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Oct 14, 2015

In the News: Bombings in Chad

Suicide bombers attacked the town of Baga Sola in Western Chad on Saturday, killing more than 35 people and wounding several dozen more. A market and a refugee camp were both attacked, according to the Associated Press.

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Oct 8, 2015

The Helpline is Still Ringing

Every day, my phone rings. Some of the callers are in New York. Others are in Kiev. The calls come from all over. But when they call, I answer.

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Oct 2, 2015

Offering Help, and Hope, to Trauma Survivors in Kenya

Winnie is the director of psychosocial programs at HIAS Kenya, where she works to help refugees deal with the psychological and emotional effects of the traumatic experiences they have faced and helps to restore dignity in their lives.

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Oct 2, 2015

Forward: Jews Push Washington to Admit More Syrian Refugees, Even as Some Worry About Backlash

At the end of her Rosh Hashanah sermon, Rabbi Elyse Frishman turned to congregants and asked them to take out their cell phones and start dialing. On this day, the cell phone would serve as a shofar and direct the community’s pleadings — not to God but to the White House.

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Oct 1, 2015

Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Refugee Resettlement

HIAS has welcomed refugees to the United States as new Americans for more than 130 years. As a Jewish-American organization, HIAS is acutely concerned both with the imperative to rescue refugees and to protect the security of our country. As Jews, we support policies that fulfill the Torah's mandate to 'welcome the stranger,' as we know that effective resettlement policies make the difference between life and death, between oppression and the opportunity for success.

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Sep 30, 2015

America Welcomed Me. Why Not the Syrians?

Julie Smolyansky isn’t surprised that the idea of resettling thousands of Syrian refugees in the United States makes some people uncomfortable. She faced similar suspicion when her family was resettled in the United States from the former Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

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Sep 27, 2015

CQ Weekly: Q&A with HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield

"We felt our community had benefited from the refugee system and it was time to pay it forward and do for others what had been done for us," HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield tells CQ.

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Sep 26, 2015

We Used to Take Refugees Because They Were Jewish. Now We Take Them Because We’re Jewish. (Vox)

Vox's Dara Lind talks to Mark Hetfield, the president and CEO of HIAS, about how American Jews got disconnected from their refugee tradition — and whether the increased global attention to the Syrian refugee crisis is beginning to rekindle a Jewish interest in welcoming the stranger.

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Sep 25, 2015

Sukkot and the Global Refugee Crisis: Moving Beyond Make Believe

Right now, there are nearly 20 million refugees worldwide in need of a safe place to call home. What if this Sukkot we transformed our imaginings into reality and asked our government to take a bold leadership role in inviting some of those most vulnerable to find a place of refuge in our country?

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Sep 25, 2015

Yom Kippur Wisdom from…the Pope?

The powerful interface of the Pope’s words and the Yom Kippur Torah reading could not be more timely. With the global refugee crisis reaching historic proportions, I hope both Congress and our nation truly heard, and took to heart, the Pope’s message of compassion.

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