Sarah Silverman wants you to visit Holot
Sarah Silverman shares some Torah in a Facebook photo in support of her sister’s participation in “Rabbis to Holot,” a trip tomorrow for rabbis and others to learn about African asylum seeker rights in Israel, organized by Rabbis for Human Rights and funded by the New Israel Fund.
Full information below, including RSVP details.
RABBINIC GATHERING AT HOLOT DETENTION CAMP – WEDNESDAY MAY 20 2015
(Non-rabbis are welcome too!)
I am too a refugee. We are all potential refugees!
On that day the refugee will come to you to let you hear with your own ears. On that day, your mouth shall be opened to the refugee and you will speak and you will no longer disappear and you will be a sign for them and they will know that I am God. Ezekiel, 24:26-27
AND IT came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-Lehem in Judah went to sojourn in the field of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. Ruth, 1:1
Dear Colleagues & Friends
In Israel there are around 50,000 asylum seekers, in search for a safe haven as our grandparents and grandparents’ did. Someday, when the history of this period is written, we will be judged by our action and by our inaction. Did we excuse our inaction by saying “We can’t do it all” or “they will overcome us” or “it’s not our problem”…?
Let us be aligned with the righteous of our own history
That stood up against the oppression and deportation of refugees.
Let us join together on Wednesday, May 20, and mark Shavuot, our turning point from freed slaves to a nation in covenant with God, by demanding that Israel honor our most commanded mitzvah:
“If a stranger (ger) lives among you in your land, you shall not wrong him. A stranger who lives among you will be like a citizen, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers (gerim) in the land of Egypt; I am Lord your God.” (Lev 19:33-34)
God repeated the commandment to protect the stranger at least thirty-six times because it’s a really hard thing to do. Now that we are in our own land, it is something that takes real faith in God, and embracing discomfort — in a way that keeping kosher or Shabbat does not. But it is the real test of the Jewish soul. In that way, the refugees hold up a mirror to our inner character. And they give us an opportunity to rise to our highest selves.
The New Israel Fund will provide buses from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that will bear banners with the message of the event, as well as organize media attention. Exact times will be made available closer to the event, but plan on a general time frame of 1pm to 7 pm.
Please RSVP today and commit to this effort by joining us. Also, speak and writ on the issue. The NIF media team will promote your published pieces or, if unpublished, try to place it in a news outlet.
Only if we act, change will come. Only, if we raise our voice, and pray with our feet, is it possible for Zionist dream to emerge and for Israel to become the place where we, the Jewish people can be our conceivable best.
Sign up here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/ 1xwE7XmpCNkAcLGDyAL8T7zudTN GlLFuGxeIm8pPr0c0/viewform
With gratitude
Rabbi Nava Hefetz
Educational Director
Rabbis for Human Rights
[email protected]
Rabbi Susan Silverman
[email protected]
This program is supported by the New Israel Fund.
To learn more about Holot
www.holotvoices.co.il
www.hotline.org.il
www.facebook.com/rightnowisrael
www.facebook.com/refugeesmarch
www.facebook.com/holotrefugeeprisoners
הכסף קבור בחולות
https://www.facebook.com/863234473720847/videos/ vb.863234473720847/ 894395233938104
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