Interfaith vigil supports immigrant rights

The mood was somber. The voices were serious. And the tone was a call to action as approximately 50 members of the interfaith community came together Monday [June 16] to advocate for rights for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

As they gathered in the shade of the Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial in downtown Providence, the group was led in song by Rabbi Preston Neimeiser of Temple Beth-El, in Providence, who said that the gathering was a time to give meaning to “never again.”

Clergy and participants of all faiths spoke about the history of immigration in the United States through a series of readings. The half-hour program invoked the memory of the MS St. Louis, which sailed from Germany in 1939 with more than 900 Jewish passengers and was turned away from ports in Cuba and the United States. It eventually returned to Europe, where many from that ill-fated ship perished.

At the start of the program, which drew on material prepared by HIAS, Wendy Joering, executive director of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, said, “We honor the memories of those who died after being denied refuge. We lament efforts today to once again close the doors of our country to refugees seeking freedom and safety. We cry out for the expulsion of those who have found peace and tranquility within our borders.”

The program was part of a national effort called “Together in Welcome: Faith Communities for Immigrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers.” The local program was sponsored by Temple Beth-El and HIAS. HIAS, formally incorporated in 1903 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, had been working to help Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe and Russia as early as the 1880s. Today they work with all refugees.

Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser of Temple Sinai, in Cranston, ended the program by calling on elected officials to listen to the message of this vigil and to represent those at the vigil.

“We will not idly stand by as the laws and institutions meant to affirm our rights and the rights of all within our borders are being wielded as tools of injustice,” he said. “When our government slams the doors shut on today’s refugees, when our leaders instill fear within the inhabitants of this land, we have just two words: Never Again.”

FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org) is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.