Toronto synagogue votes to sponsor Syrian refugees to come to Canada

Darchei Noam congregation raises 30,000 dollars to begin process to bring the family to Toronto.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: AUGUST 5, 2015 17:53
Refugees in Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdistan, carry mattresses provided by IsraAid. (photo credit: ISRAAID)
Refugees in Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdistan, carry mattresses provided by IsraAid.
(photo credit: ISRAAID)
The board of Congregation Darchei Noam has unanimously voted to sponsor a Syrian refugee family to immigrate to Canada, The Canadian Jewish News has reported. 
“As Jews, we cannot help but be sensitive to a refugee issue,” Suzanne Klein, co-chairman of the Reconstructionist synagogue’s Syrian refugee sponsorship committee, told the CJN last week. 
“We have identified a family of Kurdish Syrians in a horrific, precarious situation in Lebanon,” Klein told the paper. 
The family of five, that has relatives living in Toronto, is living in a barn, and the children, who cannot go to school, are working alongside their parents in a farmer’s field, the Canadian weekly paper reported.
“We will try to find a reasonable apartment and furnish it with donations from our members,” Klein said.
According to the report, in order to begin the sponsorship process the synagogue had to raise $30,000, which is expected to cover the family’s living costs during their first year in Toronto.
“Many of us are eager to make contact with the family, whichever family it is, and welcome them to Canada,” Klein said.
With regard to the expected language barrier with the family, Klein said that Darchei Noam already has a twinning relationship with a mosque whose members may serve as translators.