Treating the Stranger with Compassion at Passover; Who Will Join Us This Year at Our Seder Tables?

Posted by Gideon Aronoff on Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 10:45 am

In this festive season, as we prepare to join together with our closest family and friends to celebrate Passover, we are reminded that the Jewish people are obligated to transmit the lessons of the holiday to each new generation. This duty exists for Jewish families, but also for the community as a whole – including organizations like HIAS that seek to engage members of the Jewish community to address our most compelling humanitarian, social, and political challenges.

At HIAS, we strive

The 20th Anniversary of the Lautenberg Amendment

Posted by Genever McBain on Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 11:05 am

A report from Leonard Terlitsky, Director, HIAS FSU:

On March 10, the Embassy of the United States in Moscow held a reception and a panel discussion to mark twenty years since the Congress had passed the amendment to the U.S. Immigration Law.

The amendment was introduced by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D- NJ) in 1989 and in time became known as the Lautenberg Amendment. It re-focused U.S. immigration policies on persecuted religious and ethnic minorities of special interest to the people of

Jewish Activism in Times of International Crisis: Responding to Massive Human Rights Violations and Natural Disasters

Posted by Mark Hetfield on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 13:51 pm

Haiti is no stranger to tragedy – I lived there while working for the US government in 1994, when a junta ruled the country by terror, after toppling President Aristide. Between the time I left in September 1994 and the earthquake, Haiti suffered through multiple political crises and no fewer than eight natural disasters, leaving thousands dead and billions of dollars of damage in their wake. Yet this history of natural and man-made disasters seems almost trivial after

Short Memories: Jews And Immigration

Posted by Roberta Elliott on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 13:22 pm

Jeffrey Kaye, veteran journalist and author, recently blogged on The Huffington Post about the similarities between today’s immigrants and our Jewish immigrant ancestors…directly contradicting the nostalgic notion put forward by anti-immigrant activists that Jewish immigrants of the past were somehow different from immigrants today.

Check out his insights ...

Of Note: Advocating for Haitian Migrants and Asylum Seekers

Posted by Gideon Aronoff on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 16:34 pm

As we watch the heartbreaking coverage of total devastation in Haiti, we are moved as individuals – and as a community – to send comfort and support to the people of Haiti. For all of us at HIAS, it has been a great privilege this week to work with so many of you, our partners in the refugee protection community, and the U.S. government to help desperate Haitians in the U.S. and in Haiti. In this short note I wanted

Sojourners Visitors Project's Tenth Anniversary Celebrations

Posted by Roberta Elliott on Wed, Dec 09, 2009 at 18:06 pm

This past weekend, Sojourners Visitors Project, run out of Riverside Church on New York’s Upper West Side, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a thoughtful program featuring Phyllis Coven, Acting Director of the Office of Detention Policy and Planning, Department of Homeland Security (ICE), and a panel of respondents. Founded in 1999, the Soujourners Detention Center Visitor Project recruits, trains, transports and mentors volunteer visitors to asylum seekers and other non-criminal, non-citizens held at Elizabeth Detention Center and other New

Of Note: Thanksgiving 2009 ... HIAS and America – Service, Welcome, and Gratitude

Posted by Gideon Aronoff on Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:46 am

With Thanksgiving soon approaching, my thoughts are drawn to the tremendous amount I have to be grateful for – both as an American and as a person who has the privilege to serve the Jewish community and the global humanitarian movement through my work at HIAS, the American Jewish community’s international migration agency. Reflecting on HIAS’ work over the past year, I am struck by how much our country’s welcome for newcomers underscores the powerful gifts that the United States

D’var Torah on Chayei Sarah

Posted by Roberta Elliott on Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 16:43 pm

(Delivered at adult bat mitzvah on November 14, 2009)

So many things interested me in this parsha, but I have chosen to focus my remarks on the subject of kindness to guests/welcoming the stranger. First a little background:

At the beginning of the parsha, Avraham buys a cave as his family's burial ground - in perpetuity. He purchases it so there will be no question whatsoever of his and his descendents’ ownership and inheritance of the land itself. In other words,

Coming Full Circle: Participating in the 2009 HIAS Advocacy Mission to Washington, D.C.

Posted by Ruben Shimonov on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 17:41 pm

As I sit behind my laptop on this crisp autumn morning in Seattle and check my email, I come across a friendly message from a person whom I met across the country last month. "I was wondering if you would be interested in writing a guest post for the HIAS blog about your experiences on the Advocacy Mission," the email reads. There is not one moment of deliberation on my end; I immediately know that this is something I must

We're switching Twitter accounts

Posted by Genever McBain on Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 13:30 pm

On Monday evening, October 26, at 9 pm EDT, the current @HIASimmigration account will be moved to @HIASadvocacy. At that time the @HIASadvocacy name will be changed to @HIASimmigration.

What does this mean for you?

• If you’re currently following the @HIASadvocacy account you won’t have to do anything, but will notice the account’s name change.
• If you’re currently following @HIASimmigration, you should either follow @HIASadvocacy in advance of tonight’s change or will have