Educational Resources
Whether through Jewish sources, holiday celebrations, or generally building your understanding of refugee issues, we hope you find these resources meaningful and useful.
Resources for Contemporary Issues
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Reading Ezra in an Age of Mass Deportations
The biblical book of Ezra contains the Jewish legal, moral, and structural foundations that were used to justify the deportation of a portion of non-citizens fully integrated into a community. This in-depth text study with commentary from contemporary rabbinic voices explores competing values and moral questions raised in how we construct our sense of national identity.
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You Shall Not Pass
In his article, “Reimagining the Israelite-Edomite Encounter,” Dr. David Glatt-Gilad explores two versions in the Torah of the Israelites and their attempt to pass through Edomite territory. The seeming contradictions between the versions inspire interpretations throughout Jewish tradition that reflect different responses for how to engage with policy rooted in fear and xenophobia. Gratitude to Dr. David Glatt-Gilad for the inspiration for this text study.
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Sarah and Abraham: A Theology of Border Crossing
When we examine the stories of our ancestors in the Bible through the lens of contemporary migration experiences, many of the conditions and threats appear fundamentally unchanged after thousands of years.
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Joseph and the Trauma of Human Trafficking
We tell the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. The details of his story seem unimaginable to many of us but actually reflect fundamental aspects of human trafficking in our own context — particularly across international borders. This text study presents excerpts of the biblical story coupled with contemporary understandings of the conditions, experience and psychology of human trafficking today for discussion.
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Resources for Jewish Holidays
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High Holidays Resources
Every High Holiday season, HIAS provides resources for services, sermons and learning that center our shared values around welcoming the stranger and protecting the refugee
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Sukkot
Each year, we recreate the huts in which our Israelite ancestors found refuge after escaping slavery in Egypt and wandering in the desert for 40 years. Sukkot allows us time to recognize our own fragility and reminds us that, for so many, shelter remains impermanent.
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Passover
On this holiday when we remember the Jewish people’s journey to freedom, we know that our freedom is inextricable from those of all others fleeing from violence and toward safety. The HIAS Haggadah is full of readings and stories which connect the foundational liberation story of the Jewish people with the reality of the refugee experience in the 21st century.
Resources for Passover
More Resources
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Tisha B’Av Resource
This text study juxtaposes texts from Eicha (the Hebrew name for the book of Lamentations), with its graphic descriptions of a conquered Jerusalem, with stories and images from Kabul as it fell to the Taliban.
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Ruth, Naomi, and the Refugee Experience
The Book of Ruth tells the story of refugees. The first refugees we learn about are Naomi, Elimelech, and their sons, who flee Bethlehem during a time of famine. Their need is so great that they go to the land of Moab, the historical enemies of the Israelites. The family is forced by circumstance to migrate to a place of uncertain welcome and perhaps even mortal danger.
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Refugee Torah
Readings from Jewish scriptures and wisdom sources that talk about how we should think about receiving guests and refugees.
Refugee Torah -
“For you were strangers in the land of Egypt” Peoplehood Papers 19
Peoplehood Papers 19 sets out to explore the Jewish responsibility to refugees in the 21st century in the context of Jewish history, legacy and commitment to Torah and Jewish values. We very intentionally explored the issue through the eternal yet very present Jewish lens: "For you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
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Rosie and Warda Children’s Book
This book, aimed at children in grades 1-3, seeks to highlight the important contributions and cultural differences that refugees bring to our communities as well as our responsibility to welcome them.
Rosie and Warda and the Big Tent -
Gishur Passover Holiday Resource (English)
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Gishur Shabbat Resource (English)
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Gishur Sukkot Resource (English)
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Jewish Clergy Letter on the Immoral Use of Law
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Jewish Clergy Stand Against Scapegoating and Targeting of Immigrants
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The Spiritual Response of Resilience to Devastation
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The Shameful Lesson of the ‘St. Louis’ is as Relevant as Ever
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A Fence Around Compassion
In a sermon, Rabbi Ammos Chorny, who serves at Beth Tikvah in Naples, FL, responds to the opening of the "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades.
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Have We Become the "Ordinary Germans" Now?
In an opinion piece for The Forward, Jay Michaelson asks how American Jews can stand by while thousands of innocent people are illegally arrested, imprisoned and tortured.
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Liturgical Readings
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Psalm 150
This final chapter in the biblical book of Psalms serves as a powerful conclusion of the Pesukei D’zimrah (verses of song) section in Jewish morning liturgy. It is the final exercise of a spiritual warm-up — orienting us to our core purpose with a sense of awe and connection for the source of creation. This reading adds responses to the original text of the psalm to remind ourselves what that awe and connection should inspire in us.
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Prayer for our Country
In 2024, HIAS released a vision for U.S. immigration and refugee policy grounded in the values of welcome, dignity, and safety. Rabbi Grabelle-Hermann transformed the text of that vision into a prayer for our country.
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Nisim B’Chol Yom
Jewish morning liturgy offers a series of gratitude blessings known as nisim b’chol yom— “everyday miracles” brought to us by God. This reading adds to the original prayers, reminding us of our own power to bring blessing into the world as well.
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Hear the Call. Heed the Call.
A meditation on the sounding of the Shofar
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Who Shall Rest in One Place Who Shall Be Forced to Move
A reflection on Unetaneh Tokef
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Ptach Lanu Sha’ar: Open the Gates
A reflection on access to safety, welcome and dignity
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Is This The Fast I Desire
A prophetic call to bring the refugee home
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