Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
Indo-Chinese Refugees
Adopted by the CCAR at the 91th Annual Convention of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, June 23-26, 1980
“He who saves a single life gains merit for having saved the whole world.” This concept,
found in our tradition, finds its echo in modern times again as many of our Reform
Jewish movement embrace the cause of the Indo-Chinese refugees. We help them find
homes and provide havens of refuge from their war-torn world.
We, who sailed on the Exodus and on the St. Louis, commend those of our people who
have helped to fulfill the mitzvah
of saving a life, and who practice the tsedaka
of striving to feed, clothe and sustain even a single member of a refugee family.
Every family fortunate to escape from the Asian calamity which has so dreadfully
afflicted the people of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and even Malaysia and Thailand, needs
our support and concern. We also commend the many agencies, both Jewish and non-Jewish,
in America and abroad who devote their time, resources and energy to saving a remnant
of these courageous people.
We salute the government of Israel for being the first to offer a haven to a group
of such refugees.
We call upon all of our congregations, our leaders, both lay and rabbinic, to lift
up the fallen by sponsoring Indo-Chinese refugee families and providing funds for
the UAHC World Hunger Fund.
We commend in particular our colleagues, Rabbis Erwin Herman and Steven Jacobs, whose
words and deeds on behalf of the refugees have been the primary sources of inspiration
and motivation for the entire Reform movement. We urge all of our colleagues to emulate their example so that, by virtue of our dedication and devotion to save but
one life, we may fulfill one of the great moral imperatives incumbent upon us all,
as children of the Living God, created in the Divine Image.