Rabbis for Refugees
January 30, 2017
MORE than 1,700 American rabbis have signed a public letter calling for America to take more refugees:
We, Rabbis from across the United States, call on our newly elected officials to keep America’s doors open to refugees.
Faced with the largest refugee crisis in all of human history, the United States must continue to be a safe haven for people fleeing religious persecution, genocide, and terror.
Our Jewish tradition teaches that every individual was created in the image of God. We must not turn our backs to the suffering of those individuals who have fled horrific violence, and who continue to be in extreme peril.
Furthermore, Jewish history bears witness to the critical choice facing our country: whether to rescue those in need or to construct barriers to keep them out. Jews have seen America at its best, and we know what it looks like for our country to provide the chance at a new beginning. In generations past, our families were given opportunities to gain education, join the workforce, and become part of building our great nation.
But we also know what it looks like for America to turn its back on refugees. We have seen xenophobia overwhelm our nation’s capacity for compassion, and we have seen the doors slam shut in our greatest hours of need. Severe restrictions kept countless Jewish immigrants in danger, and too many people faced death in Europe after being turned away from these shores.
Intense cognitive dissonance here. Where is compassion in Israel, which created hundreds of thousands of refugees and is not taking any of these new migrants?
It really takes chutzpah to condemn Americans who have welcomed tens of millions of immigrants from all over the world in recent years for xenophobia and a lack of compassion.
I hope to have more on Trump’s Muslim ban.
[Post revised.]
— Comments —
Steve writes:
Your last line says…
“I hope to have more on the storm over Trump’s Muslim ban.”
I have not seen any verbiage in the Executive Order that indicates it is a “Muslim ban.” I believe the MSM is calling it that to generate fear and stoke up the left.
Just my two cents worth.
Laura writes:
Your point is valid. It’s true it is not a complete Muslim ban. It is a ban of all travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. Also Christians and others from those countries are barred from entry.
Muslims from Saudi Arabia, the home of some of the alleged 9/11 attackers, are still welcome.
