TJMHC Explores Multifaith Outreach Initiatives
From the desk of Lynn Davis, Director, Rabbi Joseph H. Gumbiner Community Action Project
On April 24, Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center hosted a half-day convening on immigration and border issues for local congregational clergy. Produced in collaboration with several of the Museum’s Christian colleagues, the program aimed to promote understanding of the situation on the ground in Southern Arizona, map available resources, and raise awareness of faith-based groups already working in this area. The program was designed to help clergy build both the collective capacity and the congregational commitment needed to support their most vulnerable neighbors and examine the obligations that faith communities have toward refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants.
Twenty-five faith leaders from 19 different congregations spent the day in conversation and fellowship. For many, it was their first visit to the museum. Immigration attorney Alba Jaramillo, a longtime local advocate for human rights and co-executive director of the Immigration Law & Justice Network, presented the keynote and shared disturbing tales of the current immigration and detention landscape. She cited the increased militarization and violence surrounding immigration enforcement, even though immigration policy is a matter of civil rather than criminal law in this country.
Participants also heard from faith leaders whose congregations are actively serving local immigrant and refugee communities. Some have started this work more recently, while others can trace their engagement back to the origins of the Tucson Sanctuary Movement more than 40 years ago. Most importantly, clergy were invited to identify the ways in which their congregation is already serving the immigrant community and what sort of support or resources they might need to take the next step.
Much of the conversation explored how to connect with existing resources for the immigrant community, such as rapid-response and mutual-aid networks, immigration court accompaniment, and “Know Your Rights” training. The Good Neighbor Interfaith Coalition meets monthly and is an excellent way for people of diverse faith traditions to get involved in migrant ministry.
Holding an immigration forum in the Holocaust Center invited participants to reflect on both historical lessons and contemporary moral responsibilities. Surrounded by photos of individuals who survived and families who perished, participants spoke about the dynamics of the dehumanization, statelessness, and indifference that characterize our current immigration policies. Those in attendance could not help but think of the failure of many nations to provide refuge to European Jews and other persecuted people fleeing danger during the Holocaust.
Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center is not simply a place of remembrance. When it is animated in this way, by people of different backgrounds and faith traditions, it creates space for thoughtful conversation about democracy, human rights, pluralism, and civic responsibility in the present. In doing so, the museum becomes a place where history informs public dialogue rather than remaining isolated in memory alone.
A version of this article was first published in the Arizona Jewish Post.