Revive tradition of saving children
Reform rabbis including Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism have joined other British faith leaders in calling on the government to establish a lasting route to protection in the UK for 10,000 child refugees in future years in a letter to The Sunday Times.
Three years ago today, Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Kurdish refugee, drowned because he had no safe route to sanctuary in Europe. The lives of more than 9,000 people fleeing war and persecution have been lost in the Mediterranean since that little boy’s death.
This autumn Britain will mark a more hopeful anniversary. Eighty years ago, the Kindertransport was launched, a rescue operation that saved 10,000 Jewish and other refugee children from Nazi persecution.
Now it is our turn to honour that legacy by helping more child refugees to find safety here. On this anniversary we call on the government to match the efforts of the Kindertransport and establish a lasting route to protection in the UK for 10,000 child refugees in future years.
Commissioner Anthony Cotterill, Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army UK with Ireland
Revd Lynn Green, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism
Harun Rashid Khan, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain
Rabbi Danny Rich, Senior Rabbi & Chief Executive, Liberal Judaism
Lord Dr Rowan Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth
1. Imam Fuad Abdou, Director And Imam Al-Ansar Islamic Education Centre
2. Rabbi Charley Baginsky, South Bucks Jewish Community
3. Rabbi Rebecca Birk, The Finchley Progressive Synagogue
4. Cantor Rebecca Blumenfeld, Oxford Masorti Group
5. Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts, Darlington Hebrew Congregation
6. Rt Rev Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham
7. Rabbi Douglas Charing, Director, Jewish Education Bureau (Leeds)
8. Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Southwark
9. Rt Revd Jonathan Clark, Bishop of Croydon
10. Commissioner Anthony Cotterill, Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army UK with Ireland
11. Rev David Downing, Maidenhead and Marlow United Reformed Churches
12. Rabbi Warren Elf, Faith Network for Manchester
13. Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Loughborough
14. Rabbi Paul Freedman, Senior Rabbi, Radlett Reform Synagogue
15. Rabbi Naomi Goldman, Kol Chai Hatch End Reform Jewish Community
16. Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, Chair, Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors
17. Revd Lynn Green, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain
18. Revd Jeremy Harris, Vicar of All Saints, Boyne Hill, Maidenhead
19. Rt Revd David Hamid, Suffragan Bishop, Diocese of Europe
20. Rt Revd Peter Hill, Bishop of Barking
21. Rabbi Dr Michael Hilton, Reform Judaism
22. Rabbi Harry Jacobi MBE, Vice President of Liberal Judaism
23. Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi, Birmingham Progressive Synagogue
24. Rabbi Richard Jacobi, East London and Essex Liberal Synagogue
25. Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism
26. Rabbi Oliver Spike Joseph, New North London Synagogue and Havurah
27. Harun Rashid Khan, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain
28. Rt Revd Adrian Newman, Bishop of Stepney
29. Rabbi Baroness Neuberger DBE
30. Rt Revd Dr John Perumbalath, Bishop of Bradwell
31. Rabbi Danny Rich, Senior Rabbi & Chief Executive, Liberal Judaism
32. Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild, Reform Judaism
33. Rabbi Fabian Sborovsky, Rabbi of Menorah Synagogue, Manchester
34. Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, West London Synagogue
35. Abdurahman Syed, Chief Executive Officer, Almanaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre Trust
36. Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick, Reform Judaism
37. Rabbi Roni Tabick, Rabbi of Stoke Newington Shul
38. Rt Revd Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester
39. Lord Dr Rowan Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth
40. Rt Revd Trevor Willmott, Bishop of Dover
41. Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism
42. Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers, Community Educator, Reform Judaism
