“Ana Surya,” said Maryam, a girl no older than ten, with her hand out. It was night in Taksim Square, Istanbul, as she guided me while holding my hand to her widowed mother, who was breastfeeding her newborn child on the streets. They were a Syrian Kurdish family that had fled Khobani. The mother told…
On March 6, President Trump issued his Travel Ban 2.0 — officially called “Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.” Like its predecessor, which federal courts largely blocked, the latest travel ban brands refugees and other foreigners as a dangerous menace to our country and restricts the entry of…
MILWAUKEE (JTA) — I was privileged recently to participate as the sole Jewish voice at a news conference with Latino leaders, community activists and faith groups at which we spoke loudly and clearly in support of compassionate immigration policies. I told the people gathered about a piece of Jewish history I had only recently discovered…
I would never dare call myself a refugee. Nor would I ever hold up a sign that reads “I am a refugee.” Although, technically, I’m a refugee. That is, I’m an immigrant who had entered the United States thanks to my refugee status. That was what they called it in those days — “Refugee Status.”…
Each Passover, as we gather around Seder tables with glasses of sweet wine and with plates overflowing with charoset, egg and bitter herbs, Jews read the words “Arami oved Avi,” which translates to “My father was a wandering Aramean.” Slavery and liberation are personal; we read the story in the first person: The Exodus happened…
Almost 40 years ago, when my husband and I were newlyweds, I spotted a flier on a bulletin board asking about volunteers to assist Russian Jewish immigrants moving to the Twin Cities. “Let’s do it,” I told my husband. “It’s only a six-month commitment. We’ll be in, we’ll be out, and we’ll get some mitzvah…
Eight refugee families, still in limbo. That is the situation Chicago synagogues are dealing with after having volunteered to sponsor them—about 35 people in all—since President Donald Trump issued his executive order banning citizens of seven Muslim majority countries from entering the United States. Despite a February 3 court order temporarily lifting the ban, and…
This past weekend, my twins were accepted to their top choice for college. Like all the Jewish mothers before me, I kvelled with pride. We celebrated the good news all weekend, yet slowly but surely my naches soon turned to tsoris. My worry wasn’t about making sure they eat well-balanced meals in the college cafeteria,…
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