Stephen Wise Free Synagogue to launch refugee relief mission in May

Building on a groundswell of activity to uphold Judaism’s core values, New York City’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is launching a refugee relief mission to Greece and Germany in May.

NEW YORK — Building on a groundswell of activity to uphold Judaism’s core values, New York City’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is launching a refugee relief mission to Greece and Germany in May.

Due to a series of conflicts including the Syrian civil war, more than 65 million people have fled their homes. The number of displaced persons in the world exceeds even post-World War II numbers.

“It is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime,” said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. “As Jews, we are mandated to help. When you look into the eyes of an orphan child at a shelter, you realize that this is not a political issue; it’s a humanitarian crisis that demands our attention and action.”


The 10-day mission will take place from May 23 to June 1, 2017, in partnership with two non-governmental organizations, IsraAID and NOSTOS. Participants will offer support to those in need and learn directly from experts and policymakers on the ground. They will travel first to Greece, where sites will include a refugee shelter in Athens for unaccompanied minors and Yazidi settlements in northern Greece. They will then travel to Berlin and meet with high-level policymakers to learn about the absorption of refugees. Finally, they will visit Berlin’s Jewish Museum, accompanied by Yazidi refugees, and other Holocaust sites to reconnect the Jewish story with the plight of today’s refugees.

Members of the Stephen Wise community of all ages, from nursery school students to seniors, will participate in the mission through related service projects. Travelers will document their experiences so that the Stephen Wise community can raise awareness about the refugee crisis and foster long-term support for specific relief efforts.

The mission comes on the heels of a groundswell of support in the Stephen Wise community for social action work, including raising $20,000 for Jews in Whitefish, Montana, when they were threatened by white supremacists in January; and funding for the synagogue’s first full-time community organizer, who will join the synagogue’s staff this spring.

More information about the mission can be found here.

Stephen Wise Free Synagogue has served as a catalyst for social action for more than 100 years. A champion for social justice, civil rights, and the Jewish people, the synagogue’s founder, Stephen Wise (1874–1949), was one of the most prominent US Jewish leaders of the 20th century. Stephen Wise Free Synagogue was the first synagogue to open a shelter for the homeless and was the first synagogue in the United States to install a female rabbi.

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