Social Justice Committee Meeting with Special Guest Rabbi Sarah Bassin

Any Temple Member interested in Social Justice is invited to attend. We will introduce the temple’s Core Social Justice Positions, and plan how to make the greatest impact in the year ahead through our Social Justice Circles and The Giving Tree. We will learn about today’s refugee, asylum and immigration policies from guest speaker Rabbi Sarah Bassin from HIAS. Originally founded to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe, today HIAS works around the world to assist displaced people of all backgrounds.

Rabbi Sarah Bassin serves as the Rabbi in Residence for HIAS where she helps connect clergy and communities to the work of aiding and advocating for refugees and asylum seekers. Prior to this role, she was the associate rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. She began her rabbinate as the founding executive director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change where she built minority-based coalitions. Rabbi Bassin has built an expertise in interfaith civilian diplomacy, traveling with delegations of faith and political leaders to England, France, Germany, Qatar, Azerbaijan, and Iran. For her work, she was named a fellow of Security and Religious Freedom at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. NPR’s On Being featured Rabbi Bassin for her organizational innovation and interfaith work.