Search Results for: refugee

Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group — A Renewed Call for Engagement

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Refugees welcome

In March of 2017, a group of 30 Shomrei congregants met to explore ways we could be of assistance to refugees in the local area.  Our concerns at the time included how to find those families with needs and what our capacity was to provide help.

In the last 10 months, we have, in fact, provided vital assistance to five families, which include a total of 21 people. Our interactions with the families have taken a variety of forms, including:

  • Providing families with much-needed winter clothes, household furniture, and kitchen supplies (We have a current list of needs online)
  • Helping one family get library cards
  • Helping one family discover neighborhood recreational facilities
  • Finding a neighborhood preschool program for one child
  • Sharing a sumptuous lunch in one family’s apartment
  • Inviting the families to Shomrei’s Sukkot Syria Supper Club dinner and Hanukkah party
  • Inviting one family to a member’s house for a Thanksgiving dinner
  • Sending cards to one family marking the birth of a child; sending cards to the same family with condolences on the death of a parent in Syria

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A Visit with Refugees

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The Arabic version of Rosetta Stone Language learning software.

The Arabic version of Rosetta Stone Language learning software.

On a spring Sunday, Andy Silver and I delivered some much-needed clothing and a TV, provided by members of the Shomrei community, to a Syrian refugee family in Elizabeth, NJ. Bara’a and Tammam seemed tired when we arrived. That, of course, is understandable — being a refugee means once again being in a foreign land, not speaking the language and, for the most part, at least for now, being dependent on strangers. In addition, Bara’a and Tammam have two small children and are expecting a third and our visit came in the middle of the daily Ramadan fast! Continue reading →

Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group Attends Vigil to Honor Refugees

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Shomrei members in photo: Andy, Merrill and Dan Silver, Nick Levitin and Beryl Hiller of Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group.

(L-R):  Merrill,  Dan and Andy Silver, Beryl Hiller of Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group.

On Tuesday, June 6th several Shomrei members attend a vigil in Montclair in support of refugees to the US.  The vigil was held on the anniversary of the date the ship St. Louis full of refugees was turned away from American shores in 1939.

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Update from the Shomrei Refugee Committee

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Editor’s note:  The Refugee Committee is a group of Shomrei congregants concerned and involved with the needs of refugees coming to our area.  Here is a report of some of the activities some of the committee members are engaged with.  If you’d like more information about the Refugee Committee you can join here: shomrei.org/refugee

Dear Friends,

Here is an update on efforts to help refugees and other immigrants in our area:

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We Were All Refugees

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The story of Passover is a story Jewish refugees.  HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) has put together a downloadable 2017 Haggadah supplement which brings home the parallels at this special time of the year.

Hat-Tip to Meredith Lopez, Shomrei Emunah Refugee Committee

Throughout our history, violence and persecution have driven the Jewish people to wander in search of a safe place to call home. We are a refugee people. At the Passover Seder, we gather to retell the story of our original wandering and the freedom we found. But we do not just retell the story. We are commanded to imagine ourselves as though we, personally, went forth from Egypt – to imagine the experience of being victimized because of who we are, of being enslaved, and of being freed. Continue reading →

Aiding Refugees & Other Immigrants: Getting Started

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refugee meeting

Last Sunday evening (March 5) , a group of concerned Shomrei members met to explore what Shomrei as a community could do to help refugees and immigrants in our area.

Why did people come to the meeting?

Immigrants are the lifeblood of our country. If we betray immigrants, we betray ourselves.

I’m a descendant of an immigrant. The way this country accepted my family, that’s the way we should be accepting these immigrants.  Continue reading →

How We Treat Refugees & Immigrants: Shomrei Members Respond to a Need

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Some of our congregants have been refugees, others have belonged to families whose members were refugees.

In response to a letter I wrote in Shomrei Week several weeks ago, a group of Shomrei congregants –– more than 30, so far –– have expressed interest in working on a project to support today’s refugees and other immigrants in need. As a result, we will be having an organizational meeting for the project this Sunday (March 5th) at 7 PM, at Shomrei. All members of the Shomrei community who are interested in helping are invited. Continue reading →

Letter to the Editor: How We Treat Refugees & Immigrants

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Nick Levitin Makes IntroductionsBeing a member of this community, which I love so much, I can’t help but wonder what these times demand of me as an individual and of us as a community.

From my perspective, the essence of what we learn here at Shomrei during our Shabbat services and our various religiously oriented classes is that we are required to be holy –– as we attempt to be with MESH and IHN –– to respond to the world in such a way that makes it a better place, especially for the less fortunate among us.

My grandparents could not enter the United States as refugees. They died as a result. My parents were refugees and because of what this country made possible for them, they lived safe, productive and meaningful lives. They were always grateful and never forgot, for a moment, the safety and the new world that America provided them.

In part because of that history, I feel called upon to simply do something in response to recent events. I would like to know if there are others at Shomrei who feel as I do and if they would be willing to work together as members of our community to address issues related to refugees, immigration and other critical areas of concern. Continue reading →

Kol Nidre, Sermon: Ein Lanu Eretz Acheret – We don’t Have Another Planet

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Rabbi Julie’s sermon on Kol Nidre, 2023/5784 

This past summer, my family visited Makhtesh Ramon, the massive crater in the Negev desert in Israel, the largest such crater on planet Earth.   The view of the Ramon Crater from above, from the lookout in Mitzpei Ramon, is breathtaking and otherworldly.  I have been privileged to see it with my own eyes three times in my life.

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