Westchester's Jewish Community to Observe Refugee Shabbat 2021

This coming March, Westchester Jewish Coalition for Immigration (WJCI) will be a proud participant in HIAS’ Refugee Shabbat, during which Jews in the United States and around the world will take action for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants.

With more than 80 million people worldwide who have fled their homes due to persecution and violence, we are now witnesses to one of the largest humanitarian crises in human history. WJCI looks forward to celebrating the value of welcoming those in need of a safe place to call home and continuing the Jewish community’s support for pro-refugee and asylum seeker policies across the globe.
Over the Shabbat of March 5-6, 2021, Westchester’s Jewish community will dedicate sacred time and space to refugees and asylum seekers. Now in its third year with hundreds of congregations and thousands of individuals participating, this Refugee Shabbat will be an opportunity to once again raise awareness in our communities, to recognize the work that has been done, and to reaffirm our commitment to welcoming refugees and asylum seekers.

WJCI will be leading the way for Refugee Shabbat in Westchester. The organization will be providing local synagogues and Jewish organizations with concrete actions that pertain to the issues of immigrants and refugees locally, as well as at state and national levels. Actions include helping to find speakers to address congregations; helping to plan interfaith panels with leaders of local/national organizations; offering text-based workshops given by local rabbinical staff; providing reading lists revolving around the topic of immigration, and other hands-on ideas such as letter-writing and volunteering with local organizations.

In addition, WJCI will be hosting a special community-wide “action” with Westchester Right to Counsel (R2C) on Sunday, March 7th at 10 am. This will be an introduction to the issue of the lack of right to counsel for families (low income, immigrant, people of color, etc) who have been hit hard by the pandemic and may be facing eviction when the moratorium on evictions is lifted. It will conclude with concrete steps that each community can take to impact our local legislators. Interested parties can share this registration link with their community: https://zoom.us/j/97739196770?pwd=RmtqbVg0TFp2bWg5U0QvUXYzWXVQUT09

Interested congregations and organizations can sign up here to participate in HIAS Shabbat and contact WJCI to collaborate at wjciorg@gmail.com.

About WJCI: The Westchester Jewish Coalition for Immigration (WJCI) connects and supports the work of local organizations in the immigration and refugee space and will advocate for changes to current immigration policy on a national level and for state and local policies that benefit immigrants and the communities in which they live. Sixty leaders and organizers of WJCI are members of synagogues and temples throughout Westchester and are actively seeking to expand its reach throughout the Jewish community. More info about the organization is available at www.wjci.org.

About HIAS: HIAS is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers. It was originally established in 1881 to aid Jewish refugees. In 1975, the State Department asked HIAS to aid in resettling 3,600 Vietnam refugees