Fifty years of Jewish social action

It is also no longer alone on the social action front, as a recently published 100-page history of the organisation, Not only for ourselves, written by Dr Joseph Finlay notes. HIAS+JCORE’s pioneering work, he argued, set the stage for later initiatives, such as the Board of Deputies’ Commission on Racial Inclusivity and the Chief Rabbi’s Ben Azzai programme, encouraging young Jewish adults to take an interest in the developing world.

When she first started the organisation, the National Front were sowers of social division in the UK, calling for the repatriation of ethnic minorities. Politics may have changed, but tensions remain, as demonstrated by the recent Belfast riots following an incident involving an asylum-seeker. “The world is not going to get any easier,” Friedman said.

(l-r) Reva Klein, Baroness Helena Kennedy and Dr Edie Friedman in 2009 at the launch of a guide to asylum in Britain, which was co-authored by Friedman, together with Klein[Missing Credit]

A new twist on the conspiracy theories spread by elements of the far-right is that Jews are actively seeking to “replace” white people in the West by fostering immigration. The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were gunned down by an extremist in 2018, had only a few weeks before been marking HIAS’s Refugee Shabbat, Finlay’s book points out.

But as agitation against asylum-seekers grows, HIAS+JCORE strives to ensure that “whatever policies are put forward include a kindness and a compassion, which is very difficult at the moment,” said HIAS+JCORE’s executive director since 2022, Rabbi David Mason.

In the past three years, the organisation has itself been the target of far-right antisemitism on social media, he said.

At the same time, rising antisemitism may have led some Jewish people to “hunker down”, he said. “We do hear a lot… from within the community, for obvious reasons, a fear of the other, a fear of certain other religions. I have got a concern of growing Islamophobia in the community and we have to be concerned about that.”

Rabbi David Mason at the launch event for Refugee Shabbat (Photo: Jennie van den Boogaard for HIAS +JCORE)[Missing Credit]

But while HIAS+JCORE needs to show an understanding of communal anxieties about security, he said, at the same time “we can offer an outlet for the community to still maintain its connection to wider social issues. So it is clear, looking from the outside in, we are not just talking about antisemitism… but we are also talking about care for vulnerable people.”

Receptiveness to its message can be gauged from the fact that some 60 synagogues took part in Refugee Shabbat earlier this year. It has recently completed the first year of a programme in partnership with the Union of Jewish Student to train 50 students to be ambassadors on refugee issues.

It has also just handed out its first “Synagogue of Sanctuary” award - to Finchley Progressive Synagogue - recognising the efforts of individual communities to provide both support and compassion to refugees.

Its JUMP programme, which pairs mentors with unaccompanied refugee minors, has “deepened and grown,” Mason said. “We have a lot of casework support now. Without it, people would be in a much, much more difficult position. And it helps integration. It has brought people into education – whether GCSEs or A-levels or college or university.”

But there remains the need to “work hard to convince people of the importance of supporting refugees. There is so much misinformation, so much that people don’t know about how those who are seeking refuge here from war-torn [countries] or persecution are treated,” he said.

In particular, HIAS+JCORE looks to challenge “the narratives of good and bad refugee - that we were good refugees and those coming now are not”.

Quoting the Southampton University historian Professor Tony Kushner, Friedman said: “The good refugee is always the one who came yesterday.”

Faith leaders and charity campaigners in Westminster, including Rabbi David Mason from HIAS+JCORE in March (centre) (Photo: HIAS+JCORE)[Missing Credit]

Whereas, in its early days the organisation found readier support within Progressive synagogues, the fact that in Mason it is now headed by an Orthodox rabbi shows a shift over the years. The Chief Rabbi - who he notes led a group of his rabbis to see a refugee camp in Greece over a decade ago - has been “supportive,” he said, and on Mizvah Day, he visited a drop-in centre for asylum seekers, run by the United Synagogue’s Chesed department.

“Yes, it’s easier in the Progressive movements, but I think we are, as an organisation, bit by bit, making more headway with the United Synagogue.”

Reflecting on half a century of campaigning, Friedman said: “I hope part of the legacy is emboldening other organisations within the Jewish community to be concerned about social justice issues – and that has been something that has happened. But it goes up and down.”

In future, she suggested, there might be a case to consider an umbrella Jewish organisation that brings issues such as climate change, refugees and anti-racist work together.

But there is a need to do more to educate about Jewish champions of social justice, she believes, such as Abraham Joshua Heschel, who famously said he was praying with his feet when he marched for civil rights in the USA alongside Martin Luther King.

If you ask them, many young Jews “might not have heard of Heschel,” she said. “We need those heroes to have more prominence.”

‘Not only for ourselves’ can be ordered here, or go to: hiasjcore.org/buy-your-copy-not-only-ouselves/