One important way to understand the critical human stakes of the immigration crisis in this country is to take the time to hear the stories of families that are literally being ripped apart by mass deportations. Here is one such story, featured in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, with an interesting Jewish twist. (Tribune photo by Oscar Avila, [...]
Archive for the ‘Immigration’ Category
The Deportation of Adam Savitt
Posted in Human Rights, Immigration on October 15, 2008 | No Comments »
From Bhutan to Chicago
Posted in Human Rights, Immigration, Refugees on September 22, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Just enjoyed a wonderful potluck dinner at JRC with the Khatiwodas - a refugee family from Bhutan who recently resettled in Chicago. (There they are in the pic above with congregation members Edie Canter and Elaine Waxman). JRC is sponsoring the Khatiwodas through the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, an NGO that partners with congregations [...]
Demanding Justice in Postville
Posted in Civil Rights, Immigration, Interfaith, Labor, Politics, Religion on July 28, 2008 | 14 Comments »
I spent an incredible day yesterday in Postville, Iowa, where an interfaith mobilization of nearly 1,500 people prayed, marched, sang and testified in solidarity with the 390 immigrant Agriprocessor workers arrested in the May 12 raid. I’m still processing the experience the morning after - suffice to say this action provided a powerful ray of [...]
Alarm Bell for the Collective Conscience
Posted in Africa, Darfur, Human Rights, Immigration, Israel on June 30, 2008 | No Comments »
As perfect a 21st century Jewish mission statement as you are going to find - here’s a taste from a recent Ha’aretz editorial on the plight of Darfurian refugees who are currently seeking asylum in Israel:
Too soon we have forgotten the suffering that is the lot of the persecuted. Perhaps we have grown accustomed [...]
Prayer for a Vigil at a Detention Center
Posted in Human Rights, Immigration, Interfaith, Labor, Prayer, Religion on June 20, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Tonight I was back at the Broadview Detention Center - a facility west of Chicago where undocumented workers are processed before their final deportation. I was there to participate in the “Night of 1,000 Conversations” - a program sponsored by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The all-night vigil offered an evening of [...]
Awaken to Justice!
Posted in American Judaism, Food, Immigration, Judaism, Labor, Religion on June 9, 2008 | 2 Comments »
What can you say about the situation at the AgriProcessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa other than it was the kind of thing for which the term “shandeh fur de goyim” was invented?
The Jewish world has been seriously abuzz about this whole big mess for a several weeks running now. If by chance you haven’t [...]
Deportation Day
Posted in Current Events, Immigration, Interfaith, Religion on May 30, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I spent my morning with nuns from the Sisters of Mercy and other Catholic immigration activists in front of the Broadview detention center - a nondescript facility in a west suburb of Chicago where undocumented immigrants are processed before they are deported. The Sisters have been gathering here every Friday at 7:15 am (Friday is [...]
Strangers on the Land
Posted in Energy Policy, Immigration, Judaism, Religion, Torah Commentary on May 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
From this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Behar:
“But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with me.” - Leviticus 25:23
In the middle of a litany of laws dealing with how to treat the resident alien (in Hebrew: “ger toshav“) we find this remarkable verse [...]
Thanksgiving in the American Land
Posted in Immigration, Rock and Roll, Thanksgiving on November 22, 2006 | 4 Comments »
Here’s my recommendation for a Thankgiving anthem for 2006: “American Land,” by Bruce Springsteen.
It’s a contemporary American folk song Bruce recently composed for the new edition of “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.” Upon first hearing, it sounds like a garden-variety Irish-inflected immigrant song, extolling the joys of the American [...]
“And You Will Incur Guilt…”
Posted in Children's Rights, Food, Immigration, Judaism, Labor, Religion, Torah Commentary on September 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
From this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tetzei:
You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends on it, else he [...]
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