Rabbi David Mason is rabbi of Muswell Hill Synagogue. He visited Idomeni in Greece with the Chief Rabbi, Dayan Binstock, Rabbis Bergson and Boudilovsky and World Jewish Relief representatives to see the work that WJR is doing for refugees there. How unpredictable world events can sometimes be from an individual vantage point. I only last Thursday visited a […]
Our weekly news update on refugee issues around the world by Isobel Fraser. Refugees camped at a British air base in Cyprus have been told by British officials that they must claim asylum on the mainland or face being deported. Although the group of 114 refugees were initially brought ashore to the base after […]
Ben Wright is Education Co-ordinator at the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE). Since the summer refugees have been a constant fixture in British news broadcasts and publications. Whether the reports have left us feeling empathy, anger, frustration or emptiness, it has been a topic near impossible not to engage with. Yet the images we’ve often […]
This is a Yom Kippur sermon, written and delivered by Rabbi Margaret Jacobi, rabbi of Birmingham Progressive Synagogue. 23 September 2015/10 Tishri 5776. The first Yom Kippur morning sermon I gave in this Synagogue was about the duty to protest. I quoted the words of our Haftarah: ‘Cry aloud, do not hold back; let your voice […]
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg is Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism UK and rabbi of New North London Synagogue. He visited Berlin with IsraAID to find out more about their work with refugees living in Germany. This piece first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. Read it here. I’m shown a child refugee’s drawing of the journey to Europe. It’s […]
Our weekly news update on refugee issues around the world by Isobel Fraser. The UK based aid group London2Calais were detained by police on their return from Calais, under legislation intended for suspected terrorists. Volunteers were held under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and police said steps taken were part of “routine” […]
Rosalind Bluestone is Founder and Director of Goods For Good. Goods For Good distribute much needed aid to refugees around the world. At present their focus is supporting displaced people in Ukraine and refugees in Kurdistan. In Kurdistan there are approximately 1.8 million refugees distributed over three provinces; Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimaniyah. There are 0.8 million […]
Malte Gembus is the Mentoring and Befriending Co-ordinator at The Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE). Whenever I’m being asked what I do for a living, I usually take a long breath because I know I’m in for a long haul. I usually try to sum it up with something along the lines of “I […]
Holly Kal-Weiss volunteered in Calais for the second time last week. If you would like to join her in volunteering in Calais, visit our Volunteer in Calais page to find out how to get involved. My second weekend to support refugees was very different from the first. I went the first time with trepidation, excitement and […]
This is a Rosh Hashanah sermon, written and delivered by Rabbi Sharon Brous, founding rabbi of IKAR. Delivered 14 September 2015/1 Tishri 5776. Read the original posting of this sermon here and find out more about IKAR here. Four facts: In the last 4½ years, the war in Syria has killed about 240,000 people, including 20,000 children. 6 […]