In 2015, Temple Emanuel joined with four other area synagogues and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven to form the Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR).
Welcoming refugees is intrinsically connected to our Jewish tradition. The Torah instructs us 36 times to care for the stranger — far more than it commands us to observe the Sabbath or any other law. For those involved in JCARR, the core Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, “repair the world,” compels us to take responsibility, to address social injustice, and to care for the other.
In partnership with Temple Emanuel in JCARR are Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel (Conservative), Congregation B’nai Jacob (Conservative), Congregation Mishkan Israel (Reform), and Congregation Or Shalom (Conservative). Our work is a unique opportunity for Jews from different congregations and denominations to unite around a common goal: to help new refugee and immigrant families resettle in our community.
JCARR will sponsor families from any country and any religion. JCARR has now resettled five families: one from the Democratic Republic of Congo, two from Syria, one from Iraq, and an asylum-seeking family from Angola. JCARR serves as a co-sponsor through IRIS, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services of New Haven. Our efforts have been recognized as a model both of community co-sponsorship and of collaboration among synagogues.
JCARR has scores of volunteers who work with task forces to find affordable housing, furnish and supply the home, and collect clothing. JCARR volunteers meet the new families, offer them a warm welcome, and provide a warm, culturally appropriate meal in their new home upon their arrival. We help them enroll in English classes, organize tutors, register children for school, learn to use public transportation, navigate the American health-care system, and find jobs. Volunteers have taught them to drive and helped them get drivers licenses, for some of the women, for the first time in their lives! In some cases, JCARR obtained a donated car for new families.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected JCARR families significantly. Parents’ work hours have diminished and so has their income. Children are attending school online and unable to participate in extra-curricular activities. JCARR families may be suffering trauma anew, and JCARR is working to respond to their exceptional needs during this crisis. The situation has called for us to dig deep and become our best selves, and do more than we thought possible. JCARR models how a community can turn concern into action. JCARR demonstrates how people can form partnerships, and turn sad stories into success stories.
The COVID pandemic shines a spotlight on those who are too easily left behind, and makes refugee resettlement efforts around the world even more imperative. Helping refugees in our community gives us a feeling of HOPE and a meaningful way to participate in Repair of the World.
To make an online donation, go to: https://jewishnewhaven.org/refugee-resettlement/give Or, send checks payable to The Jewish Federation, with JCARR in the memo line, to The Jewish Federation, Attention Amy Holtz, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge 06525. We greatly appreciate your generous donations!
Jean Silk, a member of Temple Emanuel, serves as Coordinator of JCARR. For information, contact her at jsilk@jewishnewhaven.org