Sanctuary In The Desert
Weizenbaum, Joseph
SANCTUARY IN THE DESERT A Tucson synagogue pursues freedom in symbol and in substance Who is a refugee? Between 1979 and 1983, over 40,000 people were murdered in El Salvador, and thousands more...
...And then the practical questions, as well: We have no facilities for housing people, as do some of the Sanctuaries...
...It is a movement about saving lives...
...It was not easy for our congregation to reach the decision to become a Sanctuary congregation...
...What is that law, and how do we claim to know it...
...I closed my rally speech by explaining that at the very heart of my faith are the words of Leviticus 19, the passage that contains the imperative to treat the stranger with dignity, the very language that was eventually incorporated into the Covenant of Sanctuary (see sidebar...
...Extra telephones were rushed in to serve the reporters from every major newspaper and television studio...
...While we were reliving the Exodus in Hebrew and English, translations-into Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish-flew about the room...
...they perished in the Holocaust...
...The last night of Passover is to become Freedom Seder Night...
...He apologized for asking me to come on my Sabbath...
...Although Jews are involved, it is more than Jewish...
...In the summer of 1980, a cayote-the Spanish term has come to mean a person who earns his living transporting undocumented aliens over the border-loaded up a van with Salvadorans desperate to reach freedom, each of whom had paid him a substantial sum...
...Thirteen hundred strong-and it is not Yom Kippur...
...Temple Emanu-El, my synagogue, is one of its signatories...
...Is there a law of God that should dictate our actions...
...By coincidence-except that I do not believe it to be mere coincidence-that morning we read from the Torah the biblical portion that contains the priestly blessing...
...And last Pesach, we at Temple Emanu-EI held our first Freedom Seder...
...We acknowledge that sanctuary is a serious responsibility for all persons involved...
...They found it, but the little Jewish boy told his mother that he had matzah at home and his new friend had never seen matzah before, so he wanted her to have the prize...
...And that is just one of the reasons it was especially meaningful that the conference took place in a synagogue...
...The Rev...
...I have a feeling that when they shook their noisemakers at the mention of Haman, they had in mind some other names, closer to home...
...The Reverend John Fife of the South Side Presbyterian Church in the Tucson barrio brought the survivors to his church, to be cared for there-and the Sanctuary movement was born...
...I took this as an omen: I set aside my prepared remarks and told the congregation about the morning rally in the barrio, about our obligation to know the heart of a stranger...
...She turned to me and said, "Rabbi, we are the same people, we are the same people...
...Instant bedlam, cheers and shouting...
...With considerable trepidation, we'd booked a room that could seat 800...
...13,373 Salvadorans have applied for asylum in the United States-yet, according to a report by Reverend Lydio Tomasi, director of the Center for Migration Studies, the U.S...
...Not so for three groups in our community: the Soviet Jews...
...Truly it is a human effort, people serving one another in the presence of God...
...At the end of the rally, Rev...
...This is not the first time the people of God have been called to bear witness to our faith in providing sanctuary to refugees branded "illegal" in their flight from persecution...
...At the close of the Seder, my Latino friends left me with hugs and kisses...
...Our keynote speaker was Elie Weisel, who spoke, as a refugee, of the fears and concerns of refugees...
...Our supporters around the country were incensed with the news that the government had planted spies in Bible study groups, had equipped them with microphones to record any words that might indicate a conspiracy to bring in aliens...
...It may well be that as we come together on behalf of the Central American refugees, faith and community meet and a new level of brotherhood is attained...
...In 1984, the number admitted was less than 70,000...
...The rest of the conference was held at Temple Emanu-El, with some 1,200-1,300 people in attendance...
...The discussions were exciting, the crowd electric...
...But we do have resources to teach them English, to bring them clothing and to invite The Covenant of Sanctuary For four years southern Arizona has become a place of uncertain refuge for men, women and children who are fleeing for their lives from the vicious and devastating wars in Central America...
...We believe that communities of faith are now being called again to obey God by providing sanctuary to the refugees among us...
...The synagogue is filled to overflowing...
...Should Jews concern themselves with other peoples...
...The 1951 United Nations Convention and the 1967 Protocol Agreements on Refugees-both signed by the United States-established the right of refugees not to be sent back to their countries of origin...
...The manner in which individual groups seek to implement their commitment to this covenant will vary...
...On the very day the program began, some of our Sanctuary workers who had been indicted by the Federal government were to appear in court...
...So why didn't he bring the afikoman up to me...
...across America, we now find churches-and some synagogues-willing to open their doors to Central American refugees...
...I asked her...
...But it is hardly alone...
...Immigration and Naturalization Service has denied 13,045 of the applications...
