Join With Many Christian Denominations : Reform Jews Back Sanctuary Movement

Reform Judaism’s national body endorsed the religious sanctuary movement Monday at its convention in Los Angeles, becoming the first Jewish synagogue organization to join a number of Christian denominations that have opposed the deportation of Central American refugees.

The 2,800 delegates to the biennial Union of American Hebrew Congregations general assembly passed, by a 2-1 margin, a resolution urging the liberal body’s 791 congregations to support the movement despite “serious legal implications of some forms of sanctuary.”

Jury selection is under way in federal court in Tucson in a case involving 11 people, including Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy, who are accused of illegally smuggling aliens from El Salvador and Guatemala into the United States. The defendants acknowledge that they operated an underground railroad, but say it was a humanitarian effort to help people to flee persecution and possible death. Government officials characterize most as illegal aliens from Central America who are “economic refugees” looking for better opportunities in the United States.

“This resolution points to the right direction for congregations,” said Rabbi Joseph Weizenbaum, whose Temple Emanu-El in Tucson is part of the sanctuary movement in that city. Though the rabbi was not indicted on smuggling charges, Weizenbaum said his temple “provides every form of aid and support short of housing.”

Nationwide, at least 250 Christian and Jewish congregations have endorsed the sanctuary movement. In April, the movement won support from Southern California-based executives of 10 ecumenical denominations, who gave their approval on religious grounds, saying: “We are inheritors of a sacred tradition that emphasizes hospitality and caring for strangers and sojourners.”

The Reform resolution supporting the sanctuary movement began by citing a passage in Hebrew Scripture, Leviticus 19:33, about loving sojourning strangers in your own land. The resolution called on the U.S. government to “fairly apply” the 1980 Refugee Act without regard to political relationships with a refugee’s country and to suspend deportations until refugees can safely return home. The measure also urged congregations to provide material and financial aid to refugees or organized assistance groups.

Delegates, who ended their four-day convention Monday, also passed a resolution calling for a U.S.-Canadian boycott of South African trade in one year if no “substantial progress” is made in reforming apartheid.