Rabbis Rally Congregants to Lobby for Aid to Syrian Refugees
On the eve of the Jewish New Year, more than 125 Reform rabbis across the U.S. and Canada made a plea to the thousands of Jews observing Rosh Hashanah to call on political leaders to aid in the plight of the 11 million Syrian refugees fleeing the violence in their homeland—the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Rabbi Irwin Zeplowitz, of the The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, said, “As Jews we have known the degradation and fear that comes from being a refugee. Too often we have been the ‘stranger,’ and so by dint of the Torah and our history we can empathize with those currently fleeing persecution, violence and religious intolerance. We know what it means to be the stranger and so are commanded to love the stranger.”
Rabbi Zeplowitz, along with The Community Synagogue’s other rabbi, Rabbi Danny Burkeman, and Cantor Claire Franco, will ask congregants during the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur) to ask the White House to include 100,000 Syrians in the refugee group admitted to the U.S. in the coming year. The U.S. government sets its refugee quota on Sept. 30. The current annual limit on refugees is 70,000 and, of those, only 10,000 are to be Syrian. High Holy Day attendees will be asked to sign on to a petition endorsing their support for admitting more Syrian refugees into the U.S., and to call on members of Congress to include funding for increased refugees and to donate to one of three Jewish organizations involved in refugee response.
In a recent sermon, Zeplowitz said, “Refugees and immigrants are not just outsiders who threaten our way of life. They are our grandparents. They are us. My mother and father were wandering Arameans. And so must I know that those who come from that same land—the modern area of ancient Aram—are connected to my story. The immigrant is not the enemy. The enemy is the hardness of heart that Pharaoh knew.”
According to a United Nations report, Syria has become the world’s top source of refugees. The larger Jewish Reform Movement is made up of approximately 900 congregations representing 1.5 million Jews and has endorsed this campaign through its Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism (the RAC) in Washington, DC by giving congregations tools to lobby, facts on the subject and liturgical inserts to use during the High Holiday season.
The Community Synagogue of Port Washington was founded in 1952. It serves 720 families in Port Washington and is Port Washington’s largest Reform congregation. For more information go to www.commsyn.org.