...No matter how serious the threat to the lives of dissidents, if they come from a country with which the American government has friendly relations, and especially if they come from a country that faces an active Communist threat, they are not welcome here...
...The refugees among us are consequently threatened with the prospect of deportation back to El Salvador and Guatemala, where they face the likelihood of severe reprisals, perhaps including death...
...The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself...
...Why not...
...Matthew 25:35-36) Therefore, we, the undersigned religious communities, join in covenant to provide sanctuary-support, protection and advocacy-to Central American refugees who request safe haven out of fear of persecution upon return to their homeland...
...Within a year, Rev...
...JOSEPH WEIZENBAUM It is Thursday afternoon, two o'clock...
...Word reaches me that Jack Elder, a sanctuary activist on trial in Texas, has been acquitted by the jury there...
...Leviticus 19:33-34...
...I put the prize money in the woman's hands and told her to spend it on her son in any way she saw fit...
...The journey from slavery to freedom-the central message of our Haggadah-is difficult for many of us to reconstruct...
...My congregants had to wrestle with the question of going against the law as interpreted by the executive body of our government...
...Instead of bringing them to a civilized place, the cayote had abandoned them, in the summer heat, in the desert outside of Tucson...
...In a few moments' time, a little Guatemalan girl, about nine years old, came forward...
...We were skeptical we could fill it...
...Why would good American Christians-and Jews-flout the laws of our country, and establish such havens...
...Why the need for such sanctuary...
...the doors connecting the sanctuary to the social hall have been rolled back to reveal a sea of chairs, each one filled...
...For to make them welcome is to acknowledge that their govcrnment-our ally-is insensitive to human rights...
...Indeed, 90 percent of those who have come are Christians...
...The date is January 24, 1985, the final session of the first Inter-American Symposium on Sanctuary, convened in my Tucson synagogue...
...Tucson has remained the focal point for nationwide activity on behalf of undocumented Joseph Weizenbaum is rabbi of Temple Emanu-EI, Tucson, Arizona...
...Has the number of those seeking refuge declined-or have the criteria for admission been narrowed...
...attendance never diminished...
...During the dinner a Jewish woman from Russia stopped me and looked over at the next table, where some Vietnamese families were sitting, and then back at her own family...
...for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God...
...We do this out of concern for the welfare of these refugees, regardless of their official immigrant status...
...She explained that she had not found the afikoman herself...
...The United Nations has declared these people legitimate refugees of war...
...In 1965 I had visited for the first time some of my father's cousins from Europe, then living in Montreal...
...The First Inter-American Symposium on Sanctuary The idea for the January conference in Tucson originated with Rev...
...A number of Central American refugees were there, masks over their faces-they were afraid that they might be recognized on camera and inadvertently cause harm to their relatives back home...
...When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall do him no wrong...
...South American aliens ever since...
...Between 1979 and 1983, over 40,000 people were murdered in El Salvador, and thousands more have fled...
...But our government contends that individuals who claim refuge from countries with right-wing anti-Communist goverments-such as El Salvador and Guatemala-do so for economic reasons, and that the Refugee Act applies only to those seeking refuge on political grounds...
...We recognize that legal consequences may result from our action...
...We enter this covenant as an act of conscience and a witness to our faith, and we pray for the continued guidance>bf our God...
...More than 200 refugees, together with a group of church workers, came, and were greeted-and served-by the officers and board members of our congregation...
...No group is bound by specific actions of another, but is free to determine the manner in which it can best respond, consistent with its own policy, doctrine and resources...
...I learned from them what had happened to my father's brother and sister-the unanswered question that had been haunting our family since the war...
...John Fife and a man named Jim Corbett...
...So who found it...
...What is the relationship of ethics to faith...
...Last Purim, the children of the refugees came to hear the reading of the megillah, the Book of Esther...
...When I called John Fife the next morning and told him the story, he thanked me for providing him with his Sunday morning sermon...
...A Conservative rabbi in a Reform temple leading a largely gentile audience in words from a Christian hymn: only in America...
...They understood that this Jewish tradition of ours was an experience meant for all mankind...
...the Southeast Asian boat people, whom our congregation had assisted some years earlier...
...As we begin our festival with a Seder meal eaten in our own homes, we will conclude it with a Seder meal shared with our Central American amigos, held in our community's synagogue...
...For a text, we used the third of Arthur Waskow's "Shalom Seders" (Adama Books, 1984), amended to fit our particular situation...
...Does our disagreement entitle us to break the nation's laws...
...The Covenant of Sanctuary, prepared by Christians, has been signed by each Sanctuary congregation...
...So, we invited those who have in their own lifetime-and ours-passed from slavery to freedom to join us at the synagogue on the third night of Passover...
