This week Jews throughout the world will celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, traditionally a time for giving thanks for the bounty of the harvest. Named for the sukkah, the temporary dwelling in which farmers in ancient Israel lived while harvesting their crops, Sukkot also recalls the fragile dwellings in which the Israelites lived during their 40 years in the desert following the Exodus from Egypt. Jews are commanded to eat and sleep in the sukkah, to feed friends and strangers, and welcome guests into our shelters. After seven days, we take our sukkahs down until next Fall.
Sukkot also reminds us of the frail tents and flimsy shelters that for more than a decade have served as home for refugees of the Darfuri genocide. For the Darfuris and the 65 million refugees worldwide, the shelters are not a week-long experience. The camps are not temporary, and those who have been displaced have little hope of leaving the camps to return to their land and their homes. In Sudan, the genocidal President Omar al-Bashir is still in power (even though he is a wanted war criminal), and his reign of terror continues. Just last month Amnesty International reported that the Bashir regime used chemical weapons against civilians in Darfur.
[su_quote]Help us extend a Sukkah shalom, a shelter of peace. [/su_quote]
In the past year, Jewish World Watch has expanded our efforts to include the victims of the Syrian civil war and the mass atrocities committed by the Assad regime and ISIS. We have raised relief funds as a part of the Jewish Coalition for Syrian Refugees, have met with our representatives in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Syrian refugees and civilian victims, and have urged the U.S. government to apply sanctions, to prohibit the transfer of arms and to support evidence gathering and investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other human rights abuses. These efforts will continue and increase as the need for aid and advocacy grows ever more dire. (You can Take Action to help stop atrocities in Syria here).
Prospects for world peace continue to deteriorate as the humanitarian situation continues to grow — with millions displaced, hundreds of thousands living as refuges and millions in need of food and other vital aid. Since its founding in 2004 as a direct response to the Darfur genocide, Jewish World Watch has not faltered in the provision of aid and advocacy to the Darfuris. We have not forgotten our brothers and sisters in their “fragile dwellings,” nor will we stand idly by while our Syrian brethren are similarly afflicted.
Sukkot reminds us that although we live with insecurity, we can and still must celebrate life. We can work to feed, shelter and protect those who have survived, but whose fragility and need does not end after seven days.
Your support for all our efforts is crucial. Help us extend a Sukkah shalom, a shelter of peace, to those who have been displaced by genocide and violence.
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May the coming year be one which brings peace in the world.