This letter appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday, October 27th. Clergy can add their name by signing on here.
As Jewish clergy serving communities across Chicago and Illinois, we write in opposition to the escalating campaign of fear and repression in our city and suburbs by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Over the past several weeks, ICE has disappeared people, used tear gas in residential neighborhoods, and shot at least two residents with live rounds, one fatally. At Broadview, agents have fired rubber bullets on demonstrators, including our fellow clergy members. In the South Shore neighborhood, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents launched an overnight militaristic raid on an apartment building, indiscriminately sweeping up U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike, dragging families from their beds, separating children from their parents, and leaving them handcuffed outdoors for hours.
These tactics are stoking fear across Illinois.
As Americans, we believe deeply in our nation's history as a place founded by and strengthened by those seeking refuge on our shores. As Jews, we are commanded 36 times in the Torah to welcome the ger (גר), the stranger, the foreigner, the immigrant, the refugee. "The ger who resides with you shall be as the citizen among you… and you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 19:33-34). It is our patriotic and holy obligation to uphold a just immigration policy and help protect our vulnerable neighbors.
Many of us have ancestors who came to this country fleeing the state-sponsored terror of paramilitary forces patrolling their neighborhoods. Our history teaches us that safety cannot come from repression, that it comes from connection, showing up for our neighbors, and from refusing to be silent when the state's power is used to target and isolate a community.
We must use the tools at our disposal to protect our communities and ensure a just and compassionate immigration policy. Right now, a large coalition of community organizations, led by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), is asking lawmakers in Springfield to pass a legislative package to protect all our neighbors, called Safety and Action for Liberation Together (S.A.L.T.), which would:
Bar civil arrests by ICE and other law enforcement agencies at our state's courthouses
Provide guidance for all hospitals in Illinois to protect patients and their staff from potential law enforcement activity, including ICE actions while inside their hospital buildings
Expand the protections provided in the Safe Schools law to early childhood and higher education spaces
Give Illinois residents the right to sue federal agencies for unlawful arrests and detentions
We call on the Illinois General Assembly to immediately pass the full package of legislation, and we call on people of all faiths to stand together to protect our communities and uphold human dignity.
Undersigned,
Cantor Laurie Akers
Rabbi Max G. Antman
Rabbi Ilana Axel
Rabbi Marc J. Belgrad
Rabbi Lisa Sari Bellows
Rabbi Rebecca Benoff
Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein
Rabbi Steven Bob
Rabbi Allison Tick Brill
Rabbi Neil Brill
Rabbi Anna Calamaro
Rabbi Paul F. Cohen
Rabbi Shoshanah Conover
Rabbi Andrea Cosnowsky
Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe
Rabbi David Eber
Rabbi Laurence Edwards
Rabbi Bruce Elder
Rabbi Robert Feinberg
Rabbi Sam Feinsmith
Rabbi Josh Feigelson
Rabbi Edward M. Friedman
Cantor Michelle Drucker Friedman
Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr
Rabbi Roy Furman
Rabbi Scott Gellman
Rabbi Gary S. Gerson
Rabbi Rivkah Glick
Rabbi Lily Goldstein
Rabbi Maralee Gordon
Rabbi Amanda Greene
Rabbi Lisa Greene
Rabbi Suzanne Griffel
Rabbi Steve Hart
Rabbi Rachel Heaps
Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann
Rabbi Brian Immerman
Rabbi Gidon Isaacs
Rabbi Daniel Kirzane
Rabbi Elinor Knepler
Rabbi Jacob Leizman
Rabbi Miriam Lichtenberg
Rabbi Seth M. Limmer
Cantor Joanna P. Lind
Cantor Riki Lippitz
Rabbi Andrea London
Cantor Jan Mahler
Rabbi Ari Margolis
Rabbi Rachel K. Marks
Cantor Matan Meital
Rabbi Michal Mendelsohn
Rabbi Rachel S. Mikva
Rabbi Nina J. Mizrahi
Rabbi Evan Moffic
Rabbi Joshua A. Nelson
Cantor Jay O'Brien
Rabbi Steven Peskind
Rabbi Steven Philp
Rabbi Taylor A. Poslosky
Rabbi Richard M Prass
Rabbi Jonah Rank
Rabbi Frederick Reeves
Rabbi Sarah Rosenbaum Jones
Cantor Rachel Rosenberg
Cantor Dara Rosenblatt
Rabbi Donald Rossoff
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Rabbi Isaac Serotta
Rabbi Anita Silvert
Rabbi Michael Sommer
Rabbi Eleanor Smith, MD
Rabbi Michelle Stern
Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
Cantor Agnes Valdman
Rabbi Jessie Wainer
Rabbi Michael Weinberg
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
Rabbi Max Weiss
Rabbi Rachel Weiss
Rabbi Zachary Wiener
Cantor Rosalie Will
Rabbi Binah Wing
Cantor Natalie Young
Cantor Julie Yugend-Green
Rabbi Michael Zedek
This letter was crafted by the Illinois Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC-IL) and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA), in collaboration with Illinois clergy. To learn more, contact Aaron Sofian or Jonathan Elbaz.