...At the Sanctuary Conference (see sidebar), I made the observation that Christians are a faith in search of a community and Jews a community in search of faith...
...He has led groups of people across the border and, as of this writing, stands indicted by the U.S...
...Over and over, we came back to the basic problem...
...Fife's church had publicly declared itself a sanctuary for aliens...
...This year, at Temple Emanu-El, a new "tradition" will be born...
...We are here because we are committed to the idea that no human being should be denied refuge from a tyrannical government that threatens his or her life...
...Fife asked me to give the priestly blessing in Hebrew, to be followed by his Spanish translation...
...Fife and Corbett got some other ministers and priests-and me, the rabbi-interested in the idea of a conference to explore the religious and philosophical basis for the Sanctuary movement...
...Due to the free "publicity" the government had given us, we had to turn away more than 100 people who wanted to join us for our opening session...
...I felt that the best words I could offer them would be an explanation for my presence-so I told them the story of my father...
...The more we planned, the larger the idea grew and the more complicated the arrangements became...
...William Coffin of Riverside Church in New York, Robert M. Brown of Berkeley, a leading Protestant theologian, and Rabbi Marshall Meyer, the "'hero" of Buenos Aires, all made presentations...
...Corbett, a Quaker, Harvard-educated (M.A., Philosophy), well-schooled in Bible, Jewish theology and philosophy, was-until he had to give it up because of severe arthritis-a southern Arizona rancher...
...The slaves who fled north in our own country and the Jews who attempted to flee Nazi Germany found no refuge...
...The people gathered for the rally-few of whom could understand English-were seated out on the street on folding chairs...
...Indeed, the issue of Sanctuary presented us with all the tough questions of contemporary religion...
...He was detained for several weeks on Ellis Island, and then was about to be deported, until, at the last minute, a relative found him and rescued him...
...In 1980, the United States accepted 200,000 refugees...
...For although the Sanctuary movement is heavily Christian, it is more than Christian...
...Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians-from Central America and from around the U.S.-came...
...When people reach beyond denomination, nationality and creed, they come closer to the image of the God who created us all...
...and the Central American refugees...
...And so, last November, after a lengthy discussion at a special congregational meeting, we voted-and the vote went almost two to one in favor of our joining the Sanctuary movement...
...The Refugee Act of 1980 states that any individual who can demonstrate a "well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion" can find sanctuary in the U.S...
...them, from time to time, to our building...
...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...
...His working partner, Stacy Merkt, rushes out to the public forum, runs up to the pulpit and announces the news...
...That was how we closed the presentation, and I hurried off to Shabbat morning services at my own synagogue...
...She explained that he was shy...
...Many of these refugees have chosen to leave their country only after witnessing the murder of close friends and relatives...
...About 10 years ago, John Fife asked me to participate in a rally for undocumented aliens, scheduled for eight in the morning on a Saturday, in the barrio...
...In plain words: I am the son of an undocumented alien...
...How are we different from others who assert their right to break the law-on behalf of causes we bitterly oppose...
...Thus far, however, our government has been unwilling to meet its obligations under these agreements...
...Tim Nonn, a Presbyterian seminarian, helped us pull the event together...
...I explained as clearly as I could that a piece of the matzah had been hidden, and that if any of the children could find it, he or she would receive a prize...
...by every moral and legal standard they ought to be received as such by the government of the United States...
...I started to give her the envelope with the money in it, but she tugged at my sleeve and said, in her broken English, that she could not accept it...
...In 1913, he had come as a stowaway to this country...
...government for these activities...
...Soon it came time for the afikoman...
...She pointed to a little boy in the corner...
...That weekend congregants of the Presyterian church in the barrio and of the synagogue on the east side of town heard the same sermon...
...No door was opened to them...
...The mother of the boy, a recent Soviet Jewish emigre;, told me later in the evening that her son and the Guatemalan girl had become friendly during dinner, and had formed a team to hunt for the afikoman...
...My own involvement with the Sanctuary movement began before it was a "movement...
...Additional religious communities are invited to join in this "sanctuary coalition...
...Several died...
...I must have shocked him by my ready agreement to participate...
...But while the movement is necessarily and intensely political-it is, after all, a movement called into being as a protest-it is also, and in at least equal measure, a human movement...
...The little girl, on the other hand, didn't feel that it was right for her to take the gift...
...I learned that in October 1942 my aunt and uncle and their families had sought sanctuary in the community in which they lived...
...Rabbi Marshall Meyer, formerly of Buenos Aires, now the Vice President of the University of Judaism, ascends the pulpit stairs and leads the congregation in "Gloria in Excelsius Deo...
Vol. 10 • April 1985 • No. 4
