Four Anguished Questions on the Refugee Crisis
Dear Editor:
Lipstadt’s on the moral and political issues concerning policy on the Syrian refugee crisis raises four issues that trouble the author. One of the questions the author asks, is the “extent to which these new immigrants will commit to democratic principles.” This argument was raised several times at a Rosh Hashanah dinner I attended.
In 1998 I spearheaded an interfaith effort to house two Kosovo families into our community. One of the big surprises was learning that the families were forced to sign a contract before they were flown here, that they would repay the cost of the flight, (at I might add, an inflated price). This, I later learned was in accord with U.S. policy and presumably will happen again if the Syrian refugees are flown here. But if any contract is to be executed, it would be more profitable from a social perspective, to have every refugee agree to attend classes on what it means to share American values of freedom of speech and tolerance for diversity. There are programs in place for teaching English and requirements for citizenship. There needs to be an enhancement of the teaching modules, including practical exercises, teaching what it means accept diversity of culture and belief. And the classes should be free and mandatory.
Diversity has always been America’s strength. If we can assist people to share our language, and also importantly our common core values, while retaining their own customs, we have the potential to invigorate and strengthen our nation.
Elisa Sananman
Westfield, NJ
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO