Refugee Shabbat Saturday March 22nd 10:00 to 12:30

Join us in the HBT Sanctuary on March 22 as we recognize and recommit to the Jewish and multifaith movement supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced people. 

During a special service devoted to learning and action at this time of intense crisis for those fleeing persecution, we will be inspired to mobilize our community in keeping with core Jewish teachings and values. In lieu of our traditional D’var Torah and Musaf, special guests Jane Rocamora, longtime asylum attorney and labor lawyer, and advocate Michael Felsen will share teachings and personal stories of the work they do in supporting refugees and asylum seekers.

Please observe this Refugee Shabbat with HBT as we reflect, learn and act based on our teachings, our histories and our commitment to a community of welcome, safety and security for all.

Speakers:

Following a 39-year career enforcing worker protection laws as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Labor, Michael Felsen has since 2018 been busy in "retirement."  He serves as a Senior Advisor to legal non-profit Justice at Work, whose mission is helping to empower immigrant, often undocumented, workers to assert their individual and collective rights.  He also devotes time and energy to offering pro bono services to the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project, that provides free legal services to asylum seekers and promotes the rights of detained immigrants.  He also enjoys writing op-eds on political topics, singing in the Boston Workers Circle Yiddish Community Chorus, advancing Jewish-Muslim and Israeli-Palestinian relations, and spending as much time as he can with his kids and grandkids. 

Jane Rocamora is a longtime human rights activist and asylum lawyer. As senior attorney with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic of Greater Boston Legal Services and Harvard Law School, she has worked to train lawyers and support hundreds of asylum seekers for more than 20 years.  Jane has also worked in the field on transitional justice and to support survivors of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Rwanda and Kosovo. Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, and a graduate of Northeastern Law School, she has lived in Jamaica Plain for decades and has been a member of Temple Israel in Boston.