In honor of World Refugee Week, we’re sharing stories from our phenomenal community members who have invested their love and time in justice work to address the global refugee crisis. Sheridan Gayer is a longtime Lab/Shul Partner and leader of our Refugee Task Force. You can read Janee Graver and Boris Khmelnitskiy’s stories from World Refugee Week.
Right now, more than any time in my life, there are problems that feel so big that it is hard to imagine how an individual can help. The world faces these large-scale problems every day and when we wake up it may feel easier to leave these crises for “the professionals” or government officials or the United Nations.
But the Torah/wisdom of our ancestors teaches us:
וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמ֑וֹךָ V’ahavta L’reyacha
And let us love the Source of Life
with all our heart
with all our soul
with all our being.
Let these words we chant today
live firmly in our hearts.
Let our lives be examples for our children,
echoed in our homes and out,
from the moment we rise to when we rest again.
Let us wear these words proudly,
on our arms and foreheads,
marking them with every transition –
upon the thresholds of space and time.
One way I demonstrate my sense of love and obligation toward the other in our midst is by showing up for refugees and asylum seekers in court, in the streets, advocating with our legislators, and in our community through the work of New Sanctuary Coalition and HIAS. With over 70 million people displaced from their homes worldwide, the problem is vast, but showing up to support refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants as they share their stories of hardship, I am able to play a small part in lifting up their voices, their creativity, their contributions to the world around us, which is meaningful. It reminds me that I am never far from the Torah’s ‘other,’ but that the space that surrounds those we see as other is truly holy.
You can join me on the New Sanctuary Coalition’s Weekly Jericho Walks, on Thursdays at 11:00 am … via Zoom! https://www.facebook.
