#SukkotInCalais: Masorti youth head to help refugees

A group of Masorti students and young adults are to mark Sukkot with a three-day volunteering trip to the Calais refugee camp.

20 volunteers from Marom, the Masorti student and young adult movement, will spend next month’s trip helping to build shelters for refugees and coordinate aid distribution – as well as celebrating Shabbat and Sukkot, which commemorates the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness after their escape from an oppressive regime.

An estimated 3,000 people live in the camp, nicknamed ‘The Jungle’, and Marom say the work carried out during #SukkotInCalais offers an opportunity to empathise with refugees and consider the Jews’ experience during Exodus.

Volunteers participating in what has been called an “amazing project” by Marom’s director will hand over the many bags of clothes donated by the public – and are appealing for further donations of winter wear and essentials such as nappies.

They are also fundraising to buy wooden pallets and tarpaulin to assemble shelters intended to improve living conditions as winter approaches. You can donate HERE.

Matthew Anisfeld, Marom’s Young Adult Coordinator, said, “when there is a refugee crisis on our doorstop, particularly in the time of Sukkot, we have to act.”

Newly-appointed Marom Rabbi Oliver Joseph added: “Sukkot is a harvest festival where we give thanks for our plenty and connect with an emotion of vulnerability. Now is the time to find solidarity with those fleeing persecution: to demand food, water, shelter and better treatment for all who seek refuge in Europe. Many of those who came before us were also refugees and sought a better life in these lands”.

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