An interfaith event at Congregation Beth El, celebrating MLK day in Jan. 2016.
Three Jewish congregations in South Orange are looking for the community’s help in resettling a Syrian refugee family to the area.
“Dear Friends, Congregation Beth El, Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, and Oheb Shalom Congregation have joined together to resettle a refugee family in our community,” read the letter to the community, posted on the Facebook page Swap SOMa Lounge by Sharon Duberman Geraghty. “We are excited to announce that our partner, Church World Services, has identified a Syrian family in need of our support and we are expecting a mid-January arrival. We need to quickly arrange housing and so much more before we can make this happen!”
As of publication, the congregations have raised almost $23,000 towards a fundraising goal of $75,000 on gofundme.
Click here to donate on gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/help-resettle-refugee-families
The congregations are also in immediate need of volunteers for the effort, “especially to identify affordable housing, provide Arabic language support, and advocate with schools and social services.”
A volunteer signup form has been created here: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfNtdf2s6aWpUdjN…/viewform…
The letter was signed by Liba Beyer and Ora Warmflash of Congregation Beth El, Sheryl Harpel and Alan Levine of TSTI, and Susan Cohen and Jeremy Urban of Oheb Shalom Congregation.
The South Orange-Maplewood community has previously worked to help a Syrian refugee family sponsored by Morrow United Methodist Church in Maplewood.
