Jewish Values and History

Mark Hetfield Named to Forward 50

Nov 14, 2016

HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield was named to the Forward newspaper's annual list of “Jews who have impacted American life” for 2016. This year’s Forward 50 recognizes Hetfield for being at the forefront of the Syrian refugee relief efforts.

Former HIAS Client and Holocaust Survivor Interviewed on Democracy Now!

Sep 22, 2016

Former HIAS client, Kindertransport survivor and refugee advocate Manfred Lindenbaum was interviewed live on Democracy Now!, sharing his personal experiences as a refugee and responding to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s son’s comparison of Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles.

Global Leaders Pledge Increased Aid for Refugees: What You Need to Know

Sep 21, 2016

Speaking to assembled world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Obama called for empathy for the “innocent men and women and children, who, through no fault of their own, have had to flee everything that they know, and everything that they love.”

HIAS Condemns Shameful Anti-Refugee Rhetoric

Sep 20, 2016

“Minimizing the human cost of the most severe refugee crisis in history is shameful in any context. When refugees—people who leave their entire lives behind simply in search of safety—are politicized and used to fan the toxic flames of xenophobia, we have an obligation to let our leaders know it is unacceptable," said HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield.

Jerusalem Post Spotlights HIAS’ Work

Sep 20, 2016

HIAS “has become known as the U.S. Jewish community’s voice on refugee issues,” mobilizing the Jewish community around the refugee crisis, writes the Jerusalem Post.

USA Today: World Must Recommit to Refugees

Sep 19, 2016

Ahead of this week's refugee summits, HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield took to the pages of USA Today to argue that, “now is the time for the world to recommit to the ideals and promises of the Refugee Convention.”

50+ Synagogues and Jewish Organizations Hold #JewsforRefugees Assembly in New York

Sep 15, 2016

NEW YORK -- On Wednesday evening, more than 50 synagogues and communal organizations and over 200 individuals representing New York’s Jewish community came together in support of refugees. Participants in the #JewsforRefugees...

Ben Saw Refugees on TV and Wanted to Help. What He Learned Next Changed Everything.

May 31, 2016

Svitavsky immigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia with her family in 1977. Like many refugees fleeing the Soviet Union at that time, they came with help from HIAS. Yet somehow the topic never came up with her children, who had no idea about their mother’s own refugee story until her son Ben brought up the topic himself.

Jewish Week: Yom HaShoah, Anne Frank and Refugee Security Checks

May 05, 2016

"As we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we suddenly transition from Passover, the ancient holiday which commemorates the refugee experience, to honoring the memory of the six million Jews who perished because they were not able to flee," writes Mark Hetfield in The Jewish Week.

To Remember and Protect: Yom Ha’Shoah and the Global Refugee Crisis

May 04, 2016

Keeping the story of Passover alive as we move into the day on which we are told “never to forget” our people’s more recent encounter with unconscionable evil means ensuring that what happened to the Jewish people does not happen to others. We can do this by becoming part of the American Jewish movement in support of refugees.

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