Our hearts are breaking at the news of children of weary refugees who have become pawns in an immigration system, which has been broken for a long time. Our Torah teaches: “You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:19) and “You shall not oppress the stranger, for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt.” (Exod. 23:9) But I believe, separating children from their parents is a move too horrid and beyond the pale for Jews and people of faith and conscience to stay silent in the face of. The Book of Job teaches a litany of wicked and unjust actions, which includes: “[There are those that] snatch the fatherless infant from the breast, and seize the child of the poor as a pledge.” (Job 24:9) We have an opportunity to show up at a peaceful protest next Monday organized by our local, multi-faith broad-based organizing coalition, ACTIONN (Acting in Community Together in Organizing Northern Nevada) to take a stand against injustice.
Monday, June 25 at 8 – 10:00 a.m.
Peppermill Resort Hotel
2707 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada 8950
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions will speak at the National Association of School Resources Officers at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, June 25 at the Peppermill in Reno. It is crucial we show the country that Nevada rejects policies that criminalize our refugee and immigrant brothers and sisters and separate their families in harsh and inhumane ways. Please come out and stand with our neighbors and tell the Attorney General that this injustice must end!
Click here for Rabbi Bair’s Sermon on the subject from last Friday’s Shabbat Unplugged!
Tzedek, tzedek tirdof!
Justice, justice shall you pursue!
L’shalom,
Rabbi Bair