Faithfully yours - There is another way

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Published on Sunday, January 31, 2016

By Neil Strohschein

The Neepawa Banner

Just when you think you’ve heard all you can hear about Canada’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis, someone does something that gives you a whole new perspective on the issue.

For me, that person is Dan Moskovitz. He is the Rabbi of the Temple Sholom, a Reformed Jewish synagogue in Vancouver, BC. A few weeks ago, he asked his congregation for donations to sponsor a Syrian refugee family. Within a few days, he had received $40,000. He immediately connected with Mosaic, an immigrant services organization, the Jewish Federation of Vancouver and the Anglican Archdiocese. Together, they chose to sponsor a young family who has relatives in Vancouver, but need help to leave the refugee camp where they currently reside.

When word of Temple Sholom’s initiative became public, Moskovitz received a call from CBC reporter Gloria Macarenko. She wanted to know why he and his people would do this. After all, she argued, relations between Syria and Israel have been tense for years.

“It says 36 times in the Bible, in the Old Testament, that we are to love the stranger, to love the refugee, because we were once strangers, we were once refugees ourselves,” Moskovitz replied. “You don’t repeat something 36 times in the Bible unless it’s really, really important, and this is our obligation, to see ourselves as them and to do what we can to save lives.”

When asked if he was concerned that refugees might pose a security or terrorism risk, Moskovitz said: “We are blaming a refugee crisis for terrorism, when we should be blaming terrorism for a refugee crisis.” He sees a ray of hope in what he and other Reformed Jewish congregations across Canada are doing. “We hope this effort can work toward peace between Jews and Syrians,” he said. “One by one, family by family, we can build bridges of understanding and hopefully reduce, at least on a micro scale, the conflict between peoples.”

Dan Moskovitz and his congregation have shown us that there is another way to solve conflicts between nations; and that is to let people of good will find and build bridges with people of good will from other nations and cultures. I wish him well and I hope his story will end happily.

Sadly, many such stories do not. Ancient biases and prejudices are hard to shake and often create conflicts between those who came to Canada hoping for a fresh start, but who wind up fighting the same battles here that they fought in the countries they left.

Someone has to do something to break the bonds of mistrust that lead to conflict and violence. It is time to put the past in the past and build a new future for all the world’s people. 

Moskovitz and his congregation aren’t looking to change the world. All they want to do is build a relationship of love, acceptance and forgiveness with one family in Vancouver. And they have chosen to do this by reuniting them with family members who, without their help, would die in a refugee camp. To them, this is an act of devotion to God and obedience to the Law of Moses.

Their actions have sent a powerful message to Canadians of all faith traditions; but especially to those of us who base our beliefs on the Scriptures. When asked to summarize the law given to ancient Israel, Moses and Jesus used the same words: “Love God and love your neighbor.”

Moskovitz and his congregation are showing us the way. It’s time we followed their lead.