On the recordDecember 2, 2015
I will close by reading just a portion of this letter that was handed to me this morning by this group that represents these Jewish rabbis all across the United States, from virtually every State in the Union. It says: We, Rabbis from across the country, call on our elected officials to exercise moral leadership for the protection of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Since its founding, the United States has offered refuge and protection to the world's most vulnerable. Time and time again, those refugees were Jews. Whether fleeing the pogroms in Tzarist Russia, the horrors of the Holocaust or persecution in Soviet Russia or Iran, our relatives and friends found safety on these shores. We are therefore alarmed to see so many politicians declaring their opposition to welcoming refugees. Last month's heartbreaking attacks in Paris and Beirut are being cited as reasons to deny entry to people who are themselves victims of terror. And in those comments, we, as Jewish leaders, see one of the darker moments of our history repeating itself. They go on to talk about the United States turning away the SS St. Louis in 1939, and 900 Jews were sent back to Europe. The Holocaust Museum tells us that 200 of them perished in the Holocaust because the United States refused to accept them as refugees.…
