserting the interest of safety and security, have declared unwillingness to accept Syrian refugees or allow state support for their re-settlement. These declarations are based on erroneous or false premises, politicize a humanitarian crisis, and foster the xenophobia and racism against which our community has historically struggled.
T’ruah, the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, which represents 1,800 rabbis from all streams of Judaism, released a statement opposing efforts to bar Syrian refugees.
Religious leaders nationwide have similarly called for welcoming the Syrian refugees. Statements were released last week by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Anti-Defamation League, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and by HIAS – the global refugee protection agency of the American Jewish Community. Catholic and Christian leaders have, as well, voiced this position, through statements from the United Church of Christ, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Unitarian Universalist Association, the Alliance of Baptists, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, and others.
We share in the disgust and horror at the acts of terrorism perpetrated in Beirut and Paris last week. The U.S. and people worldwide continue to be victimized by domestic and foreign terrorists. We must hold responsible those who commit such acts, and protect ourselves against them. At the same time – grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience as a minority often in need of protection, and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – we respect the human rights of all people. We have a moral obligation to uphold the dignity and the safety of those in desperate circumstances.
These refugees, whether they be Muslim, Christian, Yazidi or other, have fled the so-called Islamic State’s terror and reject its extremism. They have suffered violence and hatred at the hands of ISIS. Turning away refugees provides ISIS a propaganda tool and plays to their goal of removing any safe harbor for those fleeing. We must do better as Americans, as Jews and as human beings.
Our elected officials, and all of us, are right to be concerned about security. Here, however, political rhetoric outstrips reality. The truth is that U.S. screening for admission of refugees is the most stringent way anyone can enter our country, and Syrian refugees undergo additional scrutiny. The refugee program needs to be supported and expanded, while security might well be enhanced for other methods of entry that may pose greater relative risk, such as the tourist visa program.
We are a nation of refugees and immigrants. We reject fear and xenophobia. And we call on our elected officials to demonstrate our strength in the face of terrorism by welcoming those who flee from extremism and violence.
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T’ruah, the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, which represents 1,800 rabbis from all streams of Judaism, released a statement opposing efforts to bar Syrian refugees. It reads in part:
Our historical experience as Jews in the United States teaches us the consequences of letting our fears dictate our policies towards those seeking refuge. 75 years ago, as Jewish refugees from the Nazis in Europe desperately sought a safe haven, elected officials in the United States spoke about the threat of Nazi infiltrators arriving on refugee boats, and spoke out against letting in so many Jews. Similar rhetoric about Muslim refugees is being used today, and similar fears are being used as excuses for refusing refuge to Syrians …. Americans made the mistake less than a century ago of turning away refugee Jewish children and their parents, many of whom went to their deaths. Today, we see in the Syrian refugees the same need that we saw two generations ago among European Jewish refugees.
