Jews know what it is like to be refugees, cast out from our homes, fleeing evil and destruction, starting from scratch to build new lives in new countries. Given this history — as well as the exhortations of our tradition — it is not surprising that our people would be among the first to reach out and help other refugees facing similar hardships.
Our cover story this week highlights the ongoing efforts of the world and Bay Area Jewish community to help the millions of refugees fleeing civil war in Syria. We spoke to four local women who volunteered recently in refugee camps in Greece where the migrants are landing in rickety boats, tired, hungry and afraid.
These women comforted the new arrivals, fed them, handed out clothing, played with their children, and more than anything let them know that the world cared about them. That Jews cared about them.
Most of the refugees are Syrian, and almost all are Muslim. Some had never met a Jew before. One of the volunteers we interviewed said she told a family she was helping that she was Jewish; the father smiled and said it didn’t matter, that the message of Islam and Judaism is the same.
All four of the women we spoke to said they volunteered with these Muslim refugees because of their Jewish values. Some said that the memory of the Holocaust burned in their hearts, moving them to reach out.
And just as these women, and many other Bay Area Jews, traveled to Greece to take part in this massive international aid effort, others are opening their homes to Syrian refugees beginning to arrive in the Bay Area.
This week we profile one East Bay family who is hosting a Syrian family flying in this very week, by way of Jordan. The case is being handled by Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay, which has already settled two Syrian individuals and is expecting more refugee families later this year.
Helena Weiss-Duman of Castro Valley said she didn’t hesitate in offering her home as a temporary refuge for this mother, father and two young children. Noting that her own father fled Czechoslovakia during the Holocaust, and that she will be marking his yahrtzeit this week, she said nothing would honor his memory more.
National Jewish organizations have been at the forefront of calls for the United States to take in many more Syrian refugees than we have already committed to. The fact that the Bay Area Jewish community is welcoming them is right and proper. Our faith, our history and our humanity command it.