Holocaust and Refugees

I have been back in the USA for about two months. I had hoped to be able to make it around the beginning of January. I had underestimated what I needed to accomplish in a home where I have lived since 1995 and in a city that has been home since 1990. My trip to Atlanta has been wonderful. I could easily drag out this “visit” for 4 more months. However, I am ready to get my life moving forward again. In my stay here, I realize how many wonderful friends I have and I am touched by how many have been eager to see me before I go back to Israel.

I just returned, yesterday, from Florida where I saw my best friend from high school, Stephen Hamlet, and a very close friend from college, Miriam Smith Ross. Miriam serves as the Director of the Southwest Florida Holocaust Museum. Upon briefly touring the museum, I was impressed with the graphic display of the photos of the carnage that took place. I suggested to Miriam that she place a bulletin board sized panel with information on current genocides along with what people can do today about them. People will have a lot of sadness, anger, and energy from the exhibit. They should be shown how they can channel that energy into writing to politicians and the media along with raising money to help the survivors.

As the Holocaust is such a motivator and inspiring tragedy for the Jews, it is the Jews’ responsibility to be in the forefront of advocacy and relief for other victims of such atrocities. This is, in fact, been the case as Jews have been far disproportionately represented in groups lobbying for and advocating solidarity for these victims. Groups such as American Jewish World Service have been international players for such work. Yet, there are still many that choose to stay focused on more local issues.

One of the primary goals that I wanted to attain was to raise $45,000 for a temporary shelter for refugees from Africa that had made it into Israel. I have only been able to raise a little more than $10,000. I knew nothing of fundraising and did not know what to expect. I managed to write an email with information about the cause and it with sent attachments about situation to my friends and family in the USA. While I thought that some would make token donations because they wanted to support my passion but did not fully understand the gravity of the situation, I was more than surprised at the silence and indifference of most. I did have several meetings with friends that have worked hard in their lives to enjoy enormous financial successes. I was shocked that some of these millionaires gave paltry token donations of a couple of hundred bucks. I acknowledge that they are most likely generous to other causes, however.

Yet, although some may have opinions that differ from mine about the risk to Israel about helping Muslim refugees, the most frustrating thing is the apathy, the view that “they are over there and that too far away to be on my mind”. I see huge fundraising dollars for film festivals, orchestras, wine tastings, sporting venues, and other elitist events. Yet, when we are Jews who are appalled by the world sitting by and turning away from the massacres that took place during the Holocaust, we are worse than hypocritical to remain neutral to the survivors of similar acts in the world. What right will we have to criticize the Swiss for not letting in the Jews when we will not even help the survivors from Sudan, Eritrea, and the Ivory Coast to have a temporary shelter or food until they can cash a paycheck and pile into an apartment with their compatriots? We, too, were refugees and survivors of the massacres.

Although it is likely that humans will always have to cope with the threat of genocides, this is not a chronic problem. These can be stopped and their survivors can be treated with dignity. There will be lulls in these events and we can set up methods to react and minimize the killings in the future. Our country and Israel will both gain accolades from the media for their reaching out and helping these refugees.

I have a lot to learn about fundraising. I am admittedly ignorant of what is needed. I know there are millions of dollars raised for good causes. I also know that stopping mass murder is up with the greatest causes and reasons to inspire us into action. I will have to learn to team up with more experienced people who know how to tap into these funds.

Randy

May 2, 2008
As a follow-up, I have raised around $23,000. Some have still yet to commit to donate but I have found that, in time, many people will come through.