There are several actions that I’m seeing among progressive clergy networks and the Indivisible network. I just signed up with these folks and I encourage others to do so too (the image below is hyperlinked):
Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley Humanitarian Respite Center is helping these families, and they have an Amazon wish list that you can visit and buy needed items for them to distribute.
You can also donate to a bond fund that helps move forward the legal process of reuniting separated families.
This past weekend, I attended Shabbat services on Friday night at Congregation Beth Israel in Media, PA, where Rabbi Linda Potemkin read this poem by Rabbi Paul Kipnes:
A Prayer for When Children are Forcibly Separated from Parents
By Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Pray for the children
The ones who were taken away
And pray for the leaders
Whose moral compasses have gone astray
Pray for the kids
Who wallow in their cages
And pray for the guards
Whose work sullies their wages
Pray for the dads
Who are now childless and under arrest
And pray for the moms
Whose kids were ripped right from their breasts
Pray for the parents
Away from their children day and night
And pray for our government
Which desperately needs to see the light
Pray for the religious
Whose values others erroneously claim
To justify pulling children from their parents
But really, they just profane God’s name
Pray for the people
Who avert their eyes from this travesty
And pray for government
Which employs this immoral strategy
But mostly,
Pray for the children
Created b’tzelem Elohim*
And pray for us all
As we all suffer the wretched parts of the American dream
* B’tzelem Elohim = created in God’s image
Read: 26 Jewish organizations declare: Families belong together!
I also attended a Quaker meeting service on Sunday, during which one person put her finger right on the crux of this moral outrage. She said, “To use children as pawns to get what you want is an abomination.”
That’s right. I’m not a fan of the “abomination” word because of the way it gets used to oppress LGBT people in various religious circles. But this person is absolutely correct.
This is an all hands on deck moment for our country.
The Accidental Rabbi 