Welcoming the Stranger ~ Immigration Justice:
Jewish Values in Action
(A Monthly Sermon Series)
Fridays: February 27, March 13, April 10, May 8, June 12, July 17 (6:30 p.m.)
The Torah tells us over 30 times that we must remember the stranger because we were once strangers in Egypt. But what does that mean? How do we turn our Jewish values into action? Our Friday Night Sermon Series focusing on Jewish Values in Action will help.
February 27 - Series Kickoff
Speaker: Rabbi Mark Levin
Topic: The series opens with the theological foundation for the Jewish response to how we approach immigration. Drawing on Torah and rabbinic tradition, Rabbi Levin will explore why immigration is not a peripheral political issue, but a core Jewish moral concern rooted in our collective story of displacement, vulnerability, and responsibility.
March 13 (HIAS Refugee Shabbat)
Speaker: Hilary Cohen Singer, Executive Director, Jewish Vocational Service
Topic: HIAS’s Annual Global Refugee Shabbat. Learn from one of the primary refugee settlement organizations in Kansas City about refugee resettlement today, current challenges, what welcome looks like beyond arrival, bearing witness to immigration courts and enforcement practices, and how congregations can respond with presence, learning, and action.
April 10
Speaker: Kevin Hill, Attorney, Brown County, Volunteer Attorney for Asylum Seekers
Topic: You Were Strangers in the Land of Egypt. Passover calls us to experience liberation as if we ourselves were freed. This session will explore the asylum process and legal barriers to freedom including prolonged detention and delayed due process.
May 8
Speaker: Micah Kubic, Executive Director, ACLU of Kansas
Topic: Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof /Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue. As Shavuot approaches, we’re reminded of our obligation to uphold Jewish commandments. This session will examine civil liberties and immigration enforcement, due process and constitutional protections and the status of legal norms.
June 12
Speaker: Suzanne Gladney, Missouri Migrant Farm Worker Assistant Fund
Topic: Rooted in the Land, Sustained by Workers: Kavod Ha’Avodah (Dignity of Labor). Jewish teachings remind us that we are sustained by the land and by those who labor to nourish us. This session will focus on the experiences of migrant farm workers and the impact of current enforcement policies on families, food systems and rural communities.
July 17
Speaker: Pastor Rick Behrens, Grandview Park Presbyterian
Topic: El Vecendario y La Hospitalidad / The Neighborhood and Hospitality. Rev. Behrens will share stories of inspiration and challenge from 30 years of multicultural/bi-lingual ministry in the Central Avenue neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. How do we live the call to welcome the stranger into our communal, familial, economic and institutional lives? And who wins when we do so?