Op-Ed: Westchester Rabbis Call For End To Family Separation

As both Rabbis and members of the Westchester Jewish community, we are deeply saddened and concerned about the separation of children from their families seeking asylum in our country. We find such forced separation to be morally unacceptable. The Jewish tradition makes clear that welcoming the stranger and protecting the vulnerable are of paramount importance. Taking children away from their families as a way of deterring illegal immigration is immoral and against the best traditions of the American republic.

After the President signed an Executive Order that temporarily halts the separation, we are now calling on all who are responsible to bring these families together and to assure this will never happen again. While we pray that our nation finds a compassionate and meaningful way to address the many issues around immigration, today we concern ourselves only with the narrow issue of family unity. We appreciate that there are many shades of respectable political opinion on the subject of immigration; still, it is the responsibility of all decent and honorable citizens -- regardless of party affiliation -- to raise their voices in protest when government policy amounts to cruelty.

The Jewish community has not only experienced oppression, exile and division, but has also long stood up for those who are being mistreated, devalued and split apart. We call on all who are responsible to re-unite these families immediately.

We now call on our own communities to stand up alongside us in demanding such action and we pray that God will ease the pain of those who have suffered under the weight of “Zero Tolerance.” We hope for a more kind and humane policy in the days ahead.

-Westchester Board of Rabbis