New rabbinical team
The new executive of the Rabbinical Council of NSW has quoted the Torah in stating that refugees would not be sent back to “an unsafe, hostile or immoral environment.
Back: Rabbi Paul Lewin, Rabbi Eli Feldman and Rabbi Chaim Ingram Front: Rabbi Eli Cohen and IPP Rabbi Yehoram Ulman
The members of the new rabbinical team are Rabbi Eli Cohen [president], Rabbi Eli Feldman [vice-president], Rabbi Chaim Ingram [honorary secretary] and Rabbi Paul Lewin [honorary treasurer]
In their first statement the Council said: “The RCNSW appreciates the complexities of the current refugee crisis. It acknowledges the dilemmas facing the Government in striving to balance the need to ensure the compassionate wellbeing of every person who is fleeing from persecution and war and, at the same time, ensuring that Australia remains safe and secure with its sovereignty not being compromised.
Judaism teaches that a refugee is not to be returned to an unsafe, hostile or immoral environment. (Deut 23:16). It also teaches that civic and national leaders must ensure to the best of their ability the short-term and long-term safety and security of all citizens.”
