IN FOCUS: How the Jewish community has mobilised to help refugees
The Jewish community has mobilised to help refugees, raising £85,000 in 48 hours
The Jewish community has rallied to the plight of refugees from the Middle East, with David Cameron describing the country’s efforts as “the modern equivalent of the Kindertransport”, writes Stephen Oryszczuk.
Earth-shattering images of drowned children lying face down on a Turkish beach last week galvanised the community to call on the government to do more, as many sought to take action directly.
An emergency appeal by World Jewish Relief -was launched on Monday to provide food, shelter and emergency materials to refugees in Turkey and Greece. It drew immediate support, with £85,000 pledged by Wednesday morning, by charity chiefs said much more was needed. Synagogue movements across the religious spectrum, as well as the major communal organisations and charities, supported the call for money.
READ MORE:
A round-table meeting was convened for Thursday, chaired by Board of Deputies’ senior vice-president Richard Verber. The purpose it to create a “cross-communal response” to the crisis, he said.
Meanwhile, rabbis and cantors from the charity Tzelem UK wrote to the prime minister, saying: “The Jewish community will help in finding homes for shelter… We will raise funds for food, clothing and education.”
Verber, who is also campaigns manager at WJR, said: “We’ve received lots of calls and emails from supporters offering to take in refugee families.”
Synagogues of all denominations also got involved. People sought to help in practical ways, from shul drop-ins and shelters, to campaigns targeting local councils.
Among the first to react was Finchley Progressive Synagogue, which began looking for landlords for 50 Syrian refugee families in Barnet, the rent for which will be paid directly by the European Union for two years. Elsewhere, at places like West London Synagogue, Alyth Synagogue and New North London Synagogue, networks of volunteers were formed to lay on drop-in centres for asylum seekers and refugees, offering hot meals, grocery vouchers, clothing, companionship and advice.
Several members also went down to Harmondsworth Detention Centre to make initial contact, while Masorti Young Adults began collecting resources to support refugees ahead of their trip to Calais over Sukkot.
At Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue and Borehamwood & Elstree United Synagogue, banners were unfurled, reading “Refugees Welcome,” as clothing and other items were dropped off and collected at places like Mill Hill shul. Many offered their places of worship as temporary night shelters for refugees, in the event of an overflow.
Across the capital, community members mobilised in any way they could. Students took to blogs, interfaith co-ordinators liaised with Christian and Muslim communities, and different denominations came together to share expertise.
It was the same story across Europe. Across the Channel, French Chief Rabbi Chaim Korsia urged Europe’s leaders to match the actions of non-Jews who saved Jews from the Nazis by welcoming Syrian refugees, while Italian Jewish leader Renzo Gattegna urged the community to provide aid and welcome refugees, as communities in Florence and Milan worked with civic authorities to source accommodation.
Some 300,000 people have risked their lives to come to Europe this year, a phenomenon WJR chief executive Paul Anticoni described as “the greatest refugee crisis since WW2.” Liberal Judaism chief executive Rabbi Danny Rich said it was “the biggest moral challenge to face Europe for a generation”.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who initially resisted calls to take refugees, later agreed the UK would take 20,000 refugees – mainly children – from Syrian camps. He said it was “the modern equivalent of the Kindertransport”.
Sir Mick Davis, the head of Cameron’s Holocaust Commission and chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, said Britain had a “moral imperative” to help, and that the UK had welcomed Jews fleeing from the Nazis in the 1930s, so should not now “shut itself off”.
At the Holocaust Education Trust dinner on Monday, Business Secretary Sajid Javid said: “If we look the other way… then we are no better than those who tried to bar the door against Jewish refugees two generations ago.”
Everyone agreed that, for Jews, this issue was close to the heart. “Many Jews wouldn’t be here today without our ancestors finding shelter as refugees,” said Anticoni. “Just as the Jewish community did not stand idly by in the 1930s, our community must once again come together to take action to support those fleeing violence, war and persecution.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis supported WJR’s appeal, saying: “As Jews, many of us have family members who were refugees. Our heritage must inform our response to this deep and tragic humanitarian emergency. I urge our Jewish community to provide a compassionate response at this great time of need.”
Other religious leaders added weight. Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner said the crisis had “touched our community in a way we have not seen before,” adding: “When we look across at Calais and beyond, we see ourselves… Future generations will judge Britain against its response today.”
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism, said: “We see with horror the pictures of the drowned, the hungry and the exhausted, and remember that only a generation ago our parents were refugees, desperate for somewhere to let them in and allow them to live.”
North of the border, Ephraim Borowski of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities echoed those sentiments, in a letter with other faith leaders, saying: “Our faiths in their different ways are rooted in the refugee experience, in what it means to be forced to leave a place where one’s very existence is threatened in search of somewhere safer.” year.”
• To donate to World Jewish Relief’s crisis appeal, which will provide food, shelter and emergency materials to refugees in Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece, where the need is greatest, visit: www.worldjewishrelief.org/refugees
Further Information:
1. West London Synagogue
- Trainers, Hiking boots and Wellies – UK sizes 7-9 only (EU 41-43)
- Tents, covers and tarpaulins
- Warm jackets – S and M only
- Travelling bags
- Socks
- Candles
- Belts
- Tracksuit trousers
- Jeans
- Blankets
- Sleeping bags
- Soap and shampoo
- Toothbrushes and toothpaste
- Plastic bags
- Woolly Hats
- Socks
- Pots and pans
2. Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue
3. New North London Synagogue
4. Borehamwood Shul:
5. Alyth Synagogue:
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
